Combined observations of meteors by image-orthicon television camera and multi-station radar

Observations from multiple sites of a radar network and by television of 29 individual meteors from February 1969 through June 1970 are reported. Only 12 of the meteors did not appear to fragment over all the observed portion of their trajectories. From these 12, the relation for the radar magnitude to the panchromatic absolute magnitude was found in terms of velocity of the meteor. A very tentative fit to the data on the duration of long enduring echoes versus visual absolute magnitude is made. The exponential decay characteristics of the later parts of several of the light curves are pointed out as possible evidence of mutual coalescence of droplets into which the meteoroid has completely broken

Preservation of the High Quality Factor and Accelerating Gradient of Nb3Sn-coated Cavity During Pair Assembly

Two CEBAF 5-cell accelerator cavities have been coated with Nb3Sn film using the vapor diffusion technique. One cavity was coated in the Jefferson Lab Nb3Sn cavity coating system, and the other in the Fermilab Nb3Sn coating system. Both cavities were measured at 4 K and 2 K in the vertical dewar test in each lab and then assembled into a cavity pair at Jefferson Lab. Previous attempts to assemble Nb3Sn cavities into a cavity pair degraded the superconducting properties of Nb3Sn-coated cavities. This contribution discusses the efforts to identify and mitigate the pair assembly challenges and will present the results of the vertical tests before and after pair assembly. Notably, one of the cavities reached the highest gradient above 80 mT in the vertical test after the pair assembly.Comment: 21st Intl Conf Radio Frequency Superconductivity (SRF 2023

Impact of abiotic factors and husbandry on saprolegniosis in salmonid farms

Oomycetes of the genus Saprolegnia are widespread in freshwater environment and are among the main path- ogens causing economic losses in salmonid aquaculture. Infections by mycotic agents in fish farming are generally considered to result from chronic stress and poor fish condition associated with water quality problems, adverse environmental conditions, frequent/rough/incorrect handling, concurrent infections, physiological changes associated with reproduction and immunocompromised animals. To identify risk factors for Saprolegnia infections in trout and Atlantic salmon farming, longitudinal studies were carried out in different Italian, Spanish, and Scottish fish farms. Prevalence of saprolegniosis and fish mortality were monitored over time and statistically analysed with respect to husbandry and environmental factors. Overall, statistical results by production cycle (trout vs salmon farming) and by country indicate that the prevalence of Saprolegnia may be influenced by peculiarities of the culture system and farming environment. Nevertheless, a specific set of parameters, including lower water temperature, and handling procedures increased Saprolegnia prevalence in all the considered farms. Particularly, in trout farms Saprolegnia infections represented an important contribution to mortality, and prevalence was influenced by water temperature and pH, and by fish density within the tanks. Similarly, temperature and water quality were the main factors influencing the prev- alence of Saprolegnia in Atlantic salmon farms. Moreover, molecular analyses confirmed the role of S. parasitica as the main pathogenic oomycete in trout and salmon farming in the considered countries. The identification of risk factors for introduction and increase of Saprolegnia infection in fish farms will allow the correct design of bio- security and pathogen control strategie

Routes to credible climate commitment: the UK and Denmark compared

Credible commitment is central to regimes for climate mitigation policy. In the climate policy literature, it is widely argued that the solution to the credible commitment problem is legislation and delegation of goal-setting to a technical body insulated from political incentives, and the UK’s Committee on Climate Change is in part modelled on this approach. However, drawing on the comparative politics literature, this paper argues that the focus on legislation and delegation as the solution to the credible commitment problem is too narrow. Seen within the context of comparative political institutions, it is a response that fits the political logic in countries with majoritarian electoral systems. By contrast, in countries with electoral systems based on proportional representation, while legislation plays a role, an important element in the creation of credible commitment comes in the form of negotiated long-term agreements between political parties. This contrast is explored through a comparison between the Climate Change Act and associated Committee on Climate Change in the UK on the one hand, and a series of Energy and Climate Agreements in Denmark over the 2010s. Both approaches appear to have worked to date. However, while negotiated long-term agreements typically have an internal process for managing conflicts that inevitably arise after the respective mechanisms have been put in place, disputes arising following legislation and delegation must be resolved within the more informal processes of intra-party politics. Mechanisms of accountability also differ between the two approaches

Stigma and Fear: the 'Psy Professional' in Cultural Artifacts

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.The loss of reason called madness provokes perhaps the greatest human fear, for it is reason that dignifies humanity and separates us from beasts. The ‘psy professionals’ - those who prescribe and administer treatments for madness - are frequently portrayed in fiction, film, comics, computer games and entertainments, along with the mad themselves and the asylums that confine them. Overall, these depictions are malign: the reader/watcher/player is encouraged to fear the mad, the madhouse and the mad-doctor. Choosing to use less abrasive vocabulary to name the condition of madness makes no difference to the terror the condition arouses, for the content of many books and games aims to inspire fear. In spite of considerable efforts over many years, the stigma which attaches to mental illness remains firmly in place for patients, while psy professionals also carry their share of “some of the discredit of the stigmatized” (Goffman 1968, p 43) and join patients in a stigmatized group. Popular belief often equates the psy professions with madness (Walter, 1989). This paper explores ways in which the fear of madness, and the stigma which clings to sufferers and their professional carers, is perpetuated by a constant stream of popular cultural artifacts

Pragmatism over principle: US intervention and burden shifting in Somalia, 1992–1993

The conventional wisdom about the 1992 US intervention in Somalia is that it was a quintessentially humanitarian mission pushed by President George H. W. Bush. This article challenges that interpretation, drawing on newly declassified documents. The Somalia intervention, I argue, was largely a pragmatic response to concerns held by the US military. In late 1992, as the small UN mission in Somalia was collapsing, senior American generals worried about being drawn into the resulting vacuum. Hence they reluctantly recommended a robust US intervention, in the expectation that this would allow the UN to assemble a larger peacekeeping force that would take over within months. The intervention ultimately failed, but the military learned useful lessons from this experience on how to achieve smoother UN handoffs in the future and thus effectively shift longer-term stabilisation burdens to the international community.Open access publication was made possible by an EC Career Integration Grant