RAE aircraft tests on grooved, open graded

Aircraft tests on grooved, open graded, and asphalt runways in Englan

Natural Office Vacancy Rates: Some Additional Estimates

[Excerpt] In our recent paper (Shilling et al. [2]), we examined the rent adjustment process for 17 U.S. office markets and provided the first estimates of the natural vacancy rates. In his comment, Voith [3] argues that our specification of the rent-vacancy relationship is biased since we introduced an interaction term to capture the effect of risks associated with higher vacancy levels. He suggests that an alternative specification would be to enter a vacancy squared term to capture this risk effect

Price Adjustment Process for Rental Office Space

This paper analyzes the price adjustment process for rental office space in 17 cities across the United States over the time period 1960 to 1975. The results confirm much of what economic theory suggests. Landlords react to fluctuations in demand by building up or drawing down inventories of unlet or vacant office space. Other things equal, higher levels of vacant office space mean that landlords lower their rents and reduce the difference between desired and actual vacancies. Empirical evidence is also presented on the normal vacancy rate across different cities

Hygroscopic Growth of Ammonium Sulfate/Dicarboxylic Acids

Recent studies have shown that tropospheric sulfate aerosols commonly contain 50% by mass organic species. The influence of these organics on the chemical and physical properties of sulfate aerosols is not fully established. We have measured the water activity of pure dicarboxylic acids and eutonic mixtures of ammonium sulfate/dicarboxylic acids at 25°C and have calculated van\u27t Hoff factors for each individual system. We have also used the vapor pressure data to determine the hygroscopic growth curves for pure dicarboxylic acids and eutonic mixtures and provide power law fits to the data. For the systems studied we find that the presence of soluble dicarboxylic acids at the eutonic proportion depresses hygroscopic growth when compared to pure ammonium sulfate. In addition, we find that the presence of low-solubility dicarboxylic acids at the eutonic proportion has no effect on the hygroscopic growth when compared to pure ammonium sulfate. To model the hygroscopic growth curves of the eutonic solutions, we employed the Zdanovskii, Stokes, and Robinson method. It was found that this approximation was accurate to within 17% for all the systems studied

A level playing ‘field’? A Bourdieusian analysis of the career aspirations of further education students on sports courses

There is currently a distinct dearth of research into how sports students’ career aspirations are formed during their post-compulsory education. This article, based on an ethnographic study of sport students in tertiary education, draws on data collected from two first-year cohorts (n = 34) on two different courses at a further education college in England. The study draws on ethnographic observations, and semi-structured group interviews, to examine in-depth the contrasting occupational perspectives emergent within these two groups of mainly working-class students, and how specific cultural practices affect students’ career aspirations. Utilising a Bourdieusian framework, the paper analyses the internalised, often latent cultural practices that impact upon these students’ diverse career aspirations. The hitherto under-researched dimension of inter-habitus interaction and also the application of doxa are outlined. The article reveals how the two student cohorts are situated within a complex field of relations, where struggles for legitimisation, academic accomplishment and numerous forms of lucrative capital become habituated. The study offers salient Bourdieusian-inspired insights into the career aspirations of these predominantly working-class students and the ways in which certain educational practices contribute to the production and reproduction of class inequalities

Participant recruitment to FiCTION, a primary dental care trial – survey of facilitators and barriers

Objective To identify reasons behind a lower than expected participant recruitment rate within the FiCTION trial, a multi-centre paediatric primary dental care randomised controlled trial (RCT). Subjects (materials) and methods An online survey, based on a previously published tool, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative responses, completed by staff in dental practices recruiting to FiCTION. Ratings from quantitative responses were aggregated to give overall scores for factors related to participant recruitment. Qualitative responses were independently grouped into themes. Results Thirty-nine anonymous responses were received. Main facilitators related to the support received from the central research team and importance of the research question. The main barriers related to low child eligibility rates and the integration of trial processes within routine workloads. Conclusions These findings have directed strategies for enhancing participant recruitment at existing practices and informed recruitment of further practices. The results help provide a profile of the features required of practices to successfully screen and recruit participants. Future trials in this setting should consider the level of interest in the research question within practices, and ensure trial processes are as streamlined as possible. Research teams should actively support practices with participant recruitment and maintain enthusiasm among the entire practice team

Optical coherence tomography: an assessment of current training across all levels of seniority in 8 ophthalmic units in the united kingdom

BACKGROUND: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is becoming an increasingly integral part of ophthalmological clinical practice. The accurate interpretation of OCT images is important both in terms of diagnosis and in directing subsequent management. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical competence in OCT image interpretation of ophthalmologists in different subspecialties and grades. METHODS: Eight OCT images demonstrating a single macular pathology and two normal scans were selected by case notes review. These ten images were shown to thirty doctors and 10 non-medical staff from eight units. They were asked to identify each lesion, the average thickness of the lesion, and the axis at which the OCT was taken. One point was awarded for each correct answer. RESULTS: The mean scores for the correct qualitative identification of the OCT lesion (with a maximum score of 10) for different grades of doctors and non-medical staff were as follows: medical retinal consultants (MRC), 9 (range, 8–10); vitreoretinal consultants (VRC), 7 (range, 6–9); non-retinal consultants (NRC), 4 (range, 2–6); vitreoretinal fellows (VRF), 4 (range, 3–7); specialist registrars (SpR), 3 (range, 2–5); senior house officers (SHO), 4 (range, 3–6); orthoptists, 1 (range, 0–1); ancillary staff, 2 (range, 0–3). CONCLUSION: A wide range in the ability to accurately interpret OCT images has been demonstrated. All doctors would thereby benefit from further training in the interpretation of OCT scans

Call Me Caitlyn: Making and making over the 'authentic' transgender body in Anglo-American popular culture

A conception of transgender identity as an ‘authentic’ gendered core ‘trapped’ within a mismatched corporeality, and made tangible through corporeal transformations, has attained unprecedented legibility in contemporary Anglo-American media. Whilst pop-cultural articulations of this discourse have received some scholarly attention, the question of why this 'wrong body' paradigm has solidified as the normative explanation for gender transition within the popular media remains underexplored. This paper argues that this discourse has attained cultural pre-eminence through its convergence with a broader media and commercial zeitgeist, in which corporeal alteration and maintenance are perceived as means of accessing one’s ‘authentic’ self. I analyse the media representations of two transgender celebrities: Caitlyn Jenner and Nadia Almada, alongside the reality TV show TRANSform Me, exploring how these women’s gender transitions have been discursively aligned with a cultural imperative for all women, cisgender or trans, to display their authentic femininity through bodily work. This demonstrates how established tropes of authenticity-via-bodily transformation, have enabled transgender to become culturally legible through the wrong body trope. Problematically, I argue, this process has worked to demarcate ideals of ‘acceptable’ transgender subjectivity: self-sufficient, normatively feminine, and eager to embrace the possibilities for happiness and social integration provided by the commercial domain

Abrupt Change of Josephson Plasma Frequency at the Phase Boundary of the Bragg Glass in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta}

We report the first detailed and quantitative study of the Josephson coupling energy in the vortex liquid, Bragg glass and vortex glass phases of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta} by the Josephson plasma resonance. The measurements revealed distinct features in the T- and H-dependencies of the plasma frequency $\omega_{pl}$ for each of these three vortex phases. When going across either the Bragg-to-vortex glass or the Bragg-to-liquid transition line, $\omega_{pl}$ shows a dramatic change. We provide a quantitative discussion on the properties of these phase transitions, including the first order nature of the Bragg-to-vortex glass transition.Comment: 5pages, 4figure

Tomboys and girly-girls: embodied femininities in primary schools

This paper is about how nine to eleven year old children, particularly girls, co-construct tomboy and girly-girl identities as oppositional positions. The paper sits within a theoretical framework in which I understand individual and collective masculinities and femininities as ways of ‘doing man/woman’ or ‘doing boy/girl’ that are constructed within local communities of masculinity and femininity practice. Empirical data come from a one-year study of tomboy identities within two London primary schools. The paper explores the contrasting identities of tomboy and girly-girl, how they are constructed by the children, and how this changes as they approach puberty. The findings suggest that the oppositional construction of these identities makes it harder for girls to take up more flexible femininities, though it is possible to switch between tomboy and girly-girl identities at different times and places