Fine particle characterisation, Source Apportionment and Long Range Dust Transport into the Sydney Basin: A long term study between 1998 and 2009.

Ion beam analysis techniques have been used to characterise fine particle (PM2.5) pollution in the Sydney Basin between 1 July 1998 and 31 December 2009. Nearly 1 200 filters were obtained and analysed for more than 21 different chemical species from hydrogen to lead. Positive matrix factorisation was then applied to this significant database to determine 7 different source fingerprints and their contributions to the total PM2.5 mass. Most of these sources originated in the Sydney Basin, however there were significant windblown soil sources that originated not just from desert regions in central Australia but also from large agricultural regions around 500 km south west of the Basin. This long range transport of fine dust was tracked using hourly back trajectories for every sampling day during the study period and showed that 33% of extreme dust events were probably originating from agricultural regions and not the central desert regions of Australia as first thought. Copyright Copyright © 2011 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control (TUNCAP)

‘If independence goes, the planning system goes’: New Political Governance and the English Planning Inspectorate

Radical restructuring of 'arms-length' government bodies following the 2010 UK national election signalled a change in relations between government and the civil service. This was seen as a major shift in modes of governance from 'new public management' to a more politicised mode of 'new political governance'. This paper presents an analysis of the impacts of these shifts on the English Planning Inspectorate, an executive agency central to the land-use planning system. It identifies measures by ministers to increase control over the Inspectorate that represent a shift in governance culture and a shift in the planning system itself

London governance and the politics of neighbourhood planning: a case for investigation

The Localism Act 2011 has successfully devolved planning powers to over 2,500 English communities, involving 14 million people, with over 700 ‘made’ neighbourhood plans legitimised by referendum. In London, however, there are less than one-tenth of the made plans than in the rest of England. Institutional resistance and policy choices may be implicated. Two national studies of neighbourhood planning are reviewed. The role of the local authority is found to be a crucial factor in determining progress, and issues of social deprivation and unequal access are highlighted. Theorisation is considered by reference to a range of academic studies of localism and neighbourhood planning. Distinctions made between ‘representative’ and ‘community’ localism, and objections to anti-political effects, are noted. There has been remarkably little research into borough governance and neighbourhood planning in the capital. Based upon evidence of anomalous and differentiated governance practice, a study in London is called for

Neuropeptide Y concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid are unchanged in obesity

Neuropeptide Y (NPy) is a potent centrally acting appetite-stimulating peptide implicated in the regulation of energy balance. It induces hyperphagia and obesity when injected into the rat hypothalamus. Hypothalamic NPY and NPY mRNA levels are increased in spontaneously obese rats, suggesting that it may be involved in causing obesity in rodents. It is not known whether NPY has a role in the pathogenesis of obesity in man. NPY is found in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and we have therefore compared CSF NPY levels in normal obese and non-obese individuals to determine whether NPY concentrations might be increased in obesity. We studied 25 clinically normal subjects (age 67 ± 5 years. male 11. female 14) undergoing spinal anaesthesia. None had any significant illness. Samples of 1 ml were freeze-dried and reconstituted to 100 ul and 35ul aliquots were assayed for NPY using an in-house RIA. CSF NPY levels were not correlated with body mass index (BMI) (r=O.088. p=O.673) and there were no differences in NPY concentrations between groups of subjects stratified for BMI: BMI 25 (n=ll), 702 ± 55 fmol/ml (differences between all groups. p>0l). CSF NPY levels are therefore not increased in human obesity. NPY is found in many brain regions outside the hypothalamic appetite-regulating nuclei, which could contribute to CSF levels. This negative observation does not therefore exclude a role of the peptide, acting specifically in the hypothalamus, in contributing to human obesity

Symmetry breaking in crossed magnetic and electric fields

We present the first observations of cylindrical symmetry breaking in highly excited diamagnetic hydrogen with a small crossed electric field, and we give a semiclassical interpretation of this effect. As the small perpendicular electric field is added, the recurrence strengths of closed orbits decrease smoothly to a minimum, and revive again. This phenomenon, caused by interference among the electron waves that return to the nucleus, can be computed from the azimuthal dependence of the classical closed orbits.Comment: 4 page REVTeX file including 5 postscript files (using psfig) Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. Difference from earlier preprint: we have discovered the cause of the earlier apparent discrepancy between experiment and theory and now achieve excellent agreemen

Cytological and transcript analyses reveal fat and lazy persister-like bacilli in tuberculous sputum

As nonreplicating tubercle bacilli are tolerant to the cidal action of antibiotics and resistant to multiple stresses, identification of this persister-like population of tubercle bacilli in sputum presents exciting and tractable new opportunities to investigate both responses to chemotherapy and the transmission of tuberculosis

The relative contribution of climate to changes in lesser prairie-chicken abundance

Citation: Ross, B. E., Haukos, D., Hagen, C., & Pitman, J. (2016). The relative contribution of climate to changes in lesser prairie-chicken abundance. Ecosphere, 7(6), 11. doi:10.1002/ecs2.1323Managing for species using current weather patterns fails to incorporate the uncertainty associated with future climatic conditions; without incorporating potential changes in climate into conservation strategies, management and conservation efforts may fall short or waste valuable resources. Understanding the effects of climate change on species in the Great Plains of North America is especially important, as this region is projected to experience an increased magnitude of climate change. Of particular ecological and conservation interest is the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), which was listed as "threatened" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in May 2014. We used Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify the effects of extreme climatic events (extreme values of the Palmer Drought Severity Index [PDSI]) relative to intermediate (changes in El Nino Southern Oscillation) and long-term climate variability (changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) on trends in lesser prairie-chicken abundance from 1981 to 2014. Our results indicate that lesser prairie-chicken abundance on leks responded to environmental conditions of the year previous by positively responding to wet springs (high PDSI) and negatively to years with hot, dry summers (low PDSI), but had little response to variation in the El Nino Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Additionally, greater variation in abundance on leks was explained by variation in site relative to broad-scale climatic indices. Consequently, lesser prairie-chicken abundance on leks in Kansas is more strongly influenced by extreme drought events during summer than other climatic conditions, which may have negative consequences for the population as drought conditions intensify throughout the Great Plains

Perspectives of primary health care staff on the implementation of a sexual health quality improvement program: A qualitative study in remote aboriginal communities in Australia

Background: Young people living in remote Australian Aboriginal communities experience high rates of sexually transmissible infections (STIs). STRIVE (STIs in Remote communities, ImproVed and Enhanced primary care) was a cluster randomised control trial of a sexual health continuous quality improvement (CQI) program. As part of the trial, qualitative research was conducted to explore staff perceptions of the CQI components, their normalisation and integration into routine practice, and the factors which influenced these processes. Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 clinical staff at 22 remote community clinics during 2011-2013. Normalisation process theory was used to frame the analysis of interview data and to provide insights into enablers and barriers to the integration and normalisation of the CQI program and its six specific components. Results: Of the CQI components, participants reported that the clinical data reports had the highest degree of integration and normalisation. Action plan setting, the Systems Assessment Tool, and the STRIVE coordinator role, were perceived as adding value to the program, but were less readily integrated or normalised. The remaining two components (dedicated funding for health promotion and service incentive payments) were seen as least relevant. Our analysis also highlighted factors which enabled greater integration of the CQI components. These included familiarity with CQI tools, increased accountability of health centre staff and the translation of the CQI program into guideline-driven care. The analysis also identified barriers, including high staff turnover, limited time involved in the program and competing clinical demands and programs. Conclusions: Across all of the CQI components, the clinical data reports had the highest degree of integration and normalisation. The action plans, systems assessment tool and the STRIVE coordinator role all complemented the data reports and allowed these components to be translated directly into clinical activity. To ensure their uptake, CQI programs must acknowledge local clinical guidelines, be compatible with translation into clinical activity and have managerial support. Sexual health CQI needs to align with other CQI activities, engage staff and promote accountability through the provision of clinic specific data and regular face-to-face meetings. Trial registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12610000358044. Registered 6/05/2010. Prospectively Registered