4,319 research outputs found

    Primary accumulation in the Soviet transition

    Get PDF
    The Soviet background to the idea of primary socialist accumulation is presented. The mobilisation of labour power and of products into public sector investment from outside are shown to have been the two original forms of the concept. In Soviet primary accumulation the mobilisation of labour power was apparently more decisive than the mobilisation of products. The primary accumulation process had both intended and unintended results. Intended results included bringing most of the economy into the public sector, and industrialisation of the economy as a whole. Unintended results included substantial economic losses, and the proliferation of coercive institutions damaging to attainment of the ultimate goal - the building of a communist society

    Low loss Ge-on-Si waveguides operating in the 8–14 ”m atmospheric transmission window

    Get PDF
    Germanium-on-silicon waveguides were modeled, fabricated and characterized at wavelengths ranging from 7.5 to 11 ”m. Measured waveguide losses are below 5 dB/cm for both TE and TM polarization and reach values of ∌ 1 dB/cm for ≄ 10 ”m wavelengths for the TE polarization. This work demonstrates experimentally for the first time that Ge-on-Si is a viable waveguide platform for sensing in the molecular fingerprint spectral region. Detailed modeling and analysis is presented to identify the various loss contributions, showing that with practical techniques losses below 1 dB/cm could be achieved across the full measurement range

    The Salaries of Teachers in English Canada, 1900-1940: A Reappraisal

    Get PDF
    Any student of Canadian education during the first half of the twentieth century has encountered the belief, common among those engaged in the educational enterprise and sometimes shared by others, that teachers were badly paid for their work. Though not a universal assessment, a similar view has also dominated the historiography. This interpretation, we think, is overdue for revision. In this article we address two central questions. One focuses more narrowly on teachers' salaries per se: how much, on average, did teachers earn, and how did this change over time? The other asks, just how good or bad were their salaries compared to those of other people in the Canadian workforce? We tackle these questions on a Canada-wide basis, excluding only the province of Quebec, and over an extended period, covering the first four decades of the century. -- Parmi les chercheurs et les Ă©tudiants intĂ©ressĂ©s par l’histoire de l’éducation canadienne pour la premiĂšre moitiĂ© du vingtiĂšme siĂšcle, un lieu commun persiste, Ă  savoir, que les enseignants Ă©taient trĂšs mal payĂ©s pour leur travail. Bien que cette assertion ne soit pas partagĂ©e par tous, ce point de vue domine dans l’historiographie de cette pĂ©riode. Nous croyons qu’il est temps de repenser cette interprĂ©tation. Dans cet article, nous nous intĂ©ressons Ă  deux questions fondamentales. La premiĂšre porte spĂ©cifiquement sur la rĂ©munĂ©ration des enseignants: combien gagnaient-ils en moyenne et comment leurs salaires ont-ils Ă©voluĂ© dans le temps? La deuxiĂšme compare les salaires des enseignants Ă  ceux versĂ©s aux autres travailleurs canadiens: Ă©taient-ils pires ou meilleurs? Notre Ă©tude s’intĂ©resse aux enseignants canadiens, Ă  l’exception de ceux du QuĂ©bec, et couvre les quatre premiĂšres dĂ©cennies du vingtiĂšme siĂšcle.Parmi les chercheurs et les Ă©tudiants intĂ©ressĂ©s par l’histoire de l’éducation canadienne pour la premiĂšre moitiĂ© du vingtiĂšme siĂšcle, un lieu commun persiste, Ă  savoir, que les enseignants Ă©taient trĂšs mal payĂ©s pour leur travail. Bien que cette assertion ne soit pas partagĂ©e par tous, ce point de vue domine dans l’historiographie de cette pĂ©riode. Nous croyons qu’il est temps de repenser cette interprĂ©tation. Dans cet article, nous nous intĂ©ressons Ă  deux questions fondamentales. La premiĂšre porte spĂ©cifiquement sur la rĂ©munĂ©ration des enseignants: combien gagnaient-ils en moyenne et comment leurs salaires ont-ils Ă©voluĂ© dans le temps? La deuxiĂšme compare les salaires des enseignants Ă  ceux versĂ©s aux autres travailleurs canadiens: Ă©taient-ils pires ou meilleurs? Notre Ă©tude s’intĂ©resse aux enseignants canadiens, Ă  l’exception de ceux du QuĂ©bec, et couvre les quatre premiĂšres dĂ©cennies du vingtiĂšme siĂšcle

    Linking habitat mosaics and connectivity in a coral reef seascape

    Get PDF
    Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (2012): 15372-15376, doi:10.1073/pnas.1206378109.Tropical marine ecosystems are under mounting anthropogenic pressure from overfishing and habitat destruction, leading to declines in their structure and function on a global scale. While maintaining connectivity among habitats within a seascape is necessary for preserving population resistance and resilience, quantifying movements of individuals within seascapes remains challenging. Traditional methods of identifying and valuing potential coral reef fish nursery habitats are indirect, often relying on visual surveys of abundance and correlations of size and biomass among habitats. We used compound-specific stable isotope analyses to determine movement patterns of commercially important fish populations within a coral reef seascape. This approach allowed us to quantify the relative contributions of individuals from inshore nurseries to reef populations and identify migration corridors among important habitats. Our results provided direct measurements of remarkable migrations by juvenile snapper of over 30 km between nurseries and reefs. We also found significant plasticity in juvenile nursery residency. While a majority of individuals on coastal reefs had used seagrass nurseries as juveniles, many adults on oceanic reefs had settled directly into reef habitats. Moreover, seascape configuration played a critical but heretofore unrecognized role in determining connectivity among habitats. Finally, our approach provides key quantitative data necessary to estimate the value of distinctive habitats to ecosystem services provided by seascapes.This research was based on work supported by Award Nos. USA 00002 and KSA 00011 made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Additional funding was provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and an International Society for Reef Studies-Ocean Conservancy Coral Reef Fellowship. K. McMahon received support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program

    The effect of transmucosal 0.2mg/kg Midazolam premedication on dental anxiety, anaesthetic induction and psychological morbidity in children undergoing general anaesthesia for tooth extraction

    Get PDF
    <b>Background:</b> The project aims were to evaluate the benefit of transmucosal Midazolam 0.2mg/kg pre-medication on anxiety, induction behaviour and psychological morbidity in children undergoing general anaesthesia (GA) extractions. <b>Method:</b> 179 children aged 5-10 years (mean 6.53 years) participated in this randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Ninety children had Midazolam placed in the buccal pouch. Dental anxiety was recorded pre operatively and 48 hours later using a child reported MCDAS-FIS scale. Behaviour at anaesthetic induction was recorded and psychological morbidity was scored by the parent using the Rutter Scale pre-operatively and again one-week later. Subsequent dental attendance was recorded at one, three and six months after GA. <b>Results:</b> Whilst levels of mental anxiety did not reduce overall, the most anxious patients demonstrated a reduction in anxiety after receiving midazolam premedicationmay (p=0.01). Neither induction behaviour nor psychological morbidity improved. Irrespective of group, parents reported less hyperactive (p= 0.002) and more prosocial behaviour (p=0.002) after the procedure:;, older children improved most (p=0.048), Post GA Dental attendance was poor and unrelated to after the procedure and unaffected by premedication. <b>Conclusion:</b> 0.2mg/kg buccal Midazolam provided some evidence for reducing anxiety in the most dentally anxious patients. However, induction behaviour, psychological morbidity and subsequent dental attendance were not found to alter between the premedication groups

    Deuterated Ammonia in Galactic Protostellar Cores

    Get PDF
    We report on a survey of \nh2d towards protostellar cores in low-mass star formation and quiescent regions in the Galaxy. Twenty-three out of thirty-two observed sources have significant (\gsim 5\sigma) \nh2d emission. Ion-molecule chemistry, which preferentially enhances deuterium in molecules above its cosmological value of \scnot{1.6}{-5} sufficiently explains these abundances. NH2D/NH3 ratios towards Class 0 sources yields information about the ``fossil remnants'' from the era prior to the onset of core collapse and star formation. We compare our observations with predictions of gas-phase chemical networks.Comment: 16 Pages, 7 Figures, Accepted to Ap.J., to appear in the June 20, 2001 editio

    A new class of semiclassical wave function uniformizations

    Get PDF
    We present a new semiclassical technique which relies on replacing complicated classical manifold structure with simpler manifolds, which are then evaluated by the usual semiclassical rules. Under circumstances where the original manifold structure gives poor or useless results semiclassically the replacement manifolds can yield remarkable accuracy. We give several working examples to illustrate the theory presented here.Comment: 12 pages (incl. 12 figures

    The Cross-Sectional Association between Diet Quality and Depressive Symptomology amongst Fijian Adolescents

    Get PDF
    OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between diet quality and depressive symptomology amongst a community-based sample of Fijian adolescents. METHODS: Participants included 7,237 adolescents (52.6% girls; mean age 15.6 years) at baseline (2005) and 2,948 (56% girls; mean age 17.4 years) at follow-up (2007/2008), from the Pacific Obesity Prevention in Communities Project. Intervention schools (n = 7) were selected from Nasinu, near Suva on the main Fijian island Viti Levu, and comparison schools (n = 11) were chosen from towns on the opposite, west side of the island. A dietary questionnaire was used to measure diet quality. Factor analysis clustered dietary variables into two unique and independent factors, referred to as healthy diet quality and unhealthy diet quality. Depressive symptomology was assessed via the emotional subscale of the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Both measures were self-reported and self-administered. Multiple linear regression was used to test cross-sectional associations (at baseline and follow-up) between diet quality and depressive symptomology. Variables controlled for included gender, age, ethnicity, study condition, BMI-z scores, and physical activity. FINDINGS: Strong, positive dose-response associations between healthy diet and high emotional scores (lower depressive symptomology) were found in cross-sectional analyses at baseline and follow-up, among boys and girls. No association was found between emotional health and unhealthy diet. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that cross-sectional relationships exist between a high quality diet during adolescence and less depressive symptoms, however more evidence is required to determine if these two variables are linked causally. Trial population health strategies that use dietary interventions as a mechanism for mental health promotion provide an opportunity to further test these associations. If this is indeed a true relationship, these forms of interventions have the potential to be inexpensive and have substantial reach, especially in Low and Middle Income Countries. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12608000345381

    Ischaemic preconditioning of the liver before transplantation

    Get PDF
    Purpose: Assessment of the effect of a short ischaemic time prior to liver transplantation on the liver graft. Methods: White X Landrace pigs (N=10) were subjected to liver transplantation. Before being removed from the donor animal, the livers were randomised into two groups: group 1 - pre-procurement ischaemia (15 minutes' temporary arrest of portal venous and hepatic arterial inflow to the liver, followed by reperfusion of these vessels for a period of 15 minutes); group 2 - no prior inflow occlusion (control group). In group 1 a spleno-jugular bypass was established to prevent venous congestion, portal venous hypertension, intestinal oedema and bacterial translocation. The livers were perfused with Eurocollins solution (4oC), after which they were stored on ice for a period of 3 hours' cold ischaemic time. Hepatocellular injury was assessed according to liver cell function tests (aspartate aminotransferase, AST), biochemical indicators of reperfusion injury (malondialdehyde) and histopathology. Results: There was a significant rise of AST in both groups 1 hour after transplantation (from 51+27 IU/l to 357+152 IU/l in group 1 and from 29+10 IU/l to 359+198 IU/l in group 2). AST levels were marginally lower in group 1 at 2 and 4 hours after transplantation. There was also a rise in malondialdehyde levels in both groups at 5, 20, 40 and 60 minutes after transplantation. Levels of malondialdehyde were lower in the primed group at 5, 20 and 40 minutes, while the levels at 60 minutes after transplantation were comparable. Histological changes, as measured by vacuolisation, neutrophil infiltration and hepatic cell necrosis, were less in livers transplanted after ischaemic preconditioning, although the difference was not significant. Conclusions: Ischaemic preconditioning of the donor liver seems to decrease hepatocellular damage, reperfusion injury and histological changes in the liver after transplantation. Further studies with larger numbers are indicated
    • 

    corecore