Analysis of Scramjet Flight Trajectories with Oxygen Enrichment

Scramjets are proposed as a second stage for a multi-stage access-to-space system. At present the upper limit of scramjet operation is expected to be Mach 12-14. Use of oxygen enrichment is a possible method for increasing the speed and altitude of scramjet operation. This paper involves mission analysis of scramjets using oxygen enrichment. It follows on from Smart & Tetlow [5], in which trajectory studies of a threestage rocket-scramjet-rocket access-to-space system were conducted. These calculations indicated that the net thrust (scramjet thrust - vehicle drag) of a hypersonic vehicle with three scramjet engine modules was reduced to very low levels above Mach 12. The current work examines the use of oxygen enrichment in the scramjet to increase net thrust above Mach 10. Results of the study indicate that an important effect of oxygen enrichment is to allow scramjet powered vehicle operation at higher altitude

‘RE/TRS’ is a Girl’s Subject: Talking about Gender and the Discourse of ‘Religion’ in UK Educational Spaces

This article addresses what appears to be a retrenchment into narrower forms of identification and an increased suspicion of difference in the context of educational policy in the UK – especially in relation to ‘Religious Education’. The adoption of standardized management protocols – ‘managerialism’ – across most if not all policy contexts including public educational spaces reduces spaces for encountering or addressing genuine difference and for discovering something new and different. A theory of the ‘feminization of religion’ associated historically with Barbara Welter, provides some useful insights as to why this might be, suggesting that those in British society who would prefer to see greater separation from ‘religion’ in ‘secular’ schools may well also be caught up in forms of gender stereotyping

Nitrogen cycle disruption through the application of de-icing salts on upland highways

It is hypothesized that episodic introductions of road salt severely disrupt the soil nitrogen cycle at a range of spatial and temporal scales. A field-scale study has confirmed impacts on the nitrogen cycle in soil, soil solution and river samples. There is evidence that ammonium-N retention on cation exchange sites has been reduced by the presence of sodium ions, and that ammonium-N has been flushed from the exchange sites. Increases in soil pH have been caused in naturally acidic uplands. These have enhanced mineralization of organic-N, especially nitrification, leading to a reduction in the mineralizable-N pool of roadside soils. There is evidence to support the hypothesis that organic matter content has been lowered over decades either through desorption or dispersal processes. Multiple drivers are identified that contribute to the disruption of nitrogen cycling processes, but their relative importance is difficult to quantify unequivocally. The influence of road salt on soil and soil solution declines with distance from the highway, but impacts on water chemistry in a local stream are still strongly evident at some distance from the road

Characterization of colorectal mucus using infrared spectroscopy: a potential target for bowel cancer screening and diagnosis

Biological materials presenting early signs of cancer would be beneficial for cancer screening/diagnosis. In this respect, the suitability of potentially exploiting mucus in colorectal cancer was tested using infrared spectroscopy in combination with statistical modeling. Twenty-six paraffinized colon tissue biopsy sections containing mucus regions from 20 individuals (10 normal and 16 cancerous) were measured using mid-infrared spectroscopic imaging. A digital de-paraffinization, followed by cluster analysis driven digital color-coded multi-staining segmented the infrared images into various histopathological features such as epithelium, connective tissue, stroma, and mucus regions within the tissue sections. Principal component analysis followed by supervised linear discriminant analysis was carried out on pure mucus and epithelial spectra from normal and cancerous regions of the tissue. For the mucus-based classification, a sensitivity of 96%, a specificity of 83%, and an area under the curve performance of 95% was obtained. For the epithelial tissue-based classification, a sensitivity of 72%, a specificity of 88%, and an area under the curve performance of 89% was obtained. The mucus spectral profiles further showed contributions indicative of glycans including that of sialic acid changes between these pathology groups. The study demonstrates that infrared spectroscopic analysis of mucus discriminates colorectal cancers with high sensitivity. This concept could be exploited to develop screening/diagnostic approaches complementary to histopathology.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom 204909/Z/16/Z/Wellcome Trust (Wellcome)published version, accepted version (6 month embargo), submitted versio

Modelling and simulation of operation and maintenance strategy for offshore wind farms based on multiagent system

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Maintenance of offshore wind turbines is a complex and costly undertaking which acts as a barrier to the development of this source of energy. Factors such as the size of the turbines, the size of the wind farms, their distance from the coast and meteorological conditions make it difficult for the stakeholders to select the optimal maintenance strategy. With the objective of reducing costs and duration of such operations it is important that new maintenance techniques are investigated. In this paper we propose a hybrid model of maintenance that is based on multi-agent systems; this allows for the modelling of systems with dynamic interactions between multiple parts. A multi-criteria decision algorithm has been developed to allow analysis and selection of different maintenance strategies. A cost model that includes maintenance action cost, energy loss and installation of monitoring system cost has been presented. For the purposes of this research we have developed a simulator using NetLogo software and have provided experimental results. The results show that employing the proposed hybrid maintenance strategy could increase wind farm productivity and reduce maintenance cost.Acknowledgement is made to European Union for the support of this research through the European Program INTERREG IVA France-Channel-UK by funding project entitled MER Innovate

Epitaxial influence on the ferromagnetic semiconducotor EuO

From first principles calculations we investigate the electronic structure and the magnetic properties of EuO under hydrostatic and epitaxial forces. There is a complex interdependence of the O 2p and Eu 4f and 5d bands on the magnetism in EuO, and decreasing lattice parameters is an ideal method to increase the Curie temperature, T_c. Compared to hydrostatic pressure, the out-of-plane compensation that is available to epitaxial films influences this increase in T_c, although it is minimized by the small value of poisson's ratio for EuO. We find the semiconducting gap closes at a 6% in-plane lattice compression for epitaxy, at which point a significant conceptual change must occur in the active exchange mechanisms

Exercise training for chronic heart failure (ExTraMATCH II): individual participant data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from NIHR Journals Library via the DOI in this record.Background: Current national and international guidelines on the management of heart failure (HF) recommend exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (ExCR), but do not differentiate this recommendation according to patient subgroups. Objective(s): (1) to obtain definitive estimates of the impact of ExCR interventions versus control (no exercise intervention) on mortality, hospitalisation, exercise capacity, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in HF patients; (2) to determine the differential (subgroup) effects of ExCR in HF patients according to their age, gender, ejection fraction, aetiology, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, and baseline exercise capacity; (3) to assess whether the change in exercise capacity mediates for the impact of the ExCR on final outcomes (mortality, hospitalisation, and HRQoL) and is an acceptable surrogate endpoint. Design: Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis Setting: An international literature review Participants: HF patients in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of ExCR Interventions: ExCR for at least 3 weeks compared with no exercise control with 6 months follow-up Main outcome measures: mortality (all cause and HF-specific), hospitalisation (all-cause & HF-specific), exercise capacity, and HRQoL Data sources: Individual participant data from eligible RCTs 3 Review methods: RCTs from ExTraMATCH IPD meta-analysis and 2014 Cochrane systematic review of ExCR Results: Out of the 23 eligible RCTs (4,398 patients), 19 RCTs (3,990 patients) contributed data to this IPD meta-analysis. There was a wide variation in exercise programme prescriptions across included studies. Compared with control, there was no statistically significant difference in pooled time to event estimates in favour of ExCR although confidence intervals were wide: all-cause mortality: hazard ratio (HR) 0.83 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.67 to 1.04), HF-related mortality: HR 0.84 (95% CI: 0.49 to 1.46), all-cause hospitalisation: HR 0.90 (95% CI: 0.76 to 1.06), and HF-related hospitalisation: HR 0.98 (95% CI: 0.72 to 1.35). There was a statistically significant difference in favour of ExCR for exercise capacity and HRQoL. Compared to control, at 12-months follow-up, improvements were seen in the six-minute walk test (6MWT) (mean: 21.0 metres, 95% CI: 1.57 to 40.4, and Minnesota Living with HF Questionnaire score (mean: -5.94, 95% CI: -1.0 to -10.9, lower scores indicate improved HRQoL). No strong evidence for differential intervention effects across patient characteristics was found for any outcomes. Moderate to good levels of correlation (R2 trial>50% & ρ>0.50) between peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) or 6MWT with mortality and HRQoL were seen. Estimated surrogate threshold effect (STE) was an increase of 1.6 to 4.6 ml/kg/min for VO2peak. Limitations: Lack consistency in how included RCTs defined and collected the outcomes; we were unable to obtain IPD from all includable trials for all outcomes; and we did not seek patient level on exercise adherence. . Conclusions: In comparison to no exercise control, participation in ExCR improves the exercise and HRQoL in HF patients but appears to have no effect on their mortality or hospitalisation. No strong evidence was found of differential intervention effects of ExCR across patient characteristics. VO2peak and 6MWT may be suitable surrogate endpoints for the treatment effect of ExCR on mortality and HRQoL in HF.NIHR Health Technology Assessment programm

Healthcare choice: Discourses, perceptions, experiences and practices

Policy discourse shaped by neoliberal ideology, with its emphasis on marketisation and competition, has highlighted the importance of choice in the context of healthcare and health systems globally. Yet, evidence about how so-called consumers perceive and experience healthcare choice is in short supply and limited to specific healthcare systems, primarily in the Global North. This special issue aims to explore how choice is perceived and utilised in the context of different systems of healthcare throughout the world, where choice, at least in policy and organisational terms, has been embedded for some time. The articles are divided into those emphasising: embodiment and the meaning of choice; social processes associated with choice; the uncertainties, risks and trust involved in making choices; and issues of access and inequality associated with enacting choice. These sociological studies reveal complexities not always captured in policy discourse and suggest that the commodification of healthcare is particularly problematic