Six-state review

It appears that most New England states can look forward to a year in which revenues may equal or exceed budgeted levels.Budget - Connecticut ; Revenue - New England ; Budget - Massachusetts ; Budget - New Hampshire ; Budget - Rhode Island ; Budget - Vermont ; Budget - Maine

Light Along the River

Light along the River is a creative manuscript featuring a collection of ten short stories that loosely connect with each other. The collection is separated into two parts, with each part occurring in a three day span. The stories focus on a group of characters who live in a fictional present-day small Southern town. Each story is a glimpse into a certain character\u27s life. Description of detail is heavily focused on, as well as the actions of each character. Descriptive images and detailed scenes, instead of a specific narrator, are used prevalently in order to tell the story. This collection is accompanied by an introduction detailing the author\u27s influences, and an exploration into the content and style of the short stories. The introduction also explores the effect that mill closings and the rise of methamphetamine use has had on society in a small southern town. The work includes a bibliography, which is a short list of works the author consulted during the development of the creative manuscript

Has the incidence of empyema in Scottish children continued to increase beyond 2005?

Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.Peer reviewedPostprin

Diversity and Community Structure of Stream Insects in a Minimally Disturbed Forested Watershed in Southern Illinois

The Lusk Creek Watershed, located in Pope County, IL, long has been rec- ognized as a high quality area of biological significance, but surveys of the stream macroinvertebrate fauna have been limited. Thus, a survey of the benthic insect community at 11 sites in the upper portion of Lusk Creek was conducted from May 2003 to April 2005. A total of 20,888 specimens, mostly immatures, were examined during the study and represented eight orders. The Diptera, by far, was the most abundant order, with 18,590 specimens, almost all of which were members of the Chironomidae or Simuliidae. Members of the EPT (Ephemer- optera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera) contributed 1,550 specimens. The Coleoptera was represented by 647 specimens, most of which were members of Stenelmis (Elmidae) (n = 612). The Shannon diversity index (H ́) ranged from 1.07-2.01 for individual sites and was indicative of relatively undisturbed streams in this region. Jackknife analyses of richness estimated that as many as 37 taxa were unobserved in this survey. Results provide information on reference conditions in the region and a foundation for future monitoring

The history of the iron K-alpha line profile in the Piccinotti AGN ESO198-G24

This paper presents ASCA (July 1997), XMM-Newton (December 2000) and BeppoSAX (January 2001) observations of the Piccinotti Seyfert 1 galaxy ESO198-G24. The BeppoSAX 0.1-200 keV spectrum exhibits reprocessing features, probably produced by an X-ray illuminated, relativistic accretion disk subtending a solid angle \~2 pi. During the XMM-Newton observation the fluorescent iron K-alpha line profile (centroid energy E~6.4 keV) was broad and twice as bright as in the BeppoSAX observation. An additional emission feature (E~5.7 keV), detected at the 96.3% confidence level, may be part of a relativistic, double-peaked profile. By contrast, in the earlier ASCA observation the line profile is dominated by a remarkably narrow "core" (intrinsic width <50 eV). If this component is produced by reflection off the inner surface of a molecular torus, its large Equivalent Width (~300 eV) most likely represents the "echo" of a previously brighter flux state, in agreement with the dynamical range covered by the historical X-ray light curve in ESO198-G24.Comment: 9 Latex pages, 11 figures, To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The reprocessing features in the X-ray spectrum of the NELG MCG-5-23-16

We present results from the spectral analysis of the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG-5-23-16, based on ASCA, BeppoSAX, Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. The spectrum of this object shows a complex iron Kalpha emission line, which is best modeled by a superposition of a narrow and a broad (possibly relativistic) iron line, together with a Compton reflection component. Comparing results from all (six) available observations, we do not find any significant variation in the flux of both line components. The moderate flux continuum variability (about 25% difference between the brightest and faintest states), however, does not permit us to infer much about the location of the line-emitting material. The amount of Compton reflection is lower than expected from the total iron line EW, implying either an iron overabundance or that one of the two line components (most likely the narrow one) originates in Compton-thin matter.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Management of mental illness by the British Army

Background: The Ministry of Defence has its own hospital for soldiers requiring admission for mental health problems. Aims: To assess the efficiency of the army psychiatric hospital at restoring patients to full active duty. To assess whether a new military training and rehabilitation unit (MTRU) that emphasises military-skills training, improves outcome. Method: A 2-year, inception-cohort outcome study of hospital in-patients. A 12-month, case-matched, ‘before and after’ outcome study compared MTRU patients with hospital in-patients. Results: I (hospital in-patients, n=309): at 2-year follow-up 67 (22%) were fully fit for active duty. Military psychiatrists' success rate at predicting recovery to active duty was 27%. 2: the odds of a soldier in the MTRU cohort (n=35) returning to active duty were 14 times greater than for the hospital cohort (n=35). The odds of remaining in the army while unfit for active duty were 20 times less for the MTRU than for the hospital cohort. Conclusions: The army hospital is inefficient at rehabilitation to active duty. The MTRU significantly increased the odds of returning to active duty and reduced the odds of remaining in the army while still unfit. These findings may be applicable to the emergency services

G2G_2-instantons on the spinor bundle of the 3-sphere

We classify $G_2$-instantons admitting $SU(2)^3$-symmetries, and construct a new family of examples on the spinor bundle of the 3-sphere, equipped with the asymptotically conical, co-homogeneity one $G_2$-metric of Bryant-Salamon. We also show that, outside of the $SU(2)^3$-invariant examples, any other $G_2$-instanton on this metric with the same asymptotic behaviour must have obstructed deformations.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

"Born out of Crisis": an analysis of moorland management agreements on Exmoor; final report

The designation of Exmoor National Park in 1954 recognised the importance of the open character of much of the area and, in particular, its moorland to that natural heritage of the UK. However, the moorland that the park was charged with maintaining and enhancing was soon under threat and the following years saw extensive moorland loss and the fragmentation of remaining moorland (Lowe et al, 1986). The ensuing moorland conflict and debate eventually lead Exmoor NPA, in collaboration with farmers, land owners, the CLA and NFU to pioneer a new system of moorland management agreements. Indeed, for a short time, Exmoor was the only location operating wholly voluntary management agreements (Brotherton, 1990). Only two agreements now remain and in the twenty-five years since their inception much has changed. Once castigated for their "theft of the countryside" (Shoard, 1980), many farmers now work in partnership with statutory and non-statutory organisations as 'stewards' of the countryside. The purpose of this chapter is to review the policy and economic changes affecting farming over this time and to review the development of Exmoor moorland management agreements.Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,