51,586 research outputs found
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Food, Brexit and Northern Ireland: Critical Issues
This report is the third in our Food Brexit Briefing series. It argues that the absence of serious consideration of food flows into, out of and through Northern Ireland is a significant policy omission in the ongoing Brexit negotiations. There has been much talk of the importance of Northern Ireland, but next to no detailed attention to the food implications of Brexit for Northern Ireland. The report makes the case that there is an urgent need to get down to detail over border arrangements, contingency planning and resource allocation. This is too important to leave to last-minute makeshift or muddle.
Food is central to the economy of Northern Ireland, and the continuing supply of safe, high quality, healthy food is currently dependent on the absence of border controls between Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and the rest of the European Union. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food criss-cross these borders every year. They are currently free from inspection because of shared, underpinning EU Single Market regulation. An unplanned or mishandled food border imposition is likely to have powerful, destabilising consequences for the integrated nature of food supply, trade and access within Northern Ireland for many years to come. It would raise important challenges for food safety, put jobs at risk, potentially constrain Northern Irelandās access to health-supporting foods such as fruit and vegetables, and create opportunities for food fraud and crime.
The report, by Gary McFarlane and Tony Lewis, both senior environmental health professionals and officers of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, and Professor Tim Lang, of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London, is based on a thorough review of food flows into, from and through Northern Ireland, and the practical experience of its authors.
The report dismisses talk of ātechnological fixesā to help maintain the smooth flow of goods as vague, unavailable now and unrealistic. It calls for all the governments and bodies involved in food and Brexit ā the European Union, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland itself ā to set political differences aside in order to resolve the considerable practical challenges of cross-border food traffic. The authors make more than 30 recommendations to help that process
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Why Local Authorities should prepare Food Brexit Plans
The UKās food supply will be affected by Brexit whatever the outcome of the Parliamentary vote on the Draft Withdrawal Agreement. As the 29 March 2019 date for leaving the EU approaches, preparations to ensure we maintain a safe, adequate and sustainable food supply need to start urgently. Local Authorities (LAs) have a vital part to play in these preparations. More guidance, paying attention to the food specifics, is felt to be needed.
LAs have a key role in the UKās food system, with responsibilities including the enforcement of food safety and standards regulation, the control of imported food at ports and airports and the certification of foods for export. They also have unique knowledge of relevant local professionals, institutions, businesses and networks.
This briefing aims to help Local Authorities prepare for Food Brexit. It shows why LAs should prepare Food Brexit Plans, and outlines five courses of action they could consider.
The briefing recommends that Local Authorities:
ā¢ Create Food Resilience Teams
ā¢ Anticipate and reduce the impact of Food Brexit, particularly on SMEs
ā¢ Narrow the information gap and treat the public openly and fairly
ā¢ Prepare for public engagement
ā¢ Be a local food voice so that central government knows the local realities
Aerodynamic performance of 0.5 meter-diameter, 337 meter-per-second tip speed, 1.5 pressure-ratio, single-stage fan designed for low noise aircraft engines
Overall and blade-element aerodynamic performance of a 0.271-scale model of QF-1 are presented, examined, and then compared and evaluated with that from similar low noise fan stage designs. The tests cover a wide range of speeds and weight flows along with variations in stator setting angle and stator axial spacing from the rotor. At design speed with stator at design setting angle and a fixed distance between stage measuring stations, there were no significant effects of increasing the axial spacing between rotor stator from 1.0 to 3.5 rotor chords on stage overall pressure ratio, efficiency or stall margin
Association between obesity and bacterial vaginosis as assessed by Nugent score
Background
Bacterial vaginosis is one of the most common vaginal conditions in the U.S. Recent studies have suggested obese women have an abnormal microbiota reminiscent of BV; however, few studies have investigated the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis in overweight and obese populations. Moreover, despite the increased prevalence of obesity and bacterial vaginosis in black women, it is not known whether racial disparities exist in the relationship between obesity and bacterial vaginosis.
Objective
The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between body mass index and bacterial vaginosis as determined by Nugent score and to determine the influence of race in this context.
Study Design
We performed a cross-sectional study using patient data and vaginal smears from 5,918 participants of the Contraceptive CHOICE Project. Gram stained vaginal smears were scored using the Nugent method and categorized as BV-negative (Nugent score 0-3), BV-intermediate (Nugent score 4-6), or BV-positive (Nugent score 7-10). Body mass index was determined using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and obese individuals were categorized as Class I, II, or III obese based on NIH and World Health Organization body mass index parameters. Linear regression was used to model mean differences in Nugent scores and Poisson regression with robust error variance was used to model prevalence of bacterial vaginosis.
Results
In our cohort, 50.7% of participants were black, 41.5% were white, and 5.1% were of Hispanic ethnicity with an average age of 25.3 years old. Overall, 28.1% of participants were bacterial vaginosis-positive. Bacterial vaginosis was prevalent in 21.3% of lean, 30.4% of overweight, and 34.5% of obese women (p<0.001). The distribution of bacterial vaginosis-intermediate individuals was similar across all body mass index categories. Compared to lean women, Nugent scores were highest among overweight and obese Class I women (adjusted mean difference; overweight 0.33 [95% CI 0.14, 0.51] and Class I obese 0.51 [95% CI 0.29, 0.72]). Consistent with this, overweight and obese women had a higher frequency of bacterial vaginosis compared to lean women, even after adjusting for variables including race. Among white women, the prevalence of BV was higher for overweight and Class I and Class II/III obese white women compared to lean white women, a phenomenon not observed among black women, suggesting an effect modification.
Conclusion
Overweight and obese women have higher Nugent scores and a greater occurrence of bacterial vaginosis compared to lean women. Black women have a greater prevalence of bacterial vaginosis independent of their body mass index compared to white women
Uncovering CDM halo substructure with tidal streams
Models for the formation and growth of structure in a cold dark matter
dominated universe predict that galaxy halos should contain significant
substructure. Studies of the Milky Way, however, have yet to identify the
expected few hundred sub-halos with masses greater than about 10^6 Msun. Here
we propose a test for the presence of sub-halos in the halos of galaxies. We
show that the structure of the tidal tails of ancient globular clusters is very
sensitive to heating by repeated close encounters with the massive dark
sub-halos. We discuss the detection of such an effect in the context of the
next generation of astrometric missions, and conclude that it should be easily
detectable with the GAIA dataset. The finding of a single extended cold stellar
stream from a globular cluster would support alternative theories, such as
self-interacting dark matter, that give rise to smoother halos.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRA
The perimeter of large planar Voronoi cells: a double-stranded random walk
Let be the probability for a planar Poisson-Voronoi cell to have
exactly sides. We construct the asymptotic expansion of up to
terms that vanish as . We show that {\it two independent biased
random walks} executed by the polar angle determine the trajectory of the cell
perimeter. We find the limit distribution of (i) the angle between two
successive vertex vectors, and (ii) the one between two successive perimeter
segments. We obtain the probability law for the perimeter's long wavelength
deviations from circularity. We prove Lewis' law and show that it has
coefficient 1/4.Comment: Slightly extended version; journal reference adde
Effect of Multiple Higgs Fields on the Phase Structure of the SU(2)-Higgs Model
The SU(2)-Higgs model, with a single Higgs field in the fundamental
representation and a quartic self-interaction, has a Higgs region and a
confinement region which are analytically connected in the parameter space of
the theory; these regions thus represent a single phase. The effect of multiple
Higgs fields on this phase structure is examined via Monte Carlo lattice
simulations. For the case of N>=2 identical Higgs fields, there is no remaining
analytic connection between the Higgs and confinement regions, at least when
Lagrangian terms that directly couple different Higgs flavours are omitted. An
explanation of this result in terms of enhancement from overlapping phase
transitions is explored for N=2 by introducing an asymmetry in the hopping
parameters of the Higgs fields. It is found that an enhancement of the phase
transitions can still occur for a moderate (10%) asymmetry in the resulting
hopping parameters.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures. References updated and minor typos correcte
Anomalous isotopic predissociation in the FĀ³Ī u(v=1) state of Oā
Using a tunable, narrow-bandwidth vacuum-ultraviolet source based on third-harmonic generation from excimer-pumped dye-laser radiation, the FĀ³Ī uāXĀ³Ī£g-(1,0)photoabsorption cross sections of Ā¹ā¶Oā and Ā¹āøOā have been recorded in high resolution. Rotational analyses have been performed and the resultant F(v=1) term values fitted to the Ā³Ī Hamiltonian of Brown and Merer [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 74, 488 (1979)]. A large rotationless isotope effect is observed in the F(v=1)predissociation, wherein the Lorentzian linewidth component for Ā¹āøOā is a factor of ā¼50 smaller than the corresponding Ā¹ā¶Oālinewidth. This effect, a consequence of the nonadiabatic rotationless predissociation mechanism, is described using a coupled-channel treatment of the strongly Rydberg-valence-mixed 3Ī u states. Significant J, e/f-parity, and sublevel dependencies observed in the isotopic F(v=1) rotational widths are found to derive from an indirect predissociation mechanism involving an accidental degeneracy with the EĀ³Ī£āu(v=3) level, itself strongly predissociated by Ā³Ī£āu Rydberg-valence interactions, together with L-uncoupling (rotational) interactions between the Rydberg components of the F and E states. Transitions into the E(v=3) level are observed directly for the first time, specifically in the Ā¹āøOā spectrumPartial support
was provided by an NSF International Opportunities for Scientists
and Engineers Program Grant No. INT-9513350, and
Visiting Fellowships for G.S. and J.B.W. at the Australian
National University
Risk, standard deviation, and expected value: when should an individual start social security?
In choosing when to start collecting Social Security, the differences in expected net present values (NPVs) are smallābut the corresponding standard deviations are not. Starting earlier is less risky. The case analyzed is single individuals in the U.S. system, but the methodology can be applied to couples and to the systems of other nations. Considering risk and return together places Social Security in the same risk/return framework as other capital investments. Behavioral, situational, and qualitative factors that often dominate decisions on when to start are linked with quantitative approaches to longevity risk and mortality risk
Microlensing of Broad Absorption Line Quasars: Polarization Variability
Roughly 10% of all quasars exhibit Broad Absorption Line (BAL) features which
appear to arise in material outflowing at high velocity from the active
galactic nucleus (AGN). The details of this outflow are, however, very poorly
constrained and the particular nature of the BAL material is essentially
unknown. Recently, new clues have become available through polarimetric studies
which have found that BAL troughs are more polarized than the quasar continuum
radiation. To explain these observations, models where the BAL material
outflows equatorially across the surface of the dusty torus have been
developed. In these models, however, several sources of the BAL polarization
are possible. Here, we demonstrate how polarimetric monitoring of
gravitationally lensed quasars, such as H 1413+117, during microlensing events
can not only distinguish between two currently popular models, but can also
provide further insight into the structure at the cores of BAL quasars.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PAS
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