Progress towards a Technological Prototype for a Semi-Digital Hadron Calorimeter based on Glass RPCs

The semi-digital Hadronic calorimeter using GRPC as sensitive medium is one of the two options the ILD collaboration is considering for the ILD detector final design. A prototype of 1m3 has been conceived within the CALICE collaboration in order to validate this option. The prototype is intended to be as close as possible to the one proposed in the ILD LOI. A first unit of 1m2 GRPC of 3 mm thickness and fully equipped with a semi-digital electronics readout and new gas distribution design was produced and successfully tested. In 2010 we intend to produce 40 similar units to be inserted in a self-supporting mechanical structure. The prototype will then be exposed to test beams at CERN or at Fermilab for final validation.Comment: Presented at the International Linear Collider Workshop, Beijing, March 26-30 201

The 43rd Parliament: traits and trends

Drawing on the statistical tables featured in the 32nd edition of the Parliamentary Handbook, this paper examines the biographical details of the senators and members of Australia\u27s 43rd Parliament.IntroductionIn recent years, academics and media commentators have documented the rise of a professional political class and the apparent shrinking gene pool in parliament, where members of Parliament often have ‘more in common with each other than with many of their constituents’. This Research Paper examines the biographical details of the senators and members of the 43rd Parliament, and draws on the statistical tables featured in the 32nd edition of the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia. The paper focuses on the age, qualifications, previous employment and length of parliamentary service, and compares these characteristics with previous parliaments. A similar examination of the 41st Parliament was published in 2006

A Study of Codes for Deep Space Telemetry

Computer simulation studies of codes applicable to deep space telemetry link

Mixed-type functional differential equations: A numerical approach

This is a PDF version of a preprint submitted to Elsevier. The definitive version was published in Journal of computational and applied mathematics and is available at www.elsevier.comThis preprint discusses mixed-type functional equations

An algorithm to detect small solutions in linear delay differential equations

This is a PDF version of a preprint submitted to Elsevier. The definitive version was published in the Journal of computational and applied mathematics and is available at www.elsevier.comThis preprint discusses an algorithm that provides a simple reliable mechanism for the detection of small solutions in linear delay differential equations.This article was submitted to the RAE2008 for the University of Chester - Applied Mathematics

Parasite excretory-secretory products and their effects on metabolic syndrome

Obesity, one of the main causes of metabolic syndrome (MetS), is an increasingly common health and economic problem worldwide, and one of the major risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Chronic, low-grade inflammation is associated with MetS and obesity. A dominant type 2/anti-inflammatory response is required for metabolic homeostasis within adipose tissue: during obesity, this response is replaced by infiltrating, inflammatory macrophages and T cells. Helminths and certain protozoan parasites are able to manipulate the host immune response towards a TH2 immune phenotype that is beneficial for their survival and there is emerging data that there is an inverse correlation between the incidence of MetS and helminth infections, suggesting that, as with autoimmune and allergic diseases, helminths may play a protective role against MetS disease. Within this review, we will focus primarily on the excretory-secretory products that the parasites produce to modulate the immune system and discuss their potential use as therapeutics against MetS and its associated pathologies

An efficient coding system for deep space probes with specific application to Pioneer missions

One-half rate convolutional encoding with sequential decoding for deep space probe telemetry links with application to Pioneer mission