Higher education academic salaries in the UK

It is widely believed that higher education academic salaries are too low, and that this may lead to a ‘brain drain’ and also lower quality in higher education, as universities fail to attract the ‘brightest and the best’. We compare the salaries of Higher Education teaching professionals in the UK with those of other comparable professionals. We compare academic salaries to a range of occupational groupings that one might view as similar, in terms of unobserved characteristics, to academics. We conclude that HE teaching professionals earn lower earnings than most public sector graduates and do particularly poorly compared to most other comparable professionals. In particular, academic earnings compare poorly to those in the legal professions, consultant physicians and dental practitioners (across both the public and private sectors). On the other hand, some public sector workers do worse than HE academics, e.g. FE teachers

Computer Program for Assessing the Economic Feasibility of Solar Energy for Single Family Residences and Light Commercial Applications

Computer program, SHCOST, was used to perform economic analyses of operational test sites. The program allows consideration of the economic parameters which are important to the solar system user. A life cycle cost and cash flow comparison is made between a solar heating system and a conventional system. The program assists in sizing the solar heating system. A sensitivity study and plot capability allow the user to select the most cost effective system configuration

Quantum corrections to the Larmor radiation formula in scalar electrodynamics

We use the semi-classical approximation in perturbative scalar quantum electrodynamics to calculate the quantum correction to the Larmor radiation formula to first order in Planck's constant in the non-relativistic approximation, choosing the initial state of the charged particle to be a momentum eigenstate. We calculate this correction in two cases: in the first case the charged particle is accelerated by a time-dependent but space-independent vector potential whereas in the second case it is accelerated by a time-independent vector potential which is a function of one spatial coordinate. We find that the corrections in these two cases are different even for a charged particle with the same classical motion. The correction in each case turns out to be non-local in time in contrast to the classical approximation.Comment: 19 page

National counter-terrorism (C-T) policies and challenges to human rights and civil liberties: Case study of United Kingdom

In the UK the rise post-2005 in “home-grown” terrorism, relying to a significant extent on strikes on soft targets by “self-starters,” means that the search for effective preventive measures remains a continuing concern. Below a number of the preventive counter-terror measures adopted post-9/11, and incrementally strengthened in response to the current threat, are found to fall into three categories and represent interventions at the stages in the path toward attacks. This chapter focuses on selected examples of these preventive measures. In terms of three key stages, firstly, there is the attempt to prevent radicalization, under the “Prevent” strategy. A second strategy relies on taking certain measures to control the activities of those considered likely – on the balance of probabilities – to engage in terrorist-related activity. A third preventive strategy relies on the special terrorism offences under the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006, as amended, intended to allow for intervention at a very early stage in terrorist plots and in preparing or instigating terrorist acts (“precursor” offences)

Three water sites in upper mantle olivine and the role of titanium in the water weakening mechanism

Infrared spectroscopy on synthetic olivines has established that there are at least four different mechanisms by which hydrogen is incorporated into the crystal structure. Two mechanisms occur in the system MgO-SiO2-H2O associated with silicon and magnesium vacancies, respectively. A third mechanism is associated with trivalent cation substitution, commonly Fe3+ in natural olivine, while the fourth mechanism, which is the one most prevalent in natural olivines from the spinel-peridotite facies of the Earth’s upper mantle, is associated with Ti4+ [Berry et al., 2005]. Here first principles calculations based on density functional theory are used to derive the structure and relative energies of the two defects in the pure MgO-SiO2-H2O system, and possible hydrogen-bearing and hydrogen-free point defects in Ti4+-doped forsterite. Calculated structures are used to compare the predicted orientation of the O-H bonds with the experimentally determined polarization. The energies are used to discuss how different regimes of chemical environment, temperature (T), pressure (P), and both water content and water fugacity ( fH2O), impact on which of the different hydroxyl substitution mechanisms are thermodynamically stable. We find that given the presence of Ti impurities, the most stable mechanism involves the formation of silicon vacancies containing two protons charge balanced by a Ti4+ cation occupying an adjacent octahedral site. This mechanism leads to the water-mediated formation of silicon vacancies. As silicon is known to be the most slowly diffusing species in olivine, this provides a credible explanation of the observed water weakening effect in olivine

Ultrasound by emergency physicians to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms: a UK case series

Early identification of abdominal aortic aneurysms in some patients can be difficult and the diagnosis is missed in up to 30% of patients. Ultrasound cannot be used to identify a leak, but the presence of an aneurysm in an unstable patient is conclusive. With minimal training emergency physicians can easily identify the aorta and thus in the early phase of resuscitation an aneurysm can be confidently excluded. The purpose of the examination is not to delineate the extent of the aneurysm, but to identify those patients that will need emergency surgery. A series of patients presented to the department in an unstable condition with equivocal abdominal signs. An ultrasound scan in the resuscitation room by members of the emergency department revealed an aneurysm, which was enough to convince the vascular surgeons to take the patient straight to theatre with good results. In patients who are stable, computed tomography will continue to be used to evaluate the extent of the aneurysm and identify a leak

Pore geometry as a control on rock strength

This study was funded via RJW's University of Leicester start-up fund, as part of AAB's PhD project. We thank Don Swanson and Mike Poland at HVO, Hawai'i, for their help and advice during fieldwork planning and sample collection in the Koa'e fault system, and the National Park Service for granting a research permit to collect rock samples. Sergio Vinciguerra is thanked for access to the Rock Mechanics and Physics lab at the British Geological Survey and Audrey Ougier-Simonin is thanked for her help preparing samples and advice during testing. We thank Mike Heap (EOST Strasbourg) and an anonymous reviewer for their detailed and careful comments that greatly improved the manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Determining the superconducting gap structure in Sr2RuO4 from sound attenuation studies below Tc

This work presents a quantitative theoretical study of the sound attenuation in the unconventional multiband superconductor Sr2RuO4 below the superconducting transition temperature Tc. Sound attenuation in this material is shown to have the remarkable property of being able to identify different nodal structures on different bands. The nodal structures on the \gamma band on the one hand, and on the \alpha and \beta bands on the other, are both found to be characterized by the existence of point nodes, but are significantly different in their quantitative aspects.Comment: 7 pages, REVTe