653 research outputs found
Profit Limitation Controls Prior to the Present War
In March 2014, four organisations, the Global School (Den Globala Skolan), the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD) at Uppsala University, the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO (Svenska Unescorådet) and WWF-Sweden commissioned Anders Jidesjö, senior lecturer and researcher at Linköping University, to undertake a study of the Swedish experience in the domain of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) over the last 10 years by analysing relevant background documentation and reports as well as information gathered through interviews with key informants. This report presents the result of this study. An earlier version served as background document for the "ESD – Call for Action" event on 3 June 2014 (see also below). The current version has benefited from incorporating factual information and insights presented during that event. The report was commissioned in view of the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, scheduled for 11-12 November in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. This conference will mark the end of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014. The four organisations considered that the official Swedish position at the Nagoya Conference would be strengthened if informed by the experiences and insights of Swedish pre-schools, schools, universities, municipalities and public, private and non-governmental organizations that over the last ten years and longer have engaged in education and learning for sustainable development. The official Swedish position would also be bolstered by having politicians, policy makers and experts reflect on these experiences and formulate recommendations for reinforced policy and accelerated and effective practice and research in the ESD domain. To this effect, the four organizations organized the event "ESD – Call for Action", on 3 June at Blåsenhus, Uppsala University. It brought together 120 representatives of Swedish ESD-related practitioners, researchers and policy makers who together formulated an extensive set of recommendations that are meant to support the Swedish delegation attending the Nagoya Conference. The report and the 3 June recommendations will be made available to the participants of a second event "Making ESD Action Possible", scheduled for 27 August, 2014 at Rosenbad Conference Centre, Stockholm. This event is expected to assemble 140 Swedish ESD-related politicians, policy makers, researchers and practitioners. The combined recommendations formulated by the participants during the two events will be submitted to the official Swedish delegation to the Nagoya Conference. August 2014 Den Globala Skolan (the Global School), Svenska Unescorådet (Swedish National Commission for UNESCO), Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD) at Uppsala University, WWF-Swede
A New Linear Inductive Voltage Adder Driver for the Saturn Accelerator
Saturn is a dual-purpose accelerator. It can be operated as a large-area
flash x-ray source for simulation testing or as a Z-pinch driver especially for
K-line x-ray production. In the first mode, the accelerator is fitted with
three concentric-ring 2-MV electron diodes, while in the Z-pinch mode the
current of all the modules is combined via a post-hole convolute arrangement
and driven through a cylindrical array of very fine wires. We present here a
point design for a new Saturn class driver based on a number of linear
inductive voltage adders connected in parallel. A technology recently
implemented at the Institute of High Current Electronics in Tomsk (Russia) is
being utilized[1].
In the present design we eliminate Marx generators and pulse-forming
networks. Each inductive voltage adder cavity is directly fed by a number of
fast 100-kV small-size capacitors arranged in a circular array around each
accelerating gap. The number of capacitors connected in parallel to each cavity
defines the total maximum current. By selecting low inductance switches,
voltage pulses as short as 30-50-ns FWHM can be directly achieved.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures. This paper is submitted for the 20th Linear
Accelerator Conference LINAC2000, Monterey, C
Primary Klebsiella pneumoniae Liver Abscess with Metastatic Spread to Lung and Eye, a North-European Case Report of an Emerging Syndrome
A syndrome of community acquired liver abscess caused by highly virulent hypermucoviscous, rmpA positive Klebsiella pneumoniae strains occurs with high incidence in Asia. We here report a case complicated by metastatic infection, to our knowledge, the first one described in Northern Europe. This and other recently reported cases indicate the emergence of this severe syndrome outside of Asia
The spectroscopic orbit of Capella revisited
Context. Capella is among the few binary stars with two evolved giant
components. The hotter component is a chromospherically active star within the
Hertzsprung gap, while the cooler star is possibly helium-core burning. Aims.
The known inclination of the orbital plane from astrometry in combination with
precise radial velocities will allow very accurate masses to be determined for
the individual Capella stars. This will constrain their evolutionary stage and
possibly the role of the active star's magnetic field on the dynamical
evolution of the binary system. Methods. We obtained a total of 438
high-resolution \'echelle spectra during the years 2007-2010 and used the
measured velocities to recompute the orbital elements. Our double-lined orbital
solution yields average residuals of 64 m/s for the cool component and 297 m/s
for the more rapidly rotating hotter component. Results. The semi-amplitude of
the cool component is smaller by 0.045 km/s than the orbit determination of
Torres et al. from data taken during 1996-1999 but more precise by a factor of
5.5, while for the hotter component it is larger by 0.580 km/s and more precise
by a factor of 3.6. This corresponds to masses of 2.573\pm0.009 M_sun and
2.488\pm0.008 M_sun for the cool and hot component, respectively. Their
relative errors of 0.34% and 0.30% are about half of the values given in Torres
et al. for a combined literature- data solution but with absolute values
different by 4% and 2% for the two components, respectively. The mass ratio of
the system is therefore q = M_A/M_B = 0.9673 \pm 0.0020. Conclusions. Our orbit
is the most precise and also likely to be the most accurate ever obtained for
Capella
The EXPLORE Project I: A Deep Search for Transiting Extrasolar Planets
(Abridged) We discuss the design considerations of the EXPLORE (EXtra-solar
PLanet Occultation REsearch) project, a series of transiting planet searches
using 4-m-class telescopes to continuously monitor a single field of stars in
the Galactic Plane in each ~2 week observing campaign. We discuss the general
factors which determine the efficiency and the number of planets found by a
transit search, including time sampling strategy and field selection. The
primary goal is to select the most promising planet candidates for radial
velocity follow-up observations. We show that with very high photometric
precision light curves that have frequent time sampling and at least two
detected transits, it is possible to uniquely solve for the main parameters of
the eclipsing system (including planet radius) based on several important
assumptions about the central star. Together with a measured spectral type for
the star, this unique solution for orbital parameters provides a powerful
method for ruling out most contaminants to transiting planet candidates. For
the EXPLORE project, radial velocity follow-up observations for companion mass
determination of the best candidates are done on 8-m-class telescopes within
two or three months of the photometric campaigns. This same-season follow-up is
made possible by the use of efficient pipelines to produce high quality light
curves within weeks of the observations. We conclude by presenting early
results from our first search, EXPLORE I, in which we reached <1% rms
photometric precision (measured over a full night) on ~37,000 stars to I <=
18.2.Comment: accepted by ApJ. Main points unchanged but more thorough discussion
of some issues. 36 pages, including 14 figure
The statistics of the photometric accuracy based on MASS data and the evaluation of high-altitude wind
The effect of stellar scintillation on the accuracy of photometric
measurements is analyzed. We obtain a convenient form of estimaton of this
effect in the long exposure regime, when the turbulence shift produced by the
wind is much larger than the aperture of the telescope. A simple method is
proposed to determine index introduced by perture of the Kenyon et al.
(2006), directly from the measurements with the Multi Aperture Scintillation
Sensor (MASS) without information on vertical profile of the wind. The
statistics resulting from our campaign of 2005 -- 2007 at Maidanak
observatory is presented. It is shown that these data can be used to estimate
high-altitude winds at pressure level 70 -- 100 mbar. Comparison with the wind
speed retrieved from the NCEP/NCAR global models shows a good agreement. Some
prospects for retrieval of the wind speed profile from the MASS measurements
are outlined.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy Letter
Outbreak tracking of Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) using partial NS1 gene sequencing
Abstract Background Aleutian Mink Disease (AMD) is an infectious disease of mink (Neovison vison) and globally a major cause of economic losses in mink farming. The disease is caused by Aleutian Mink Disease Virus (AMDV) that belongs to the genus Amdoparvovirus within the Parvoviridae family. Several strains have been described with varying virulence and the severity of infection also depends on the host’s genotype and immune status. Clinical signs include respiratory distress in kits and unthriftiness and low quality of the pelts. The infection can also be subclinical. Systematic control of AMDV in Danish mink farms was voluntarily initiated in 1976. Over recent decades the disease was mainly restricted to the very northern part of the country (Northern Jutland), with only sporadic outbreaks outside this region. Most of the viruses from this region have remained very closely related at the nucleotide level for decades. However, in 2015, several outbreaks of AMDV occurred at mink farms throughout Denmark, and the sources of these outbreaks were not known. Methods Partial NS1 gene sequencing, phylogenetic analyses data were utilized along with epidemiological to determine the origin of the outbreaks. Results The phylogenetic analyses of partial NS1 gene sequences revealed that the outbreaks were caused by two different clusters of viruses that were clearly different from the strains found in Northern Jutland. These clusters had restricted geographical distribution, and the variation within the clusters was remarkably low. The outbreaks on Zealand were epidemiologically linked and a close sequence match was found to two virus sequences from Sweden. The other cluster of outbreaks restricted to Jutland and Funen were linked to three feed producers (FP) but secondary transmissions between farms in the same geographical area could not be excluded. Conclusion This study confirmed that partial NS1 sequencing can be used in outbreak tracking to determine major viral clusters of AMDV. Using this method, two new distinct AMDV clusters with low intra-cluster sequence diversity were identified, and epidemiological data helped to reveal possible ways of viral introduction into the affected herds
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