Contemporary medical television and crisis in the NHS

This article maps the terrain of contemporary UK medical television, paying particular attention to Call the Midwife as its centrepiece, and situating it in contextual relation to the current crisis in the NHS. It provides a historical overview of UK and US medical television, illustrating how medical television today has been shaped by noteworthy antecedents. It argues that crisis rhetoric surrounding healthcare leading up to the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 has been accompanied by a renaissance in medical television. And that issues, strands and clusters have emerged in forms, registers and modes with noticeable regularity, especially around the value of affective labour, the cultural politics of nostalgia and the neoliberalisation of healthcare

“If You've Got Friends and Neighbours”: Constituency Voting Patterns for the UK Labour Party Leader in 2010

Most attention in British electoral studies has been paid to the pattern of voting for parties, with relatively little to that for individual candidates. In intra-party elections, however, candidates may perform better in some areas than others, illustrating V. O. Key's well-known “friends and neighbours” effect. This paper explores whether that was so at the election for the leader of the UK Labour party in 2010, expecting each of the five candidates to perform better in their own constituency and its environs and also with those constituency parties whose MPs supported their candidature. The results are in line with the expectations, especially for one of the candidates who ran an explicitly geographical campaign

Trapping and relocating seals from salmonid fish farms in Tasmania, 1990-2000: was it a success?

In an effort to reduce the impact of seals on fish farms, the trapping and relocation of seals at Tasmanian salmonid farms began in 1990. To the end of May 2000,353 identified individual seals had been trapped in 672 capture events. Most were non-breeding male Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriftrus). The number of seals captured increased (from four in 1990 ro a peak of 164 in 1998) with the size and extent of the farms, and an increase in salmon production from 55 tonnes in 1986/87 to almost 10000 tonnes in 1999/2000. Of 586 capture events 52% were of seals that had been captured more than once. When seals are recaptured following trapping and relocation, this occurs on average 25 days after capture. Capture-mark-recapture calculations show that many seals in the vicinity of fish farms are not 'trappable', suggesting that trapping is only effective for certain individuals. Some individuals are recaptured many times, reflecting the predisposition of some individuals to be captured ('trap-happy'). Interaction is seasonal, with most seals trapped during winter, between May and September. The assessment of trends in capture rates is problematic, due to the lack of capture effort information from the farms. A further confounding factor has been the change in management practice both between farms and over time, as the use of predator nets has become more widespread. Two seals trapped at fish farms and fitted with satellite transmitters before relocation have either not returned to the farm or returned to the vicinity of farms and not interacted with them, although on one occasion the individual was trapped. The effectiveness of the relocation program as a management tool to reduce seal interactions cannot be quantified from the relocation data per se, but relocation does not stop seals interacting with farms

Apache Arrowleaf Clover

Last updated: 6/12/200

Nontarget Effects—The Achilles’ Heel of Biological Control? Retrospective Analyses to Reduce Risk Associated with Biocontrol Introductions

Controversy exists over ecological risks in classical biological control. We reviewed 10 projects with quantitative data on nontarget effects. Ten patterns emerged: (a) Relatives of the pest are most likely to be attacked; (b) host-specificity testing defines physiological host range, but not ecological range; (c) prediction of ecological consequences requires population data; (d) level of impact varied, often in relation to environmental conditions; (e) information on magnitude of nontarget impact is sparse; ( f ) attack on rare native species can accelerate their decline; (g) nontarget effects can be indirect; (h) agents disperse from agroecosystems; (i) whole assemblages of species can be perturbed; and ( j ) no evidence on adaptation is available in these cases. The review leads to six recommendations: Avoid using generalists or adventive species; expand host-specificity testing; incorporate more ecological information; consider ecological risk in target selection; prioritize agents; and pursue genetic data on adaptation. We conclude that retrospective analyses suggest clear ways to further increase future safety of biocontrol

Recyclable structural composites for marine renewable energy

The InterReg SeaBioComp project will develop and deliver demonstrators using innovative bio-based thermoplastic composite materials with mechanical properties comparable to conventional oil-based composites, durability tailored to the specific application (2 to >20 years), recycling potential, reduced CO2 emissions and reduced microplastic and ecotoxic impact in the marine environment. The University of Plymouth is investigating to use of manufacture by monomer infusion under flexible tooling (MIFT) with in situ polymerisation to produce natural, or glass, fibre reinforced structural composites. Following an extensive literature survey, the monomer selection has suggested two potential matrix materials: poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(L-lactide) (PLA). The conference paper will present the progress in measurement of the composite mechanical properties and correlation to models predicting the material performance

Experimental study of digital image processing techniques for LANDSAT data

The author has identified the following significant results. Results are reported for: (1) subscene registration, (2) full scene rectification and registration, (3) resampling techniques, (4) and ground control point (GCP) extraction. Subscenes (354 pixels x 234 lines) were registered to approximately 1/4 pixel accuracy and evaluated by change detection imagery for three cases: (1) bulk data registration, (2) precision correction of a reference subscene using GCP data, and (3) independently precision processed subscenes. Full scene rectification and registration results were evaluated by using a correlation technique to measure registration errors of 0.3 pixel rms thoughout the full scene. Resampling evaluations of nearest neighbor and TRW cubic convolution processed data included change detection imagery and feature classification. Resampled data were also evaluated for an MSS scene containing specular solar reflections

New Summer Forage Legumes for Texas

Last updated: 6/12/200

Legislation 1920.08

Last updated: 6/12/200

Evaluation of the Fiscal Costs and Consequences of Alzheimer’s Disease in Germany:Microsimulation of Patients’ and Caregivers’ Pathways

Background: Alzheimer’s disease is a severe condition, impacting individual’s wellbeing and independence in daily activities. Informal care provision is common and of great value to societies but is not without negative externalities to households and the broader economy. Objectives: Estimate the lifetime incremental fiscal consequences of Alzheimer’s disease in community-based individuals and their informal caregivers. Setting: The fiscal consequences of Alzheimer’s disease was modeled using the German government and social security perspective. Participants: Synthetic cohort containing 1,000 pairs of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their informal caregivers, compared to 1,000 demographically identical pairs from the general population. Design: Disease progression was modeled using published equations and a state-transition microsimulation framework. Labor participation, financial support and paid taxes were estimated according to cognitive decline and caregiving responsibilities using German labor statistics and tax rates. Healthcare costs were sourced from several German publications. Costs and life-years were discounted at 3% annually. Measurements: Results are reported as lifetime incremental differences in total tax revenue and transfer payments between the cohort affected by Alzheimer’s disease and their general population analogues. Results: The Alzheimer’s disease-affected pair was associated with net incremental fiscal losses of €74,288 ($85,037) to the German government and social security over the lifetime of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Most costs were lost taxes on employment earnings (48.4$65,209) less than their general population analogues. Financial support for informal and formal care accounted for 20.4%, and medical healthcare costs represented 24.0% of the incremental fiscal losses. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the model results. In a cohort with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, incremental fiscal losses were predicted to be €118,533 ($114,209) over the lifetime of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Conclusions: Alzheimer’s disease externalities profoundly impact public economics for governments and should be considered to inform policy making and healthcare planning