Legislatures and Legislative Politics without Democracy

What do authoritarian legislatures and legislators do? Would outcomes in dictatorships be different if they were absent? Why do dictatorships have legislatures in the first place? These questions represent central puzzles in the study of authoritarian politics and institutions. The introductory article to this special issue on legislatures in nondemocracies discusses what we now know about these assemblies; what the issue’s articles contribute to this body of knowledge; and what future work might fruitfully look at. The special issue as a whole aims to advance the research agendas of both authoritarian institutions and legislative studies

Delivering Quality Motivational Interviewing Training: A Survey of MI Trainers

The MI community places an emphasis on attempting to understand the training process. Yet little is known about what MI trainers perceive as the important variables in training MI. A mixed method survey of 92 members of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers was used to elicit important variables to consider in providing quality MI training. Based on results, it appears that MI trainers are familiar with Miller and Moyers’ (2006) eight stages of learning MI and used them to develop trainings. However, the respondents reported that they do not use these stages to evaluate trainings. Moreover, the respondents emphasized the importance of trainee and trainer variables in organizing trainings. They also provided varied opinions regarding the important ingredients in developing MI competency. The authors discuss the need for further empirical exploration of the important training ingredients and the eight stages model. Finally, the need for exploration of how these ingredients help trainees develop competency and future focus on the integration of best practices in adult learning is discussed

Joint Kernel Maps

We develop a methodology for solving high dimensional dependency estimation problems between pairs of data types, which is viable in the case where the output of interest has very high dimension, e.g. thousands of dimensions. This is achieved by mapping the objects into continuous or discrete spaces, using joint kernels. Known correlations between input and output can be defined by such kernels, some of which can maintain linearity in the outputs to provide simple (closed form) pre-images. We provide examples of such kernels and empirical results on mass spectrometry prediction and mapping between images

Robustness of the Blandford-Znajek mechanism

The Blandford-Znajek mechanism has long been regarded as a key ingredient in models attempting to explain powerful jets in AGNs, quasars, blazzars etc. In such mechanism, energy is extracted from a rotating black hole and dissipated at a load at far distances. In the current work we examine the behaviour of the BZ mechanism with respect to different boundary conditions, revealing the mechanism robustness upon variation of these conditions. Consequently, this work closes a gap in our understanding of this important scenario.Comment: 7 pages, accepted in CQ

Asymptotic behaviour of multiple scattering on infinite number of parallel demi-planes

The exact solution for the scattering of electromagnetic waves on an infinite number of parallel demi-planes has been obtained by J.F. Carlson and A.E. Heins in 1947 using the Wiener-Hopf method. We analyze their solution in the semiclassical limit of small wavelength and find the asymptotic behaviour of the reflection and transmission coefficients. The results are compared with the ones obtained within the Kirchhoff approximation

High transonic speed transport aircraft study

An initial design study of high-transonic-speed transport aircraft has been completed. Five different design concepts were developed. These included fixed swept wing, variable-sweep wing, delta wing, double-fuselage yawed-wing, and single-fuselage yawed-wing aircraft. The boomless supersonic design objectives of range=5560 Km (3000 nmi), payload-18 143 kg (40 000lb), Mach=1.2, and FAR Part 36 aircraft noise levels were achieved by the single-fuselage yawed-wing configuration with a gross weight of 211 828 Kg (467 000 lb). A noise level of 15 EPNdB below FAR Part 36 requirements was obtained with a gross weight increase to 226 796 Kg (500 000 lb). Although wing aeroelastic divergence was a primary design consideration for the yawed-wing concepts, the graphite-epoxy wings of this study were designed by critical gust and maneuver loads rather than by divergence requirements. The transonic nacelle drag is shown to be very sensitive to the nacelle installation. A six-degree-of-freedom dynamic stability analysis indicated that the control coordination and stability augmentation system would require more development than for a symmetrical airplane but is entirely feasible. A three-phase development plan is recommended to establish the full potential of the yawed-wing concept

The place of strategic environmental assessment in the privatised electricity industry

The private sector has given relatively little attention to the emergence of strategic environmental assessment (SEA); even recently privatised utilities, where SEA might be deemed particularly appropriate, and whose activities are likely to fall within the scope of the European Union SEA Directive, have shown less interest than might be expected. However, the global trend towards the privatisation of state-owned enterprises makes the adaptation of SEA towards these industries all the more pressing. This paper addresses the place that SEA might take within the electricity sector, taking the privatised UK electricity industry as an example. Particular challenges are posed by the radical restructuring of the industry, designed to introduce competitive behaviour, making the development of comprehensive SEA processes problematic, and requiring SEA to be placed in the context of corporate environmental policy and objectives.</p

Weak Hyperon Decays: Quark Sea and SU(3) Symmetry Breaking

An explanation of the difference in the values of the apparent $f/d$ ratios for the S- and P- wave amplitudes of nonleptonic hyperon decays is proposed. The argument is formulated in the framework of the standard pole model with $(56,0^{+})$ ground-state and $(70,1^{-})$ excited baryons as intermediate states for the P- and S- waves respectively. Under the assumption that the dominant part of the deviation of $(f/d)_{P-wave}$ from $-1$ is due to large quark sea effects, $SU(3)$ symmetry breaking in energy denominators is shown to lead to a prediction for $(f/d)_{S-wave}$ which is in excellent agreement with experiment. This corroborates our previous unitarity calculations which indicated that the matrix elements $$ of the parity conserving weak Hamiltonian between the ground-state baryons are characterized by $f_{0}/d_{0} \approx -1.6$ or more. A brief discussion of the problem of the relative size of S- and P- wave amplitudes is given. Finally, implications for weak radiative hyperon decays are also discussed.Comment: 26 pages, LATEX, 1647/PH IFJ Krako

Small animal disease surveillance: respiratory disease 2017

This report focuses on surveillance for respiratory disease in companion animals. It begins with an analysis of data from 392 veterinary practices contributing to the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) between January and December 2017. The following section describes canine respiratory coronavirus infections in dogs, presenting results from laboratory-confirmed cases across the country between January 2010 and December 2017. This is followed by an update on the temporal trends of three important syndromes in companion animals, namely gastroenteritis, pruritus and respiratory disease, from 2014 to 2017. A fourth section presents a brief update on Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus in companion animals. The final section summarises some recent developments pertinent to companion animal health, namely eyeworm (Thelazzia callipaeda) infestations in dogs imported to the UK and canine influenza virus in the USA and Canada