SOME EVIDENCE ON THE DECLINING EFFECT OF FARM CONSOLIDATION ON FARM REAL ESTATE PRICES

Land Economics/Use,

Critical curves in conformally invariant statistical systems

We consider critical curves -- conformally invariant curves that appear at critical points of two-dimensional statistical mechanical systems. We show how to describe these curves in terms of the Coulomb gas formalism of conformal field theory (CFT). We also provide links between this description and the stochastic (Schramm-) Loewner evolution (SLE). The connection appears in the long-time limit of stochastic evolution of various SLE observables related to CFT primary fields. We show how the multifractal spectrum of harmonic measure and other fractal characteristics of critical curves can be obtained.Comment: Published versio

Community resilience : a policy tool for local government?

In many countries, local government has been a prime target of austerity measures. In response, local authorities are exploring a new repertoire of policy approaches in a bid to provide more with less. In England, local authorities have been drawn to community resilience as a pragmatic response to the challenge of deploying shrinking resources to support communities exposed to social and economic disruption. This application of resilience thinking is not without its challenges. It demands a working definition of community resilience that recognises the potential for communities to prove resilient to shocks and disruptions, but avoids blaming them for their predicament. There is also the practical challenge of developing and targeting interventions to promote and protect resilience. This paper sets out to explore these issues and establish the potential utility of community resilience as a policy tool through case study analysis in the city of Sheffield

Exploring Apprenticeship Learning for Player Modelling in Interactive Narratives

In this paper we present an early Apprenticeship Learning approach to mimic the behaviour of different players in a short adaption of the interactive fiction Anchorhead. Our motivation is the need to understand and simulate player behaviour to create systems to aid the design and personalisation of Interactive Narratives (INs). INs are partially observable for the players and their goals are dynamic as a result. We used Receding Horizon IRL (RHIRL) to learn players' goals in the form of reward functions, and derive policies to imitate their behaviour. Our preliminary results suggest that RHIRL is able to learn action sequences to complete a game, and provided insights towards generating behaviour more similar to specific players.Comment: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI Play

Is Perioperative Hypothermia a Risk Factor for Post-Cesarean Infection?

Objective: To determine whether hypothermia during Cesarean delivery is a risk factor for postoperative infection. Methods: An historical cohort investigation was conducted on all women delivered by Cesarean at our center during 2001. Initial recovery-room temperature, taken via the oral or axillary route, was used as a surrogate for intraoperative temperature. Adding 0.5(°)C to axillary temperatures generated oral temperature equivalents. Women with chorioamnionitis were excluded, as were those with an initial recovery-room temperature that exceeded 37.9(°)C or was recorded more than 20 minutes after the end of surgery. Prophylactic antibiotics (cefazolin, 1 g) were given during Cesarean delivery. Results: A total of 42 women (7.6%) were diagnosed with postoperative infections. Infections included endometritis (n= 25), wound abscess (n = 7), wound cellulitis (n = 7) and urinary tract infection (UTI) (n = 4). No cases of septic pelvic thrombophlebitis or pelvic abscess occurred. One woman had both endometritis and a UTI. Mean temperatures were higher, rather than lower, for women who subsequently had postoperative infections compared with those who did not (36.4 ± 0.8(°)Cvs. 35.9 ± 0.7(°)C; p < 0.001). Mean temperatures for the various postoperative infections were as follows: endometritis, 36.5 ± 0.8(°)C (p < 0.001 vs. uninfected group); wound abscess 36.0 ± 0.8(°)C (p = 0.63); wound cellulitis, 36.3 ± 0.6(°)C (p = 0.14); UTI, 36.7 ± 0.9(°)C (p = 0.04). Conclusions: Women who develop post-Cesarean infections have higher initial recovery-room temperatures than those who do not develop such infections. This suggests the presence of subclinical infection at the time of Cesarean. Evaluating whether intraoperative warming has any role during Cesarean delivery requires a randomized clinical trial

Incorporation of albumin fusion proteins into fibrin clots in vitro and in vivo: comparison of different fusion motifs recognized by factor XIIIa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The transglutaminase activated factor XIII (FXIIIa) acts to strengthen pathological fibrin clots and to slow their dissolution, in part by crosslinking active α₂-antiplasmin (α₂AP) to fibrin. We previously reported that a yeast-derived recombinant fusion protein comprising α₂AP residues 13-42 linked to human serum albumin (HSA) weakened <it>in vitro </it>clots but failed to become specifically incorporated into <it>in vivo </it>clots. In this study, our aims were to improve both the stability and clot localization of the HSA fusion protein by replacing α₂AP residues 13-42 with shorter sequences recognized more effectively by FXIIIa.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Expression plasmids were prepared encoding recombinant HSA with the following N-terminal 23 residue extensions: H₆NQEQVSPLTLLAG₄Y (designated XL1); H₆DQMMLPWAVTLG₄Y (XL2); H₆WQHKIDLPYNGAG₄Y (XL3); and their 17 residue non-His-tagged equivalents (XL4, XL5, and XL6). The HSA moiety of XL4- to XL6-HSA proteins was C-terminally His-tagged. All chimerae were efficiently secreted from transformed <it>Pichia pastoris </it>yeast except XL3-HSA, and following nickel chelate affinity purification were found to be intact by amino acid sequencing, as was an N-terminally His-tagged version of α₂AP(13-42)-HSA. Of the proteins tested, XL5-HSA was cross-linked to biotin pentylamine (BPA) most rapidly by FXIIIa, and was the most effective competitor of α₂AP crosslinking not only to BPA but also to plasma fibrin clots. In the mouse ferric chloride <it>vena cava </it>thrombosis model, radiolabeled XL5-HSA was retained in the clot to a greater extent than recombinant HSA. In the rabbit jugular vein stasis thrombosis model, XL5-HSA was also retained in the clot, in a urea-insensitive manner indicative of crosslinking to fibrin, to a greater extent than recombinant HSA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Fusion protein XL5-HSA (DQMMLPWAVTLG₄Y-HSAH₆) was found to be more active as a substrate for FXIIIa-mediated transamidation than seven other candidate fusion proteins <it>in vitro</it>. The improved stability and reactivity of this chimeric protein was further evidenced by its incorporation into <it>in vivo </it>clots formed in thrombosis models in both mice and rabbits.</p

Generalized Interpolation Material Point Approach to High Melting Explosive with Cavities Under Shock

Criterion for contacting is critically important for the Generalized Interpolation Material Point(GIMP) method. We present an improved criterion by adding a switching function. With the method dynamical response of high melting explosive(HMX) with cavities under shock is investigated. The physical model used in the present work is an elastic-to-plastic and thermal-dynamical model with Mie-Gr\"uneissen equation of state. We mainly concern the influence of various parameters, including the impacting velocity $v$, cavity size $R$, etc, to the dynamical and thermodynamical behaviors of the material. For the colliding of two bodies with a cavity in each, a secondary impacting is observed. Correspondingly, the separation distance $D$ of the two bodies has a maximum value $D_{\max}$ in between the initial and second impacts. When the initial impacting velocity $v$ is not large enough, the cavity collapses in a nearly symmetric fashion, the maximum separation distance $D_{\max}$ increases with $v$. When the initial shock wave is strong enough to collapse the cavity asymmetrically along the shock direction, the variation of $D_{\max}$ with $v$ does not show monotonic behavior. Our numerical results show clear indication that the existence of cavities in explosive helps the creation of ``hot spots''.Comment: Figs.2,4,7,11 in JPG format; Accepted for publication in J. Phys. D: Applied Physic

The effects of the spontaneous presence of a spouse/partner and others on cardiovascular reactions to an acute psychological challenge

The presence of supportive others has been associated with attenuated cardiovascular reactivity in the laboratory. The effects of the presence of a spouse and others in a more naturalistic setting have received little attention. Blood pressure and heart rate reactions to mental stress were recorded at home in 1028 married/partnered individuals. For 112 participants, their spouse/partner was present; for 78, at least one other person was present. Women tested with a spouse/partner present showed lower magnitude systolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity than those tested without. Individuals tested with at least one nonspousal other present also displayed attenuated reactivity. This extends the results of laboratory studies and indicates that the spontaneous presence of others is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular reactivity in an everyday environment; spouse/partner presence would appear to be especially effective for women.\ud \u