188 research outputs found
âConflict versus Congruenceâ: A qualitative study exploring the experience of gender dysphoria for adults with autism spectrum disorder
An emergent evidence base indicates a higher prevalence of autism exists amongst people attending gender identity clinics. This qualitative study explored adultsâ with autism experiences of coming to understand and address their gender dysphoria (GD). Data were collected and analysed using Grounded Theory. Ten adults with autism and GD undertook semi-structured interviews. A tentative theoretical framework of common processes involved in understanding and addressing GD for individuals with autism was developed. The experience is captured in the core categoryâConflict versus Congruence. A key finding was the impact of autism as a barrier but sometimes a protective factor in participantsâ understanding and addressing GD. Participants appeared to achieve greater personal congruence and wellbeing upon transition. Nevertheless, conflicts remained as they navigated the social world with a continuing fear of hostility and sense of difference due to having two stigmatised identities
Applications of patching to quadratic forms and central simple algebras
This paper provides applications of patching to quadratic forms and central
simple algebras over function fields of curves over henselian valued fields. In
particular, we use a patching approach to reprove and generalize a recent
result of Parimala and Suresh on the u-invariant of p-adic function fields, for
p odd. The strategy relies on a local-global principle for homogeneous spaces
for rational algebraic groups, combined with local computations.Comment: 48 pages; connectivity now required in the definition of rational
group; beginning of Section 4 reorganized; other minor change
Nonlinear Differential Equations Satisfied by Certain Classical Modular Forms
A unified treatment is given of low-weight modular forms on \Gamma_0(N),
N=2,3,4, that have Eisenstein series representations. For each N, certain
weight-1 forms are shown to satisfy a coupled system of nonlinear differential
equations, which yields a single nonlinear third-order equation, called a
generalized Chazy equation. As byproducts, a table of divisor function and
theta identities is generated by means of q-expansions, and a transformation
law under \Gamma_0(4) for the second complete elliptic integral is derived.
More generally, it is shown how Picard-Fuchs equations of triangle subgroups of
PSL(2,R) which are hypergeometric equations, yield systems of nonlinear
equations for weight-1 forms, and generalized Chazy equations. Each triangle
group commensurable with \Gamma(1) is treated.Comment: 40 pages, final version, accepted by Manuscripta Mathematic
Impacts on groundwater quality from abandoned hydrocarbon wells - final report
This report details a reconnaissance investigation carried out between 2016 and 2018 from a British
Geological Survey (BGS)âEnvironment Agency (EA) collaboration on the impacts of abandoned
hydrocarbon (HC) wells on groundwater quality in England. The investigation involved collation of a
database of HC wells that were identified from records provided by DECC (Department of Energy &
Climate Change; now BEIS: Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) as being abandoned (as opposed
to operational or unspecified), categorising according to factors such as oil or gas designation, depth of
HC resource, time since abandonment, productive life, absence of active wells nearby, and occurrence
and type of overlying aquifer(s). From this categorisation, a subset of 27 sites were shortlisted for further
investigation and fact sheets were produced for each outlining regional geology, hydrogeology and
potential groundwater monitoring points in the area. Using these factsheets, four study areas were
assessed as being most suitable for further field investigation. These comprised two gas fields: Nooks
Farm (Staffordshire), and Ashdown (Sussex), and two oil fields: Hemswell (Lincolnshire) and Lomer
(Hampshire).
Groundwater sampling campaigns were conducted in 2016â2017 in the four study areas, with potential
sampling points identified within a 5 km buffer zone around (downstream of) the HC well or HC field.
In several areas, the number of sampling points was very limited as locations of HC wells do not
necessarily have any relationship with locations of overlying aquifers. In others, large numbers of sites
were deemed unsuitable for sampling, for reasons including disuse, decommissioning, safety or lack of
access. This made representative sampling of groundwater a severe challenge. Suitable sites from the
four study areas were sampled twice during the project, with a total of 48 groundwater samples being
collected over the two campaigns.
Results from both sampling rounds have shown that the presence of hydrocarbons in the groundwater
is limited. In the first sampling round, a maximum dissolved methane (CH4) concentration of 407 ÎŒg/L
was recorded. However, this relatively high value was not repeated when the site was visited during the
second round of groundwater sampling. The value was below the threshold required for ÎŽ13CCH4 isotopic
analysis. Some groundwater samples showed detectable quantities of organic compounds including
VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) as well as
pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, surfactants, analgesics and veterinary compounds. These were,
however, almost invariably present in low concentrations, none could be linked unequivocally to the
presence of abandoned HC wells and many were clearly due to other anthropogenic activities.
As a result of the difficulties finding representative and suitable groundwater sampling sites, a further
reconnaissance was undertaken in May 2017 to identify potential alternative gas and oil fields. This
confirmed further the difficulties in finding suitable areas for investigating groundwater quality and
further groundwater sampling was therefore not attempted. An alternative approach was used to
investigate two abandoned HC well areas: Ashdown, one of the original study areas, and a new location
at Bolney (also Sussex). A soil gas survey was completed at each of these locations in order to
investigate whether soil gas proximal to the former well location contained any evidence of HC leakage.
Due to poor ground conditions at the time of sampling, the results are ambiguous, but do show elevated
concentrations of both CO2 and CH4. Further work in dry ground conditions would be required to say
with certainty that these concentrations are linked directly to the presence of the gas wells
Preliminary assessment of the environmental baseline in the Fylde, Lancashire
This report presents the collated preliminary results from the British Geological Survey (BGS) led project Science-based environmental baseline monitoring associated with shale gas development in the Fylde, Lancashire. The project has been funded by a combination of BGS National Capability funding, in-kind contributions from project partners and a grant awarded by the Department of Business Energy and Investment Strategy (BEIS). It complements an on-going project, in which similar activities are being carried out, in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire. Further information on the projects can be found on the BGS website: www.bgs.ac.uk.
The project has initiated a wide-ranging environmental baseline monitoring programme that includes water quality (groundwater and surface water), seismicity, ground motion, atmospheric composition (greenhouse gases and air quality), soil gas and radon in air (indoors and outdoors). The motivation behind the project(s) was to establish independent monitoring in the area around the proposed shale gas hydraulic fracturing sites in the Fylde, Lancashire (Cuadrilla Resources Ltd) before any shale gas operations take place.
As part of the project, instrumentation has been deployed to measure, in real-time or near real-time, a range of environmental variables (water quality, seismicity, atmospheric composition). These data are being displayed on the projectâs web site (www.bgs.ac.uk/lancashire). Additional survey, sampling and monitoring has also been carried out through a co-ordinated programme of fieldwork and laboratory analysis, which has included installation of new monitoring infrastructure, to allow compilation of one of the most comprehensive environmental datasets in the UK.
The monitoring programme is continuing. However, there are already some very important findings emerging from the limited datasets which should be taken into account when developing future monitoring strategy, policy and regulation. The information is not only relevant to Lancashire but will be applicable more widely in the UK and internationally. Although shale gas operations in other parts of the world are well-established, there is a paucity of good baseline data and effective guidance on monitoring. The project will also allow the experience gained, and the scientifically-robust findings to be used, to develop and establish effective environmental monitoring strategies for shale gas and similar industrial activities
Environmental monitoring : phase 5 final report (April 2019 - March 2020)
This report presents the results and interpretation for Phase 5 of an integrated environmental
monitoring programme that is being undertaken around two proposed shale gas sites in England â
Preston New Road, Lancashire and Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire. The report should be read
in conjunction with previous reports freely available through the project website1
. These provide
additional background to the project, presentation of earlier results and the rationale for
establishment of the different elements of the monitoring programme
Environmental monitoring : phase 4 final report (April 2018 - March 2019)
This report describes the results of activities carried out as part of the Environmental
Monitoring Project (EMP) led by the British Geological Survey (BGS) in areas around two
shale gas sites in England â Kirby Misperton (Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire) and Preston
New Road (Fylde, Lancashire). It focuses on the monitoring undertaken during the period April
2018âMarch 2019 but also considers this in the context of earlier monitoring results that have
been covered in reports for earlier phases of the project (Phases IâIV)
2
.
The EMP project is a multi-partner project involving BGS together with Public Health England
(PHE), University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University of Manchester, Royal
Holloway University of London (RHUL) and University of York. The work has been enabled
by funding from a combination of the BGS National Capability programme, a grant awarded
by the UK Governmentâs Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and
additional benefit-in-kind contributions from all partners.
The project comprises the comprehensive monitoring of different environment compartments
and properties at and around the two shale-gas sites. The component parts of the EMP are all
of significance when considering environmental and human health risks associated with shale
gas development. Included are seismicity, ground motion, water (groundwater and surface
water), soil gas, greenhouse gases, air quality, and radon.
The monitoring started before hydraulic fracturing had taken place at the two locations, and so
the results obtained before the initiation of operations at the shale-gas sites represent baseline
conditions. It is important to characterise adequately the baseline conditions so that any future
changes caused by shale gas operations, including hydraulic fracturing, can be identified. This
is also the case for any other new activities that may impact those compartments of the
environment being monitored as part of the project.
In the period October 2018âDecember 2018, an initial phase of hydraulic fracturing took place
at the Preston New Road (PNR) shale-gas site (shale gas well PNR1-z) in Lancashire. This was
followed by a period of flow testing of the well to assess its performance (to end of January
2019). The project team continued monitoring during these various activities and several
environmental effects were observed. These are summarised below and described in more
detail within the report. The initiation of operations at the shale-gas site signified the end of
baseline monitoring. At the Kirby Misperton site (KMA), approval has not yet been granted
for hydraulic fracturing of the shale gas well (KM8), and so no associated operations have
taken place during the period covered by this report. The effects on air quality arising from the
mobilisation of equipment in anticipation of hydraulic fracturing operations starting was
reported in the Phase III report, and in a recently published paper3
. Following demobilisation of the equipment and its removal from the site, conditions returned to baseline and the on-going
monitoring (reported in this report) is effectively a continuation of baseline monitoring
Social Media, Gender and the Mediatisation of War: Exploring the German Armed Forcesâ Visual Representation of the Afghanistan Operation on Facebook
Studies on the mediatisation of war point to attempts of governments to regulate the visual perspective of their involvements in armed conflict â the most notable example being the practice of âembedded reportingâ in Iraq and Afghanistan. This paper focuses on a different strategy of visual meaning-making, namely, the publication of images on social media by armed forces themselves. Specifically, we argue that the mediatisation of war literature could profit from an increased engagement with feminist research, both within Critical Security/Critical Military Studies and within Science and Technology Studies that highlight the close connection between masculinity, technology and control. The article examines the German military mission in Afghanistan as represented on the German armed forcesâ official Facebook page. Germany constitutes an interesting, and largely neglected, case for the growing literature on the mediatisation of war: its strong antimilitarist political culture makes the representation of war particularly delicate. The paper examines specific representational patterns of Germanyâs involvement in Afghanistan and discusses the implications which arise from what is placed inside the frame of visibility and what remains out of its view
Volume I. Introduction to DUNE
The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decayâthese mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector technical design report (TDR) describes the DUNE physics program and the technical designs of the single- and dual-phase DUNE liquid argon TPC far detector modules. This TDR is intended to justify the technical choices for the far detector that flow down from the high-level physics goals through requirements at all levels of the Project. Volume I contains an executive summary that introduces the DUNE science program, the far detector and the strategy for its modular designs, and the organization and management of the Project. The remainder of Volume I provides more detail on the science program that drives the choice of detector technologies and on the technologies themselves. It also introduces the designs for the DUNE near detector and the DUNE computing model, for which DUNE is planning design reports. Volume II of this TDR describes DUNE\u27s physics program in detail. Volume III describes the technical coordination required for the far detector design, construction, installation, and integration, and its organizational structure. Volume IV describes the single-phase far detector technology. A planned Volume V will describe the dual-phase technology
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