Input and output considerations in estimating rates of chemical denudation

Estimation of rates of solutional denudation in river basins necessitates some consideration of salt inputs as well as consideration of salt outputs. Recent work in nutrient cycling has stressed the complexity and importance of the input factor, particularly when throughfall chemistry is taken into account. Frequently the differences between rates of input and output of salt in a river basin are small, suggesting that many published rates of solutional denudation, which consider outputs alone, or inputs only in part, are excessive. The input of salts, which may take place in rain, snow, fog and throughfall are most important in coastal areas. Analysis of data, for both the semi-arid United States and the Cotswold Hills in England, illustrate the need for long-term sampling, and for a detailed spatial network of sampling points

A closed loop cryogenic environment pressure regulating system

Nonlinear closed loop control system to regulate the pressure in a cryogenic environment is described. System employs four position contactor with two control bands to react to the signals. Diagrams of element transfer function and required equipment are included

Bayesian sequential tests of the initial size of a linear pure death process

We provide a recursive algorithm for determining the sampling plans of invariant Bayesian sequential tests of the initial size of a linear pure death process of unknown rate. These tests compare favourably with the corresponding truncated sequential probability ratio tests.PostprintPeer reviewe

“Online CPD courses: Do they enhance student knowledge?”

Most professional bodies require registrants to demonstrate a commitment to continuing professional development (CPD). During the re-registration process, the registrant’s CPD folder may be audited by her/his registering body to check that the registrant has evidenced the knowledge, skills and experience gained throughout that period of professional practice

Use of hospital services by age and comorbidity after an index heart failure admission in England: an observational study

© Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited.Objectives To describe hospital inpatient, emergency department (ED) and outpatient department (OPD) activity for patients in the year following their first emergency admission for heart failure (HF). To assess the proportion receiving specialist assessment within 2â €...weeks of hospital discharge, as now recommended by guidelines. Design Observational study of national administrative data. Setting All acute NHS hospitals in England. Participants 82â €...241 patients with an index emergency admission between April 2009 and March 2011 with a primary diagnosis of HF. Main outcome measures Cardiology OPD appointment within 2â €...weeks and within a year of discharge from the index admission; emergency department (ED) and inpatient use within a year. Results 15.1% died during the admission. Of the 69â €...848 survivors, 19.7% were readmitted within 30â €...days and half within a year, the majority for non-HF diagnoses. 6.7% returned to the ED within a week of discharge, of whom the majority (77.6%) were admitted. The two most common OPD specialties during the year were cardiology (24.7% of the total appointments) and anticoagulant services (12.5%). Although half of all patients had a cardiology appointment within a year, the proportion within the recommended 2â €...weeks of discharge was just 6.8% overall and varied by age, from 2.4% in those aged 90+ to 19.6% in those aged 18-45 (p<0.0001); appointments in other specialties made up only some of the shortfall. More comorbidity at any age was associated with higher rates of cardiology OPD follow-up. Conclusions Patients with HF are high users of hospital services. Postdischarge cardiology OPD follow-up rates fell well below current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, particularly for the elderly and those with less comorbidity

Inactivation of pathogens on food and contact surfaces using ozone as a biocidal agent

This study focuses on the inactivation of a range of food borne pathogens using ozone as a biocidal agent. Experiments were carried out using Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and Salmonella enteritidis in which population size effects and different treatment temperatures were investigate

How to make it in Cairo : the early career of Burhān al-Dīn al-Biqāʿī

How it all went wrong for Burhān al-Dīn al-Biqāʿī (809–85/1406–80), a fifteenth-century Quran exegete and historian active in Cairo, has been well covered. Modern scholarship has discussed the downward trajectory of his later career from 868/1464, in which his embroilment in two controversies—respectively on the use of the Bible in tafsīr and the poetry of Ibn al-Fāriḍ—so eroded his position in Cairene society that he was forced to flee to Damascus in 880/1475. A third controversy—on the theodicy of al-Ghazālī—incensed the Damascene populace, and he died destitute in 885/1480. While charting his declining fortunes reveals much about the religio-intellectual environment in which he operated, these three episodes all date from after al-Biqāʿī had succeeded in securing himself a position in Cairo as the resident Quran exegete at the Ẓāhirīyah Mosque, and also as first the personal tutor of Sultan Jaqmaq and then as a confidant of Sultan Īnāl. The issue, however, of how it all went right for al-Biqāʿī is relatively overlooked. This article is aimed at two complementary purposes. First, it will provide an overview of how al-Biqāʿī sought to increase the social and cultural capital resources at his disposal to build and expand the social network that underpinned his career in Cairo and that subsequently crumbled under the weight of the later controversies. In doing so, it will outline in more detail al-Biqāʿī’s origins, before moving to discuss the key relationships—particularly his patron-client relationships—he established and how these facilitated his making his way in Cairo. Having done so, it will turn to its second purpose: namely, it will argue that the descriptive reconstruction of al-Biqāʿī’s life and career should be read against the interpretative frameworks employed by the authors of our sources, and that doing so leads to a deeper understanding of not only al-Biqāʿī himself, but of the social contexts in which he operated

Multiple Self-Healing Squamous Epithelioma (MSSE):A Digenic Trait Associated with Loss of Function Mutations in <i>TGFBR1</i> and Variants at a Second Linked Locus on the Long Arm of Chromosome 9

MSSE (Ferguson-Smith disease) is a rare familial condition in which multiple skin tumors resembling squamous carcinomas invade locally and then regress spontaneously after several months, leaving disfiguring scars. We review evidence from haplotype studies in MSSE families with common ancestry that the condition is caused by loss of function mutations in TGFBR1 interacting with permissive variants at a second linked locus on the long arm of chromosome 9. The spectrum of TGFBR1 mutations in MSSE and the allelic disorder Loeys Dietz syndrome (characterized by developmental anomalies and thoracic aortic aneurysms) differ. Reports of patients with both MSSE and Loeys Dietz syndrome are consistent with variants at a second locus determining whether self-healing epitheliomas occur in patients with the loss of function mutations found in most MSSE patients or the missense mutations in the intracellular kinase domain of TGFBR1 that characterize Loeys Dietz syndrome