1,956 research outputs found

    Class dealignment and the neighbourhood effect: Miller revisited

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    The concept of a neighbourhood effect within British voting patterns has largely been discarded, because no data have been available for testing it at the appropriate spatial scales. To undertake such tests, bespoke neighbourhoods have been created around the home of each respondent to the 1997 British Election Study survey in England and Wales, and small-area census data have been assembled for these to depict the socio-economic characteristics of voters' local contexts. Analyses of voting in these small areas, divided into five equal-sized status areas, provides very strong evidence that members of each social class were much more likely to vote Labour than Conservative in the low-status than in the high-status areas. This is entirely consistent with the concept of the neighbourhood effect, but alternative explanations are feasible. The data provide very strong evidence of micro-geographical variations in voting patterns, for which further research is necessary to identify the processes involved

    Computing the autopilot control algorithm using predictive functional control for unstable model

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    This paper discusses the computing development of a control algorithm using Predictive Functional Control (PFC) for model-based that having one or more unstable poles. One basic Ballistic Missile model (10) is used as an unstable model to formulate the control law algorithm using PFC. PFC algorithm development is computationally simple as a controller and it is not very complicated as the function of a missile will explode as it reaches the target. Furthermore, the analysis and issues of the implementation relating linear discrete-time unstable process are also being discussed. Hence, designed PFC algorithm need to find the suitable tuning parameters as its play an important part of the designing the autopilot controller. Thus, the tuning of the desired time constant, 'I' and small coincidence horizon n1 in a single coincidence point shows that the PFC control law is built better in the dynamic pole of the unstable missile mode. As a result, by using a trajectory set-point, some positive results is presented and discussed as the missile follow its reference trajectory via some simulation using MATLAB 7.0

    Pasture legume varieties and ewe fertility

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    ALTHOUGH it was first thought that all varieties of subterranean clover would cause ewe infertility, research in the last 10 to 15 years has shown that varieties differ in potency. The relative level of potency has also been shown to remain consistent for any one variety under normal conditions

    Comprehensiveness of infant formula and bottle feeding resources: A review of information from Australian healthcare organisations.

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    The use of infant formula is widespread internationally. In Australia, 55% of infants receive formula before 6 months of age, with higher rates among disadvantaged communities. Infant formula use can contribute to childhood overweight and obesity, through formula composition and feeding behaviours, such as adding cereal to bottles and parental feeding style. While information abounds to promote and support breastfeeding, formula-feeding parents report a paucity of advice and support; many rely on formula packaging for information. This study systematically searched and reviewed online resources for infant formula and bottle feeding from Australian governments, health services, hospitals, and not-for-profit parenting organisations. A comprehensive search strategy located 74 current resources, mostly for parents. Researchers evaluated the resources against best practice criteria derived from Australian government and UNICEF guidelines on six topics. They assessed how comprehensively the resources addressed each topic and whether the resources provided all the information necessary for parents to understand each topic. The mean 'comprehensiveness' rating for topics across all resources was 54.36%. However, some topics were addressed more fully than others. Information on 'discussing infant formula with health workers' and on 'preparing infant formula' was more frequently accurate and comprehensive. However, there was much less comprehensive information on 'using infant formula', including amounts of formula to feed, use of bottle teats, appropriate bottle-feeding practice and responsiveness to infant satiety cues. Over half the resources were written at an acceptable reading level

    A Bunch of Blues / music by J. Paul Wyer; words by H. Alf Kelly

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    https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_c/1080/thumbnail.jp

    Addressing obesity in the first 1000 days in high risk infants: Systematic review.

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    Early intervention is critical for addressing the challenge of childhood obesity. Yet many preventive interventions do not target infants most at risk of future overweight or obesity. This systematic review examines interventions delivered before 2 years that aim to ameliorate excess weight gain among infants at high risk of overweight or obesity, due to sociodemographic characteristics, parental weight or health status, infant feeding or health behaviours. We searched six databases for interventions: (a) delivered before age two, (b) specifically aimed at infants at high risk of childhood obesity and (c) that reported outcomes by weight status beyond 28 days. The search identified over 27,000 titles, and 49 papers from 38 studies met inclusion criteria: 10 antenatal interventions, 16 postnatal and 12 conducted both before and after birth. Nearly all targeted infant and/or maternal nutrition. Studies varied widely in design, obesity risk factors, outcomes and quality. Overall, nine interventions of varying quality reported some evidence of significantly improved child weight trajectory, although effects tended to diminish over time. Interventions that improved weight outcomes tended to engage parents for a longer period, and most offered health professional input and support. Two studies of limited quality reported significantly worse weight outcomes in the intervention group

    Adaptive Functional Diversification of Lysozyme in Insectivorous Bats

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    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31172077 to S.Z.), an East China Normal University Fostering Project for National Top Hundred Doctoral Dissertations (PY2011012 to Y.L.), an Innovation Fund of East China Normal University (78210200 to G.H.), and a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council China Partnering Award (BB/G530392/1 to G.J., S.J.R., and S.Z.)

    Particle swarm algorithm sliding mode control on spacecraft’s attitude with switching function method thorough error feedback

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    Small spacecraft requires capable processors with energy efficiency, low cost and low computational burden while maintaining the output tracking accuracy. This paper presents the extension of work in [1], to enhance the transient performance using particle swarm optimization (PSO) on decaying boundary layer and switching function thorough error feedback (DBLSF) in Sliding Mode Control (SMC). Generally, SMC is known for having chattering as the main drawback which can introduce wear and tear to moving mechanical parts. As a solution, a DBLSF proposed in [1] and capable of eliminating the chattering in SMC while considering the essential requirements for small spacecraft operation. Then, the extension implemented on spacecraft's attitude, which is one-of-six subsystems in spacecraft, used to orient the spacecraft referred to reference objects and control the dynamics of a spacecraft time-to-time according to the needs. However, the SMC's transient response can be tuned using some coefficients in the SMC algorithm. The parameters in [1] were tuned using outputs observation technique. In this paper, then, an improvement is introduced to optimize the outputs by adding a PSO in the SMC-DBLSF in term of transient performances and accuracy while reducing the chattering permanently
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