Sexual networks and the transmission of HIV in London

Copyright @ 1998 Cambridge University Press.This paper discusses ways in which empirical research investigating sexual networks can further understanding of the transmission of HIV in London, using information from a 24-month period of participant observation and 53 open-ended, in-depth interviews with eighteen men and one woman who have direct and indirect sexual links with each other. These interviews enabled the identification of a wider sexual network between 154 participants and contacts during the year August 1994-July 1995. The linked network data help to identify pathways of transmission between individuals who are HIV + and those who are HIV -, as well as sexual links between 'older' and 'younger' men, and with male prostitutes. There appears to be considerable on-going transmission of HIV in London. The majority of participants reported having had unprotected anal and/or vaginal sex within a variety of relationships. The implications of these findings for policies designed to prevent the transmission of HIV are discussed.The Wellcome Trust and The Health Education Authority

Barriers to the utilization of synthetic fuels for transportation

The principal types of engines for transportation uses are reviewed and the specifications for conventional fuels are compared with specifications for synthetic fuels. Synfuel processes nearing the commercialization phase are reviewed. The barriers to using synfuels can be classified into four groups: technical, such as the uncertainty that a new engine design can satisfy the desired performance criteria; environmental, such as the risk that the engine emissions cannot meet the applicable environmental standards; economic, including the cost of using a synfuel relative to conventional transportation fuels; and market, involving market penetration by offering new engines, establishing new distribution systems and/or changing user expectations

An investigation of rooftop STOL port aerodynamics

An investigation into aerodynamic problems associated with large building rooftop STOLports was performed. Initially, a qualitative flow visualization study indicated two essential problems: (1) the establishment of smooth, steady, attached flow over the rooftop, and (2) the generation of acceptable crosswind profile once (1) has been achieved. This study indicated that (1) could be achieved by attaching circular-arc rounded edge extensions to the upper edges of the building and that crosswind profiles could be modified by the addition of porous vertical fences to the lateral edges of the rooftop. Important fence parameters associated with crosswind alteration were found to be solidity, fence element number and spacing. Large scale building induced velocity fluctuations were discovered for most configurations tested and a possible explanation for their occurrence was postulated. Finally, a simple equation relating fence solidity to the resulting velocity profile was developed and tested for non-uniform single element fences with 30 percent maximum solidity

Diet of oceanic loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the central North Pacific

Diet analysis of 52 loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) collected as bycatch from 1990 to 1992 in the high-seas driftnet fishery operating between lat. 29.5°N and 43°N and between long. 150°E and 154°W demonstrated that these turtles fed predominately at the surface; few deeper water prey items were present in their stomachs. The turtles ranged in size from 13.5 to 74.0 cm curved carapace length. Whole turtles (n =10) and excised stomachs (n= 42) were frozen and transported to a laboratory for analysis of major faunal components. Neustonic species accounted for four of the five most common prey taxa. The most common prey items were Janthina spp. (Gastropoda); Carinaria cithara Benson 1835 (Heteropoda); a chondrophore, Velella velella (Hydrodia); Lepas spp. (Cirripedia), Planes spp. (Decapoda: Grapsidae), and pyrosomas (Pyrosoma spp.)

Relation Between Einstein And Quantum Field Equations

We show that there exists a choice of scalar field modes, such that the evolution of the quantum field in the zero-mass and large-mass limits is consistent with the Einstein equations for the background geometry. This choice of modes is also consistent with zero production of these particles and thus corresponds to a preferred vacuum state preserved by the evolution. In the zero-mass limit, we find that the quantum field equation implies the Einstein equation for the scale factor of a radiation-dominated universe; in the large-mass case, it implies the corresponding Einstein equation for a matter-dominated universe. Conversely, if the classical radiation-dominated or matter-dominated Einstein equations hold, there is no production of scalar particles in the zero and large mass limits, respectively. The suppression of particle production in the large mass limit is over and above the expected suppression at large mass. Our results hold for a certain class of conformally ultrastatic background geometries and therefore generalize previous results by one of us for spatially flat Robertson-Walker background geometries. In these geometries, we find that the temporal part of the graviton equations reduces to the temporal equation for a massless minimally coupled scalar field, and therefore the results for massless particle production hold also for gravitons. Within the class of modes we study, we also find that the requirement of zero production of massless scalar particles is not consistent with a non-zero cosmological constant. Possible implications are discussed.Comment: Latex, 24 pages. Minor changes in text from original versio

New Structure In The Shapley Supercluster

We present new radial velocities for 189 galaxies in a 91 sq. deg region of the Shapley supercluster measured with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope. The data reveal two sheets of galaxies linking the major concentrations of the supercluster. The supercluster is not flattened in Declination as was suggested previously and it may be at least 30 percent larger than previously thought with a correspondingly larger contribution to the motion of the Local Group.Comment: LaTex: 2 pages, 1 figure, includes conf_iap.sty style file. To appear in proceedings of The 14th IAP Colloquium: Wide Field Surveys in Cosmology, held in Paris, 1998 May 26--30, eds. S.Colombi, Y.Mellie

Intumescent Coatings as Fire Retardants

Fire-retardant paint, when activated by the heat of fire, reacts to form a thick, low-density, polymeric coating or char layer. Water vapor and sulphur dioxide are released during the intumescent reaction

Morus rubra L.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/20017/thumbnail.jp

Verbena urticifolia L.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/19377/thumbnail.jp

Lantana macropoda Torr.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/18908/thumbnail.jp