Regulating the employment dynamics of domestic supply chains

This paper sheds light on the role that the regulation of primarily domestic, rather than global, supply chains could play in protecting and enhancing standards of workplace health and safety, as well as employment standards more generally. The analysis presented confirms the potential relevance of such regulation in these regards. However, it also reinforces existing evidence pointing to the fact that only very rarely will market-related considerations on their own prompt purchasers to seek to directly influence the employment practices of their suppliers. The paper ends therefore by highlighting a number of key issues relating to the design of regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing employment conditions within supply chains

Protecting workers through supply chains: lessons from two construction case studies

Two case studies of the successful use of supply chains to support the effective management of health and safety on constructions sites are analysed to identify the factors supporting this success. The analysis reveals that a combination of external regulatory pressures and an industry structure facilitative of the establishment and implementation of ‘good practice’ played a crucial role in the outcomes achieved. It is concluded therefore that while the findings lend weight to policy initiatives to utilise the power dynamics in supply chains to protect working conditions, they also suggest that surrounding institutional and industrial contexts exert a potentially crucial influence over their effectiveness. Consequently, it is further argued that such initiatives need to be responsively shaped to them

Senescent cells enhance newt limb regeneration by promoting muscle dedifferentiation

Salamanders are able to regenerate their entire limbs throughout lifespan, through a process that involves significant modulation of cellular plasticity. Limb regeneration is accompanied by the endogenous induction of cellular senescence, a state of irreversible cell cycle arrest associated with profound non-cell-autonomous consequences. While traditionally associated with detrimental physiological effects, here, we show that senescent cells can enhance newt limb regeneration. Through a lineage tracing approach, we demonstrate that exogenously derived senescent cells promote dedifferentiation of mature muscle tissue to generate regenerative progenitors. In a paradigm of newt myotube dedifferentiation, we uncover that senescent cells promote myotube cell cycle re-entry and reversal of muscle identity via secreted factors. Transcriptomic profiling and loss of function approaches identify the FGF-ERK signalling axis as a critical mediator of senescence-induced muscle dedifferentiation. While chronic senescence constrains muscle regeneration in physiological mammalian contexts, we thus highlight a beneficial role for cellular senescence as an important modulator of dedifferentiation, a key mechanism for regeneration of complex structures

Interaction of intense vuv radiation with large xenon clusters

The interaction of atomic clusters with short, intense pulses of laser light to form extremely hot, dense plasmas has attracted extensive experimental and theoretical interest. The high density of atoms within the cluster greatly enhances the atom--laser interaction, while the finite size of the cluster prevents energy from escaping the interaction region. Recent technological advances have allowed experiments to probe the laser--cluster interaction at very high photon energies, with interactions much stronger than suggested by theories for lower photon energies. We present a model of the laser--cluster interaction which uses non-perturbative R-matrix techniques to calculate inverse bremsstrahlung and photoionization cross sections for Herman-Skillman atomic potentials. We describe the evolution of the cluster under the influence of the processes of inverse bremsstrahlung heating, photoionization, collisional ionization and recombination, and expansion of the cluster. We compare charge state distribution, charge state ejection energies, and total energy absorbed with the Hamburg experiment of Wabnitz {\em et al.} [Nature {\bf 420}, 482 (2002)] and ejected electron spectra with Laarmann {\em et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 063402 (2005)]

Configuration development study of the X-24C hypersonic research airplane

Bottom line results were made of a three-phase study to determine the feasibility of designing, building, and operating, and maintaining an air-launched high performance aircraft capable of cruising at speeds up to Mach 8 for short durations. The results show that Lockalloy heat-sink structure affords the capability for a 'work-horse' vehicle which can serve as an excellent platform for this research. It was further concluded that the performance of a blended wing body configuration surpassed that of a lifting body design for typical X-24C missions. The cost of a two vehicle program, less engines, B-52 modification and contractor support after delivery, can be kept within $70M (in Jan. 1976 dollars)

Proceedings of the 11th Annual Meeting, Southern Soybean Disease Workers (March 27-29, 1984, Ft. Walton Beach, Florida): Economics of Soybean Disease

Contents 1984 Southern Soybean Disease Workers Officers 1984 Southern Soybean Disease Workers Program Committee 1984 Southern Soybean Disease Workers Committee Chairmen Workshop Diagnosing early season soybean disorders. D Stuckey and A Wrather General session Presidential address. HJ Walters Southern United States Soybean Disease Loss Estimate for 1983. Southern Soybean Disease Workers, Soybean Disease Loss Estimate Committee. RP Mulrooney Soybean nematodes. R Dunn presiding A New Publication on the Soybean Cyst Nematode. WF Moore Soybean Cultivars and Development of Populations of Meloidogyne incognita in Soil: A Concept of Tolerance. R Rodríguez-Kábana and DB Weaver A Comparison of Soybean Cultivars for Their Resistance to Meloidogyne incognita and M. arenaria. RA Kinloch Ethylene Dibromide and Alternative Nematicides for Soybeans. RA Dunn Involvement of Fungi in Phytonematode Pathology. G Morgan-Jones and R Rodríguez-Kábana Graduate student presentations. EC McGawley presiding Interaction Between Heterodera glycines and Glomus macrocarpus on Soybeans as Affected by Aldicarb. DP McCormack, DP Schmitt, and KR Barker Phomopsis sp. and Soybean Seedling Emergence: Influence of Soil Water Potential. M Gleason and RS Ferriss Soybean seed, seedling and soil-borne diseases. WS Gazaway presiding Report of Southern Soybean Disease Workers Seed Treatment Committee, 1983. MC McDaniel Effects of Soil Source, Soil Moisture, Seed Quality and Seed Treatment on Soybean Emergence. RE Stuckey, RS Ferriss, and MR Siegel Epidemiological and Mycofloral Relationships in Soybean Seedling Disease. JF Killebrew and KW Roy Seed Treatments for Control of Seedling Diseases and Rhizoctonia Root Rot in No-Till Soybeans. AY Chambers Soybean foliar, pod and stem diseases. JW Shriver presiding Southern Soybean Disease Workers Standardized Foliar Fungicide Test, 1983. AY Chambers and MA Newman Stem Canker in the Southeastern United States. WS Gazaway Timings of Foliar Fungicide Applications on Soybeans in Louisiana. JS Gershey, GT Berggren, and ME Pace Levels of Chlorine in Leaves and Seed Causing Leaf Scorch of Soybeans. MB Parker, TP Gaines, and GJ Gascho Incidence and Yield Loss Estimates on Stem and Foliar Diseases as Affected by Row Spacing and Overhead Irrigation. MC Hirrell and MC McDaniel Foliar Fungicides in Georgia: A Ten-Year Summary. DV Phillips New developments. E Barrett presiding The Use of Microcomputers in Soybean Disease Research. ME Pace, GT Berggren, Jr, and JS Gershey Aerial Web Blight in Mississippi in 1983. JA Fox SSDW Treasurer\u27s repor

Effect of high flow oxygen on mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in prehospital setting: randomised controlled trial

Objectives To compare standard high flow oxygen treatment with titrated oxygen treatment for patients with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the prehospital setting

Competing exchange interactions on the verge of a metal-insulator transition in the two-dimensional spiral magnet Sr3_3Fe2_2O7_7

We report a neutron scattering study of the magnetic order and dynamics of the bilayer perovskite Sr$_3$Fe$_2$O$_7$, which exhibits a temperature-driven metal-insulator transition at 340 K. We show that the Fe$^{4+}$ moments adopt incommensurate spiral order below $T_\text{N}=115$ K and provide a comprehensive description of the corresponding spin wave excitations. The observed magnetic order and excitation spectra can be well understood in terms of an effective spin Hamiltonian with interactions ranging up to third nearest-neighbor pairs. The results indicate that the helical magnetism in Sr$_3$Fe$_2$O$_7$ results from competition between ferromagnetic double-exchange and antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions whose strengths become comparable near the metal-insulator transition. They thus confirm a decades-old theoretical prediction and provide a firm experimental basis for models of magnetic correlations in strongly correlated metals.Comment: PRL, in pres