Political risk in light rail transit PPP projects

Since 2003 public-private partnerships (PPPs) have represented between 10 and 13.5% of the total investment in public services in the UK. The macro-economic and political benefits of PPPs were among the key drivers for central government's decision to promote this form of procurement to improve UK public services. Political support for a PPP project is critical and is frequently cited as the most important critical success factor. This paper investigates the significance of political support and reviews the treatment of political risk in a business case by the public sector project sponsor for major UK-based light rail transit PPP projects during their development stage. The investigation demonstrates that in the early project stages it is not traditional quantitative Monte Carlo risk analysis that is important; rather it is the identification and representation of political support within a business case together with an understanding of how this information is then used to inform critical project decisions

National and Regional Estimates of the Prevalence of Opiate and/or Crack Cocaine use 2008-09: A summary of key findings

<p>This report summarises the results of a follow-up study to a three year project to estimate the prevalence of ‘problem drug use’ (defined as use of opiates and/or crack cocaine) nationally (England only), regionally and locally. The follow-up was carried out two years after the final sweep of the original project, so could therefore be considered as ‘sweep 5’. An overview of the national and regional estimates are presented in this report, as are comparisons with the estimates produced by the third (2006-07) sweep of the study. Estimates for 2007-08 are not available as a study was not commissioned for that year.</p> <p>Information about the number of people who use illicit drugs such as heroin, other opiates or crack cocaine is key to formulating effective policies for tackling drug-related harm as these drugs are associated with the highest levels of harm. It also helps inform service provision at the local level and provides a context in which to understand the population impact of interventions to reduce drug-related harm.</p> <p>Direct enumeration of those engaged in a largely covert activity such as the use of class A drugs is difficult and standard household survey techniques tend to underestimate the extent of such activity. Indirect techniques making use of various data sources offer a more reliable way of calculating prevalence estimates for the use of opiates and/or crack cocaine. The estimates presented in this report are derived using two indirect measurement techniques: the capture-recapture method (CRC ); and the multiple indicator (MIM ) method. These methods are described in detail in Hay et al., 2006 and Hay et al., 2007a. Methodological developments throughout the course of the previous three sweeps are discussed elsewhere (Hay et al., 2007b, Hay et al., 2008). The individuals covered by this study were people aged 15 to 64 and resident in each DAT area, and known to be using heroin, methadone, other opiate drugs or crack cocaine.</p&gt

Lie group weight multiplicities from conformal field theory

Dominant weight multiplicities of simple Lie groups are expressed in terms of the modular matrices of Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theories, and related objects. Symmetries of the modular matrices give rise to new relations among multiplicities. At least for some Lie groups, these new relations are strong enough to completely fix all multiplicities.Comment: 12 pages, Plain TeX, no figure

Nucleation Induced Undulative Instability in Thin Films of nCB Liquid Crystals

A surface instability is reported in thin nematic films of 5CB and 8CB, occurring near the nematic--isotropic phase transition. Although this instability leads to patterns reminiscent of spinodal dewetting, we show that it is actually based on a nucleation mechanism. Its characteristic wavelength does not depend markedly on film thickness, but strongly on the heating rate.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Modeling of a Building Scale Liquid Air Energy Storage and Expansion System with ASPEN HYSYS

Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) is a potential solution to mitigate renewable energy intermittency on islanded microgrids. Renewable microgrid generation in excess of the immediate load runs a cryogenic cycle to create and store liquid air. LAES systems can be combined with an expansion turbine to recover the stored energy. Using analytic methods to design a LAES and expansion system is complex and time consuming, suggesting modeling and simulation as a more efficient approach. Aspen HYSYS, an industrial process modeling software package, was used to model a combined Linde- Hampson cryogenic cycle (for liquefaction of air) and an expansion cycle (to convert the energy from liquid air vaporization to mechanical energy). The model was validated against previous analytic work. The validated model will be used to implement a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach to design an LAES and expansion system to reduce intermittency on an experimental microgrid at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, USA. Data from this facility will be used to further modify and validate the HYSYS model

Automorphism Modular Invariants of Current Algebras

We consider those two-dimensional rational conformal field theories (RCFTs) whose chiral algebras, when maximally extended, are isomorphic to the current algebra formed from some affine non-twisted Kac--Moody algebra at fixed level. In this case the partition function is specified by an automorphism of the fusion ring and corresponding symmetry of the Kac--Peterson modular matrices. We classify all such partition functions when the underlying finite-dimensional Lie algebra is simple. This gives all possible spectra for this class of RCFTs. While accomplishing this, we also find the primary fields with second smallest quantum dimension.Comment: 32 pages, plain Te

Hysterectomy, endometrial destruction, and levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine system (Mirena) for heavy menstrual bleeding : systematic review and meta-analysis of data from individual patients

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The CMS Tracker Readout Front End Driver

The Front End Driver, FED, is a 9U 400mm VME64x card designed for reading out the Compact Muon Solenoid, CMS, silicon tracker signals transmitted by the APV25 analogue pipeline Application Specific Integrated Circuits. The FED receives the signals via 96 optical fibers at a total input rate of 3.4 GB/sec. The signals are digitized and processed by applying algorithms for pedestal and common mode noise subtraction. Algorithms that search for clusters of hits are used to further reduce the input rate. Only the cluster data along with trigger information of the event are transmitted to the CMS data acquisition system using the S-LINK64 protocol at a maximum rate of 400 MB/sec. All data processing algorithms on the FED are executed in large on-board Field Programmable Gate Arrays. Results on the design, performance, testing and quality control of the FED are presented and discussed

Topology of Event Horizons and Topological Censorship

We prove that, under certain conditions, the topology of the event horizon of a four dimensional asymptotically flat black hole spacetime must be a 2-sphere. No stationarity assumption is made. However, in order for the theorem to apply, the horizon topology must be unchanging for long enough to admit a certain kind of cross section. We expect this condition is generically satisfied if the topology is unchanging for much longer than the light-crossing time of the black hole. More precisely, let $M$ be a four dimensional asymptotically flat spacetime satisfying the averaged null energy condition, and suppose that the domain of outer communication \C_K to the future of a cut $K$ of \Sm is globally hyperbolic. Suppose further that a Cauchy surface $\Sigma$ for \C_K is a topological 3-manifold with compact boundary $\partial\S$ in $M$, and $\S'$ is a compact submanifold of \bS with spherical boundary in $\S$ (and possibly other boundary components in $M/\S$). Then we prove that the homology group $H_1(\Sigma',Z)$ must be finite. This implies that either $\partial\S'$ consists of a disjoint union of 2-spheres, or $\S'$ is nonorientable and $\partial\S'$ contains a projective plane. Further, \partial\S=\partial\Ip[K]\cap\partial\Im[\Sp], and $\partial \Sigma$ will be a cross section of the horizon as long as no generator of \partial\Ip[K] becomes a generator of \partial\Im[\Sp]. In this case, if $\S$ is orientable, the horizon cross section must consist of a disjoint union of 2-spheres.}Comment: 11 pages, plain latex (minor revision: $\Sigma$ replaced by its closure in various places.

Uneven Relationalities, Collective Biography, and Sisterly Affect in Neoliberal Universities

This article deploys a collective biographical methodology as a political and epistemological intervention in order to explore the emotional and affective politics of academic work for women in neoliberal universities. The managerial practices of contemporary universities tend to elevate disembodied reason over emotion; to repress, commodify, or co-opt emotional and affective labor; to increase individualization and competition among academic workers; and to disregard the relational work that the article suggests is essential for well-being at work. The apparent marginalization of feminist and feminine ways of being, thinking, and feeling in academia is examined through close readings of three narrative vignettes, which are based on memories of the everyday academic spaces of meetings, workshops, and mentoring. These stories explore moments of the breaking of ties among women and between men and women, as well as document how feminist relationalities can bind and exclude. The article suggests that academic ties are both part of the problem and the solution to countering neoliberal policies, and that academic relationships, especially with other women, are often experienced as unrealized spaces of hope. Building on feminist scholarship about race and diversity, the article reflects on how relational practices like collective biography create both inclusions and exclusions. Nevertheless, it suggests that the methodology of collective biography might engender more sustainable and ethical ways of being in academic workplaces because it provides the resources to begin to create a new collective imaginary of academia