592 research outputs found
Professionalism and the Millbank Tendency: The Political Sociology of New Labour's employees
This article analyses party employees, one of the most under-researched subjects in the study of British political parties. We draw on a blend of quantitative and qualitative data in order to shed light on the social and political profiles of Labour Party staff, and on the question of their professionalisation. The latter theme is developed through a model derived from the sociology of professions. While a relatively limited proportion of party employees conform to the pure ideal-type of professionalism, a considerably greater number manifest enough of the core characteristics of specialisation, commitment, mobility, autonomy and self-regulation to be reasonably described as 'professionals in pursuit of political outcomes'
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International Environmental Evaluation for the Helical Screw Expander Generator Unit Projects in Cesano, Italy and Broadlands, New Zealand
The objectives of the Helical Screw Expander (HSE) Generator Program are (1) to accelerate the development of geothermal resources by introducing this advanced conversion technology, (2) to provide operating experience to prospective users of the equipment, and (3) to collect data on the performance and reliability of the equipment under various geothermal resource conditions. The participants hope to achieve these goals by testing a small-scale, transportable HSE generator at existing geothermal test facilities that produce fluids of different salinity, temperature and pressure conditions. This Environmental Evaluation has been prepared, using available information, to analyze the environmental consequences of testing the HSE generator. Its purpose is to support a decision on the need for a complete environmental review of the HSE program under the terms of Executive Order 121 14, ''Environmental Effects Abroad of Major federal Actions''. This Executive Order requires review of projects which involve the release of potentially toxic effluents that are strictly regulated in the United States, or which may have significant environmental effects on the global commons, on natural or ecological resources of international significance, or on the environment of non-participating countries. The final guidelines implementing the provisions of the Executive Order for DOE have been published. This evaluation deals with testing to be conducted at Cesano, Italy by the designated contractor of the Italian government, the Ente Narionale per l'Energia Ellectrica (ENEL), and at Broadlands, New Zealand by the Ministry of Works and Development of New Zealand. Testing at Cerro Prieto, Mexico has already been completed by the Comision Federal de Electricidad and is not evaluated in this report
Dimensionless cosmology
Although it is well known that any consideration of the variations of
fundamental constants should be restricted to their dimensionless combinations,
the literature on variations of the gravitational constant is entirely
dimensionful. To illustrate applications of this to cosmology, we explicitly
give a dimensionless version of the parameters of the standard cosmological
model, and describe the physics of Big Bang Neucleosynthesis and recombination
in a dimensionless manner. The issue that appears to have been missed in many
studies is that in cosmology the strength of gravity is bound up in the
cosmological equations, and the epoch at which we live is a crucial part of the
model. We argue that it is useful to consider the hypothetical situation of
communicating with another civilization (with entirely different units),
comparing only dimensionless constants, in order to decide if we live in a
Universe governed by precisely the same physical laws. In this thought
experiment, we would also have to compare epochs, which can be defined by
giving the value of any {\it one} of the evolving cosmological parameters. By
setting things up carefully in this way one can avoid inconsistent results when
considering variable constants, caused by effectively fixing more than one
parameter today. We show examples of this effect by considering microwave
background anisotropies, being careful to maintain dimensionlessness
throughout. We present Fisher matrix calculations to estimate how well the fine
structure constants for electromagnetism and gravity can be determined with
future microwave background experiments. We highlight how one can be misled by
simply adding to the usual cosmological parameter set
Quantitative N- or C-Terminal Labelling of Proteins with Unactivated Peptides by Use of Sortases and a d-Aminopeptidase
Quantitative and selective labelling of proteins is widely used in both academic and industrial laboratories, and catalytic labelling of proteins using transpeptidases, such as sortases, has proved to be a popular strategy for such selective modification. A major challenge for this class of enzymes is that the majority of procedures require an excess of the labelling reagent or, alternatively, activated substrates rather than simple commercially sourced peptides. We report the use of a coupled enzyme strategy which enables quantitative N- and C-terminal labelling of proteins using unactivated labelling peptides. The use of an aminopeptidase in conjunction with a transpeptidase allows sequence-specific degradation of the peptide by-product, shifting the equilibrium to favor product formation, which greatly enhances the reaction efficiency. Subsequent optimisation of the reaction allows N-terminal labelling of proteins using essentially equimolar ratios of peptide label to protein and C-terminal labelling with only a small excess. Minimizing the amount of substrate required for quantitative labelling has the potential to improve industrial processes and facilitate the use of transpeptidation as a method for protein labelling
Dynamics of tree diversity in undisturbed and logged subtropical rainforest in Australia
In subtropical rainforest in eastern Australia, changes in the diversity of trees were compared under natural conditions and eight silvicultural regimes over 35 years. In the treated plots basal area remaining after logging ranged from 12 to 58 m2 per ha. In three control plots richness differed little over this period. In the eight treated plots richness per plot generally declined after intervention and then gradually increased to greater than original diversity. After logging there was a reduction in richness per plot and an increase in species richness per stem in all but the lightest selective treatments. The change in species diversity was related to the intensity of the logging, however the time taken for species richness to return to pre-logging levels was similar in all silvicultural treatments and was not effected by the intensity of treatment. These results suggest that light selective logging in these forests mainly affects dominant species. The return to high diversity after only a short time under all silvicultural regimes suggests that sustainability and the manipulation of species composition for desired management outcomes is possible
Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV
We report the STAR measurement of Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p
collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV. Using the event mixing technique, the Phi
spectra and yields are obtained at mid-rapidity for five centrality bins in
Au+Au collisions and for non-singly-diffractive p+p collisions. It is found
that the Phi transverse momentum distributions from Au+Au collisions are better
fitted with a single-exponential while the p+p spectrum is better described by
a double-exponential distribution. The measured nuclear modification factors
indicate that Phi production in central Au+Au collisions is suppressed relative
to peripheral collisions when scaled by the number of binary collisions. The
systematics of versus centrality and the constant Phi/K- ratio versus beam
species, centrality, and collision energy rule out kaon coalescence as the
dominant mechanism for Phi production.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Associations of body size with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in healthy older adults
In the general population, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference are recognized risk factors for several chronic diseases and all-cause mortality. However, whether these associations are the same for older adults is less clear. The association of baseline BMI and waist circumference with all-cause and cause-specific mortality was investigated in 18,209 Australian and US participants (mean age: 75.1 ± 4.5 years) from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study, followed up for a median of 6.9 years (IQR: 5.7, 8.0). There were substantially different relationships observed in men and women. In men, the lowest risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality was observed with a BMI in the range 25.0–29.9 kg/m2 [HR25-29.9 vs 21–24.9 kg/m2: 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73–1.00] while the highest risk was in those who were underweight [HRBMI <21 kg/m2 vs BMI 21–24.9 kg/m2: 1.82; 95% CI 1.30–2.55], leading to a clear U-shaped relationship. In women, all-cause mortality was highest in those with the lowest BMI leading to a J-shaped relationship (HRBMI <21 kg/m2 vs BMI 21–24.9 kg/m2: 1.64; 95% CI 1.26–2.14). Waist circumference showed a weaker relationship with all-cause mortality in both men and women. There was little evidence of a relationship between either index of body size and subsequent cancer mortality in men or women, while non-cardiovascular non-cancer mortality was higher in underweight participants. For older men, being overweight was found to be associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, while among both men and women, a BMI in the underweight category was associated with a higher risk. Waist circumference alone had little association with all-cause or cause-specific mortality risk. Trial registration ASPREE https://ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01038583.Prudence R. Carr, Katherine L. Webb, Johannes T. Neumann, Le T. P. Thao, Lawrence J. Beilin, Michael E. Ernst, Bernadette Fitzgibbon, Danijela Gasevic, Mark R. Nelson, Anne B. Newman, Suzanne G. Orchard, Alice Owen, Christopher M. Reid, Nigel P. Stocks, Andrew M. Tonkin, Robyn L. Woods, John J. McNei
Energy balance measurements over a banana orchard in the Semiarid region in the Northeast of Brazil
Change in Blood Pressure Variability Among Treated Elderly Hypertensive Patients and Its Association With Mortality
Background: Information is scarce regarding effects of antihypertensive medication on blood pressure variability (BPV) and associated clinical outcomes. We examined whether antihypertensive treatment changes BPV over time and whether such change (decline or increase) has any association with long-term mortality in an elderly hypertensive population. Methods and Results: We used data from a subset of participants in the Second Australian National Blood Pressure study (n=496) aged ≥65 years who had 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure recordings at study entry (baseline) and then after a median of 2 years while on treatment (follow-up). Weighted day-night systolic BPV was calculated for both baseline and follow-up as a weighted mean of daytime and nighttime blood pressure standard deviations. The annual rate of change in BPV over time was calculated from these BPV estimates. Furthermore, we classified both BPV estimates as high and low based on the baseline median BPV value and then classified BPV changes into stable: low BPV, stable: high BPV, decline: high to low, and increase: low to high. We observed an annual decline (mean±SD: −0.37±1.95; 95% CI, −0.54 to −0.19; P<0.001) in weighted day-night systolic BPV between baseline and follow-up. Having constant stable: high BPV was associated with an increase in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio: 3.03; 95% CI, 1.67–5.52) and cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio: 3.70; 95% CI, 1.62–8.47) in relation to the stable: low BPV group over a median 8.6 years after the follow-up ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Similarly, higher risk was observed in the decline: high to low group. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that in elderly hypertensive patients, average BPV declined over 2 years of follow-up after initiation of antihypertensive therapy, and having higher BPV (regardless of any change) was associated with increased long-term mortality
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