Political Involvement in Transition: Who Participated, and Electoral Dynamics, In Central and Eastern Europe?

Using surveys conducted in 1991, this paper examines the sociodemographic, experiential and ideological determinants of nonelectoral and electoral political participation in eight postcommunist states of eastern Europe, with comparisons to Germany and the United States. Comparing the postcommunist states to the capitalist ones, we find the determinants of participation in the former largely conform to the patterns in the west, with education playing an especially large role. In the postcommunist states, we found that youth, political anger and antisocialist ideology were important determinants of political protest and party sympathy, but not of the decision to vote in the initial elections. This may have contributed to the elite-mass divisions in these countries, where the elite promoted market-oriented reforms, and the populations responded with II left turns II in subsequent rounds of elections

Dedication of the Palomar Observatory and the Hale Telescope

The dedication of the Palomar Observatory, if it were being held in England, would be accompanied by brilliant pageantry both of the state, with its knights, heralds, pursuivants, kings at arms, admirals and captains, and of the church with its bishops, priests and deacons, crucifiers and choirs; and I am sure that we feel the quality of religion in this ceremony. We would hear the choirs chanting in antiphony that great canticle which so delights the choir boys: Benedicite, omnia opera Domini

Carboniferous of Eastern Kentucky - Stops 4-6.

This guidebook was produced for participants of the Sixth Gondwana Symposium held at the Institute of Polar Studies in August 1985. The trip traverses the highly scenic Appalachian Plateau. Enroute to eastern Kentucky, nonmarine sandstone, mudstone, coal, and limestone of the Upper Carboniferous to Permian (?) Dunkard Group, and Upper Carboniferous Monongahela and Conemaugh Formations will be examined in southern Ohio and western West Virginia. In eastern Kentucky, examination of the rocks will proceed up through the sequence starting with the Lower Carboniferous Berea Sandstone, a shallow marine deposit with abundant sedimentary structures; followed by the Borden Formation, which represents a prograding delta with shelf to basin facies including turbidites and abundant sedimentary structures; followed by the Borden Formation, which represents a prograding delta with shelf to basin facies including turbidites and abundant sedimentary structures, trace, and invertebrate fossils; the Slade Formation, a shallow carbonate sequence with paleokarst and paleosol features, and ending with the Upper Carboniferous Breathitt Formation, a marine to nonmarine sandstone, mudstone, and coal unit with famous coal ball localities

Ultramafic xenoliths from the Bearpaw Mountains, Montana, USA: evidence for multiple metasomatic events in the lithospheric mantle beneath the Wyoming craton

Ultramafic xenoliths in Eocene minettes of the Bearpaw Mountains volcanic field (Montana, USA), derived from the lower lithosphere of the Wyoming craton, can be divided based on textural criteria into tectonite and cumulate groups. The tectonites consist of strongly depleted spinel lherzolites, harzburgites and dunites. Although their mineralogical compositions are generally similar to those of spinel peridotites in off-craton settings, some contain pyroxenes and spinels that have unusually low Al2O3 contents more akin to those found in cratonic spinel peridotites. Furthermore, the tectonite peridotites have whole-rock major element compositions that tend to be significantly more depleted than non-cratonic mantle spinel peridotites (high MgO, low CaO, Al2O3 and TiO2) and resemble those of cratonic mantle. These compositions could have been generated by up to 30% partial melting of an undepleted mantle source. Petrographic evidence suggests that the mantle beneath the Wyoming craton was re-enriched in three ways: (1) by silicate melts that formed mica websterite and clinopyroxenite veins; (2) by growth of phlogopite from K-rich hydrous fluids; (3) by interaction with aqueous fluids to form orthopyroxene porphyroblasts and orthopyroxenite veins. In contrast to their depleted major element compositions, the tectonite peridotites are mostly light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched and show enrichment in fluid-mobile elements such as Cs, Rb, U and Pb on mantle-normalized diagrams. Lack of enrichment in high field strength elements (HFSE; e.g. Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf) suggests that the tectonite peridotites have been metasomatized by a subduction-related fluid. Clinopyroxenes from the tectonite peridotites have distinct U-shaped REE patterns with strong LREE enrichment. They have 143Nd/144Nd values that range from 0·5121 (close to the host minette values) to 0·5107, similar to those of xenoliths from the nearby Highwood Mountains. Foliated mica websterites also have low 143Nd/144Nd values (0·5113) and extremely high 87Sr/86Sr ratios in their constituent phlogopite, indicating an ancient (probably mid-Proterozoic) enrichment. This enriched mantle lithosphere later contributed to the formation of the high-K Eocene host magmas. The cumulate group ranges from clinopyroxene-rich mica peridotites (including abundant mica wehrlites) to mica clinopyroxenites. Most contain >30% phlogopite. Their mineral compositions are similar to those of phenocrysts in the host minettes. Their whole-rock compositions are generally poorer in MgO but richer in incompatible trace elements than those of the tectonite peridotites. Whole-rock trace element patterns are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE; Rb, Cs, U and Pb) and depleted in HFSE (Nb, Ta Zr and Hf) as in the host minettes, and their Sr–Nd isotopic compositions are also identical to those of the minettes. Their clinopyroxenes are LREE-enriched and formed in equilibrium with a LREE-enriched melt closely resembling the minettes. The cumulates therefore represent a much younger magmatic event, related to crystallization at mantle depths of minette magmas in Eocene times, that caused further metasomatic enrichment of the lithosphere

Conventional versus highly cross-linked polyethylene in primary total knee replacement : a comparison of revision rates using data from the National Joint Registry for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

There is evidence to support the use of highly cross-linked polyethylene (HXLPE) in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty. However, the benefits for those undergoing total knee arthroplasty are uncertain, with conflicting reports based on previous cohort analyses. The purpose of the present study was to compare the revision rates following primary total knee arthroplasty with use of HXLPE as compared with conventional polyethylene (CPE) using data from the National Joint Registry (NJR) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We performed a retrospective analysis of primary total knee arthroplasties recorded in the NJR from 2003 to 2014. Cobalt-chromium (CoCr)-CPE and CoCr-HXLPE bearing surfaces were compared using all-cause revision, aseptic revision, and septic revision as end points. Survival analyses were conducted using rates per 100 years observed, Kaplan-Meier survival estimates, and Cox regression hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, body mass index (BMI), lead surgeon grade, and implant constraint. Secondary analyses compared the most commonly used HXLPEs (Zimmer Prolong, DePuy XLK, and Stryker X3) against CPE for the 3 most common total knee arthroplasty systems (NexGen, PFC Sigma, and Triathlon). In the present study of 550,658 total knee arthroplasties, the unadjusted aseptic revision rates were significantly lower following procedures performed with CPE (n = 513,744) as compared with those performed with HXLPE total knee replacements (n = 36,914) (0.29 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.28 to 0.30] compared to 0.38 [95% CI, 0.35 to 0.42], p 35 kg/m, the "second-generation" Stryker X3 HXLPE demonstrated significantly better survival than its respective CPE, with CPE having an HR of 2.6 (95% CI, 1.2 to 5.9) (p = 0.02). Alternative bearings are marketed as having improved wear properties over traditional CoCr-CPE. This registry-based analysis demonstrated no overall survival benefit of HXLPE after a maximum duration of follow-up of 12 years. Because of their increased cost, the routine use of HXLPE bearings may not be justified. However, they may have a role in specific "higher demand" groups such as patients 35 kg/m. Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete list of levels of evidence

An Engineering, Geological and Hydrological Environmental Assessment of a 250 MMSCFD Dry Ash Lurgi Coal Gasification Facility

A preliminary engineering, geological, and hydrological environmental assessment of a proposed 250 MMSCFD dry ash Lurgi coal gasification facility is discussed. The facility\u27s emission spectrum is examined on the basis of the proposed design and empirical data. This system utilizes approximately 13 million tons of lignite and 17,000 acre feet of water per year and consumes 6500 tons of oxygen per day. The results of the study indicate that the major gaseous effluent is CO2, that the federal limits on SO2 effluent may be met, and that the atmospheric degradation criterion will be the most difficult one to meet. The fate of trace elements during the gasification process is discussed. Available preliminary data indicate that the majority of the trace elements will be concentrated in and leave the system with the ash. The probable hydrological and geological impacts pertinent to ash and sludge disposal and water table depression are discussed. The results of the study indicate that the water table will be depressed during mine operations and that some groundwater pollution will occur due to waste disposal

Nursing and community rates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among students in Harare, Zimbabwe.

BACKGROUND: African hospitals have experienced major increases in admissions for tuberculosis, but they are ill-equipped to prevent institutional transmission. We compared institutional rates and community rates of tuberculin skin test (TST) conversion in Harare, Zimbabwe. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of TST conversion 6, 12, and 18 months into training among 159 nursing and 195 polytechnic school students in Harare. Students had negative TST results (induration diameter, or =10 mm) per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 14.2-26.2 conversions per 100 person-years), and polytechnic school students experienced 6.0 (95% CI, 3.5-10.4) conversions per 100 person-years. The rate of difference was 13.2 conversions (95% CI, 6.5-20.0) per 100 person-years. With a more stringent definition of conversion (increase in the induration diameter of > or =10 mm to at least 15 mm), which is likely to increase specificity but decrease sensitivity, conversion rates were 12.5 and 2.8 conversions per 100 person-years in nursing and polytechnic school students, respectively (rate difference, 9.7 conversions per 100 person-years; 95% CI, 4.5-14.8 conversions per 100 person-years). Nursing students reportedly nursed 20,868 inpatients with tuberculosis during 315 person-years of training. CONCLUSIONS: Both groups had high TST conversion rates, but the extremely high rates among nursing students imply high occupational exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Intense exposure to inpatients with tuberculosis was reported during training. Better prevention, surveillance, and management of institutional M. tuberculosis transmission need to be supported as part of the international response to the severe human immunodeficiency virus infection epidemic and health care worker crisis in Africa