The Tellus Airborne Geophysical Survey of Northern Ireland

This paper describes an airborne geophysical survey of Northern Ireland that is being conducted over a two year period. Measurements from a fixed­wing aircraft operating at 56 m include magnetic (gradiometer), radiometric and frequency­domain electromagnetic. The survey will complete over 80,000 line­km of coverage in the summer of 2006. The Phase 1 data, described here, comprise ~47,000 line­km obtained across the western and central areas of the province. The nature of acquiring geophysical data, at high resolution (200 m line spacing) in populated areas is distinct from that of other exploration contexts. The survey is being coordinated and conducted alongside a high public profile. The initial Phase 1 Tellus survey results have exceeded expectations. They have excited the interest of the planning, mineral and environmental communities

Levelling aeromagnetic survey data without the need for tie-lines

A new methodology that levels airborne magnetic data without orthogonal tie-lines is presented in this study. The technique utilizes the low-wavenumber content of the flight-line data to construct a smooth representation of the regional field at a scale appropriate to the line lengths of the survey. Levelling errors are then calculated between the raw flight-line data and the derived regional field through a least squares approach. Minimizing the magnitude of the error, with a first-degree error function, results in significant improvements to the unlevelled data. The technique is tested and demonstrated using three recent airborne surveys

The Tellus Airborne Geophysical Survey of Northern Ireland. Final results

The Tellus airborne geophysical survey of Northern Ireland was conducted over a two year period. Measurements from a fixed-wing aircraft operating at 56 m include magnetic (gradiometer), radiometric and frequency-domain electromagnetic. The survey comprises over 80,000 line-km of coverage and was completed in two phases (2005 and 2006). The large geographical scale and two year duration have combined to raise interesting questions regarding data processing and seasonal adjustments. The radiometric and electromagnetic data sets are completely new for N.Ireland, whereas the magnetic data set is significantly better than the existing one. The preliminary results have excited the interest of the planning, mineral and environmental communities

Evaluation of an online youth ambassador program to promote mental health

To evaluate an online Youth Ambassador (YA) program designed to promote internet resources for mental health in an adolescent population, 56 YAs and 357 of their Year 10 peers from 11 Tasmanian schools completed e-mental health questionnaires before and after the YAs attended a single workshop session. The workshops, which were delivered in the high school setting, were either facilitated or self-directed. Self-reported awareness of e-mental health resources increased among both YAs and their peers. The peer group also showed increased frequency of recommending help-seeking to others. There were no differences in outcomes for facilitated or self-directed workshop formats. The results suggest that an online YA program delivered in school is useful in improving mental health awareness for workshop participants. While their Year 10 peer groups also showed increased awareness, this could not necessarily be attributed to the participation of all 11 schools in the YA program

A cross sectional study of surgical training among United Kingdom general practitioners with specialist interests in surgery

OBJECTIVES: Increasing numbers of minor surgical procedures are being performed in the community. In the UK, general practitioners (family medicine physicians) with a specialist interest (GPwSI) in surgery frequently undertake them. This shift has caused decreases in available cases for junior surgeons to gain and consolidate operative skills. This study evaluated GPwSI's case-load, procedural training and perceptions of offering formalised operative training experience to surgical trainees. DESIGN: Prospective, questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: A novel, 13-item, self-administered questionnaire was distributed to members of the Association of Surgeons in Primary Care (ASPC). A total 113 of 120 ASPC members completed the questionnaire, representing a 94% response rate. Respondents were general practitioners practising or intending to practice surgery in the community. RESULTS: Respondents performed a mean of 38 (range 5–150) surgical procedures per month in primary care. 37% (42/113) of respondents had previously been awarded Membership or Fellowship of a Surgical Royal College; 22% (25/113) had completed a surgical certificate or diploma or undertaken a course of less than 1 year duration. 41% (46/113) had no formal British surgical qualifications. All respondents believed that surgical training in primary care could be valuable for surgical trainees, and the majority (71/113, 63%) felt that both general practice and surgical trainees could benefit equally from such training. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant volume of surgical procedures being undertaken in the community by general practitioners, with the capacity and appetite for training of prospective surgeons in this setting, providing appropriate standards are achieved and maintained, commensurate with current standards in secondary care. Surgical experience and training of GPwSI's in surgery is highly varied, and does not yet benefit from the quality assurance secondary care surgical training in the UK undergoes. The Royal Colleges of Surgery and General Practice are well placed to invest in such infrastructure to provide long-term, high-quality service and training in the community

Survey of Infections Transmissible Between Baboons and Humans, Cape Town, South Africa

Baboons on South Africa’s Cape Peninsula come in frequent contact with humans. To determine potential health risks for both species, we screened 27 baboons from 5 troops for 10 infections. Most (56%) baboons had antibodies reactive or cross-reactive to human viruses. Spatial overlap between these species poses low but potential health risks

Fermion Quasi-Spherical Harmonics

Spherical Harmonics, $Y_\ell^m(\theta,\phi)$, are derived and presented (in a Table) for half-odd-integer values of $\ell$ and $m$. These functions are eigenfunctions of $L^2$ and $L_z$ written as differential operators in the spherical-polar angles, $\theta$ and $\phi$. The Fermion Spherical Harmonics are a new, scalar and angular-coordinate-dependent representation of fermion spin angular momentum. They have $4\pi$ symmetry in the angle $\phi$, and hence are not single-valued functions on the Euclidean unit sphere; they are double-valued functions on the sphere, or alternatively are interpreted as having a double-sphere as their domain.Comment: 16 pages, 2 Tables. Submitted to J.Phys.

Recent Salmon Declines: A Result of Lost Feeding Opportunities Due to Bad Timing?

As the timing of spring productivity blooms in near-shore areas advances due to warming trends in global climate, the selection pressures on out-migrating salmon smolts are shifting. Species and stocks that leave natal streams earlier may be favoured over later-migrating fish. The low post-release survival of hatchery fish during recent years may be in part due to static release times that do not take the timing of plankton blooms into account. This study examined the effects of release time on the migratory behaviour and survival of wild and hatchery-reared coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) using acoustic and coded-wire telemetry. Plankton monitoring and near-shore seining were also conducted to determine which habitat and food sources were favoured. Acoustic tags (n = 140) and coded-wire tags (n = 266,692) were implanted into coho salmon smolts at the Seymour and Quinsam Rivers, in British Columbia, Canada. Differences between wild and hatchery fish, and early and late releases were examined during the entire lifecycle. Physiological sampling was also carried out on 30 fish from each release group. The smolt-to-adult survival of coho salmon released during periods of high marine productivity was 1.5- to 3-fold greater than those released both before and after, and the fish's degree of smoltification affected their downstream migration time and duration of stay in the estuary. Therefore, hatchery managers should consider having smolts fully developed and ready for release during the peak of the near-shore plankton blooms. Monitoring chlorophyll a levels and water temperature early in the spring could provide a forecast of the timing of these blooms, giving hatcheries time to adjust their release schedule

Circumferential film thickness measurement in journal bearings via the ultrasonic technique

A key parameter in hydrodynamic journal bearing performance is lubricant layer thickness around the circumference of the shaft-bearing interface. In the present work, the ultrasonic amplitude, phase change and resonant dip techniques are applied to obtain circumferential film thickness profiles in a bespoke journal bearing test platform under a range of shaft-aligned, shaft-misaligned and shut-down operating conditions. Film thickness results are compared against the Raimondi-Boyd theoretical prediction model and eddy current sensor measurements. By using an on-line referencing technique, the amplitude and phase change models demonstrated high accuracy for thin films and the resonant dip technique enabled film measurements within the bearing thick film region. Thus, applying the three methods simultaneously allowed analysis of lubricant films around the bearing circumference

UK export performance research - review and implications

Previous research on export performance has been criticized for being a mosaic of autonomous endeavours and for a lack of theoretical development. Building upon extant models of export performance, and a review and analysis of research on export performance in the UK for the period 1990-2005, an integrated model of export performance is developed and theoretical explanations of export performance are put forward. It is suggested that a multi-theory approach to explaining export performance is viable. Management and policy implications for the UK emerging from the review and synthesis of the literature and the integrated model are discussed