Observation of meteors by MST radar

The observation of meteor trails by a vertical mesosphere - stratosphere - troposphere (MST) radar beam has the advantage of good height resolution and an approximate knowledge of the zenith angle since the trails are horizontal or near-horizontal. An extension of the ablation theory of meteors was developed for near horizontal trails which takes into account the curvature of the earth. Observations of the Geminid meteor shower by MST radar reveal the 'diffusion heights' to be in fair agreement with the true height, but with some discrepancies that can amount to 4 km. The true heights are almost entirely confined to the range 87-91 km, although the upper limit is attributed to the coherent integration time of the existing MST radar processing

Financial System Inquiry topical analysis

Summary This research paper describes the merit of developing a text analytics engine to index public submissions to the recent Financial System Inquiry (FSI). Public inquiries such as the FSI typically involve processing a substantial number of documents, with content that represents a diverse range of opinions. Managing the diverse authorship and viewpoints reflected in a body of submissions presents a unique challenge. This research demonstrates the use of automated topic analysis to enhance the productivity of panel members who are responsible for reading and analysing a large body of submission material. The result is a heat-map of topic exposure by submissions. Description Public policy development is often conducted via the process of a Public Inquiry involving the statement of a Terms of Reference, appointment of an Expert Panel and call for submissions from interested organisations and members of the public. The public input to a typical inquiry involves substantial textual content reflecting the diverse opinions of contributors. Managing large inventories of publicly submitted documents with diverse authorship and competing viewpoints is a challenging problem area. In this working paper, we describe research efforts to develop a proof-of-concept text analytics engine to assist topical indexing of a large corpus of public submissions to the recent Australian Financial Systems Inquiry (FSI). The methodology was based on topical analysis of the documents using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) as implemented within open source software based on the Python gensim package. This report details how the proof-of-concept text analytics pipeline was assembled and summarizes some of the key topic patterns of submissions by identified author affinity groups. Through use of the textual commentary of the Expert Panel during the course of the Inquiry, the topic analysis is constrained to focus on those matters deemed most relevant to their editorial input. Using this approach provides a means to introduce an “editorial prior” incorporating the stated views of the Expert Panel on their Interim Observations and their Final Recommendations. It is hoped that such methods might provide a means to sharpen understanding of the conversation expressed through the process of public submissions, commentary and second-round consultations

A Survival Analysis on United States Labor-Force and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Policy Repeals

It is an undeniable fact that the economy of the United States of America has very much benefited directly and indirectly from the pooled skilled labor force of both legal and illegal immigrants. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to compare and contrast the survival function of the United States labor-force as well as employed DACA recipients’ and, in the process, fit a Cox Proportional Hazard (Cox PH) model to the sampled data. The study utilized secondary and extant sources of immigration data on DACA immigrants between 2012 and 2015, coupled with labor-force data from 1995 to 2015. Additionally, the study adopted the Pearson’s chi-square test statistic to evaluate the null hypothesis. As part of the results, the study found that, given the assumption of the same time limit, the U.S.A.  labor force has about 78% survival within the local (U.S.A) economy, with the absence of the labor force from DACA recipients. However, when the DACA employees are added, under the same conditions, the survival of the labor force grew up to 90%, with all other things being equal. Also, the total U.S.A. labor force is more likely to experience the total risk (or cumulative hazard) rate of about 30% within the local economy. However, out of the 30% cumulative hazard rate, which is more likely to be experienced by the entire economy, about 12% will be borne by the fewer DACA employees, who are yet to face deportation. The study has the conclusion that, for the continuous growth and survival of the labor force of the United States of America, there is the need for continuity and expansion of the DACA policy. Keywords: Immigrants, Labor-Force, Survival Analysis, Hazard Rate, Employment, & DACA

The Theoretical Perspective and Strands of the Social Contract as Espoused in the Works of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau: It’s Effects on the Contemporary Society

It is an undeniable fact that the Social Contract theory developed at the transition period from feudalism to capitalism, whereby the feudal system – which is based on absolutism and the absolute right of kings -- was being fought. The theory came as a means of explaining and justifying the existence of governments, and that government should emerge from the will of the people. It is not, therefore, surprising that in democracies, one hears about the government of the people, by the people and for the people. The Social Contract -- as espoused by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacque Rousseau, as three dynamic thinkers, and also by a few other modern philosophical thinkers -- is a convention between men that aims to discard the proverbial “State of Nature”, whereby people are to live without government or written laws. With his famous phrase, Rousseau, in fact, says it best when he has often been quoted as pointing out that "man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains". Hobbes and Locke agree very much with Rousseau, hence they underscore in unison that modern nations do repress the physical freedom that is our birthright as human beings, and that we do nothing to secure the civil freedom for the sake of which human beings enter into civil society. Contextually, these thinkers have concretely confirmed that legitimate political authority does stem from only a social contract that can be agreed upon by all citizens of a nation for their mutual survival or preservation. Later, the theory became an impetus for as well as reflected in the English Revolution, the French Revolution and the American Revolution, which led to the declaration of American independence. Keywords: Social Contract, Good Will, Democracy, State of Nature, Feudalism, Society, Government, Absolutism and Liberalis

One Health: parasites and beyond

The field of parasitism is broad, encompassing relationships between organisms where one benefits at the expense of another. Traditionally the discipline focuses on eukaryotes, with the study of bacteria and viruses complementary but distinct. Nonetheless, parasites vary in size and complexity from single celled protozoa, to enormous plants like those in the genus Rafflesia. Lifecycles range from obligate intracellular to extensive exoparasitism. Examples of parasites include high profile medical and zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium, veterinary pathogens of wild and captive animals and many of the agents which cause neglected tropical diseases, stretching to parasites which infect plants and other parasites (e.g. (Blake et al., 2015; Hemingway, 2015; Hotez et al., 2014; Kikuchi et al., 2011; Meekums et al., 2015; Sandlund et al., 2015). The breadth of parasitology has been matched by the variety of ways in which parasites are studied, drawing upon biological, chemical, molecular, epidemiological and other expertise. Despite such breadth bridging between disciplines has commonly been problematic, regardless of extensive encouragement from government agencies, peer audiences and funding bodies promoting multi-disciplinary research. Now, progress in understanding and collaboration can benefit from establishment of the One Health concept (Stark et al., 2015; Zinsstag et al., 2012). One Health draws upon biological, environmental, medical, veterinary and social science disciplines in order to improve human, animal and environmental health, although it remains tantalizingly difficult to engage many relevant parties. For infectious diseases traditional divides have been exacerbated as the importance of wildlife reservoirs, climate change, food production systems and socio-economic diversity have been recognised but often not addressed in a multi-disciplinary manner. In response the 2015 Autumn Symposium organized by the British Society for Parasitology (BSP; https://www.bsp.uk.net/home/) was focused on One Health, running under the title ‘One Health: parasites and beyond…’. The meeting, held at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in Camden, London from September 14th to 15th, drew upon a blend of specialist parasitology reinforced with additional complementary expertise. Scientists, advocates, policy makers and industry representatives were invited to present at the meeting, promoting and developing One Health understanding with relevance to parasitology. The decision to widen the scope of the meeting to non-parasitological, but informative topics, is reflected in the diversity of the articles included in this special issue. A key feature of the meeting was encouragement of early career scientists, with more than 35% of the delegates registered as students and 25 posters

A tale of two cities: The impact of airline mergers and consolidation at London and New York

This paper considers the changes to airline networks, service patterns, and competition that have taken place as a result of recent airline mergers on both sides of the North Atlantic as well as through transatlantic alliances. Capacity, frequency and the competitive position are studied at London and New York with the use of schedule data within different markets in which measures of market concentration are evaluated. International Civil Aviation Organization data is employed to examine load factors on international routes, and UK Civil Aviation Authority data to consider the distribution of traffic between airports in London. It is shown that the effectiveness of the hubs has increased, with enhanced efficiency for surviving airlines, through fewer competitors, an enlarged network and greater control of capacity. Potential concerns are identified however, regarding passenger choice,pricing, and service options that suggest the industry is moving toward an oligopoly. Smaller cities are also seen to be the losers from consolidation with slot divestments favoring increased service in the dense markets, with many regional links being axed altogether. The paper supplements the literature on airline consolidation, with a particular focus on the two biggest markets in the world—London and New York—which demonstrate some similar but also some different issues. Both airline network impacts and choice, and service for local consumers are considered

Convergent evolution of SWS2 opsin facilitates adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback into different light environments

Repeated adaptation to a new environment often leads to convergent phenotypic changes whose underlying genetic mechanisms are rarely known. Here, we study adaptation of color vision in threespine stickleback during the repeated postglacial colonization of clearwater and blackwater lakes in the Haida Gwaii archipelago. We use whole genomes from 16 clearwater and 12 blackwater populations, and a selection experiment, in which stickleback were transplanted from a blackwater lake into an uninhabited clearwater pond and resampled after 19 y to test for selection on cone opsin genes. Patterns of haplotype homozygosity, genetic diversity, site frequency spectra, and allele-frequency change support a selective sweep centered on the adjacent blue- and red-light sensitive opsins SWS2 and LWS. The haplotype under selection carries seven amino acid changes in SWS2, including two changes known to cause a red-shift in light absorption, and is favored in blackwater lakes but disfavored in the clearwater habitat of the transplant population. Remarkably, the same red-shifting amino acid changes occurred after the duplication of SWS2 198 million years ago, in the ancestor of most spiny-rayed fish. Two distantly related fish species, bluefin killifish and black bream, express these old paralogs divergently in black- and clearwater habitats, while sticklebacks lost one paralog. Our study thus shows that convergent adaptation to the same environment can involve the same genetic changes on very different evolutionary time scales by reevolving lost mutations and reusing them repeatedly from standing genetic variation

Prediction of Phenotypic Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles From Whole Genome Sequences of Non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica

Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS), is essential for monitoring transmission of resistance from the food chain to humans, and for establishing effective treatment protocols. We evaluated the prediction of phenotypic resistance in NTS from genotypic profiles derived from whole genome sequencing (WGS). Genes and chromosomal mutations responsible for phenotypic resistance were sought in WGS data from 3,491 NTS isolates received by Public Health England’s Gastrointestinal Bacteria Reference Unit between April 2014 and March 2015. Inferred genotypic AMR profiles were compared with phenotypic susceptibilities determined for fifteen antimicrobials using EUCAST guidelines. Discrepancies between phenotypic and genotypic profiles for one or more antimicrobials were detected for 76 isolates (2.18%) although only 88/52,365 (0.17%) isolate/antimicrobial combinations were discordant. Of the discrepant results, the largest number were associated with streptomycin (67.05%, n = 59). Pan-susceptibility was observed in 2,190 isolates (62.73%). Overall, resistance to tetracyclines was most common (26.27% of isolates, n = 917) followed by sulphonamides (23.72%, n = 828) and ampicillin (21.43%, n = 748). Multidrug resistance (MDR), i.e., resistance to three or more antimicrobial classes, was detected in 848 isolates (24.29%) with resistance to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulphonamides and tetracyclines being the most common MDR profile (n = 231; 27.24%). For isolates with this profile, all but one were S. Typhimurium and 94.81% (n = 219) had the resistance determinants blaTEM-1, strA-strB, sul2 and tet(A). Extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes were identified in 41 isolates (1.17%) and multiple mutations in chromosomal genes associated with ciprofloxacin resistance in 82 isolates (2.35%). This study showed that WGS is suitable as a rapid means of determining AMR patterns of NTS for public health surveillance