Environmental chemical exposures and breast cancer

As a hormone-sensitive condition with no single identifiable cause, breast cancer is a major health problem. It is characterized by a wide range of contributing factors and exposures occurring in different combinations and strengths across a lifetime that may be amplified during periods of enhanced developmental susceptibility and impacted by reproductive patterns and behaviours. The vast majority of cases are oestrogen-receptor positive and occur in women with no family history of the disease suggesting that modifiable risk factors are involved. A substantial body of evidence now links oestrogen-positive breast cancer with environmental exposures. Synthetic chemicals capable of oestrogen mimicry are characteristic of industrial development and have been individually and extensively assessed as risk factors for oestrogen-sensitive cancers. Existing breast cancer risk assessment tools do not take such factors into account. In the absence of consensus on causation and in order to better understand the problem of escalating incidence globally, an expanded, integrated approach broadening the inquiry into individual susceptibility breast cancer is proposed. Applying systems thinking to existing data on oestrogen-modulating environmental exposures and other oestrogenic factors characteristic of Westernisation and their interactions in the exposure, encompassing social, behavioural, environmental, hormonal and genetic factors, can assist in understanding cancer risks and the pursuit of prevention strategies. A new conceptual framework based on a broader understanding of the “system” that underlies the development of breast cancer over a period of many years, incorporating the factors known to contribute to breast cancer risk, could provide a new platform from which government and regulators can promulgate enhanced and more effective prevention strategies

The dual-frequency scatterometer reexamined

The utility of dual frequency scatterometers in measuring ocean wave directional spectra can be increased by adding third frequency to the system. The background which effectively limits signal detectability in dual frequency operation can be made a part of the signal through the addition of this third frequency. Signal detectability is limited only by system thermal noise and space based operation becomes more feasible

Pressures measured in flight on the aft fuselage and external nozzle of a twin-jet fighter

Fuselage, boundary layer, and nozzle pressures were measured in flight for a twin jet fighter over a Mach number range from 0.60 to 2.00 at test altitudes of 6100, 10,700, and 13,700 meters for angles of attack ranging from 0 deg to 7 deg. Test data were analyzed to find the effects of the propulsion system geometry. The flight variables, and flow interference. The aft fuselage flow field was complex and showed the influence of the vertical tail, nacelle contour, and the wing. Changes in the boattail angle of either engine affected upper fuselage and lower fuselage pressure coefficients upstream of the nozzle. Boundary layer profiles at the forward and aft locations on the upper nacelles were relatively insensitive to Mach number and altitude. Boundary layer thickness decreased at both stations as angle of attack increased above 4 deg. Nozzle pressure coefficient was influenced by the vertical tail, horizontal tail boom, and nozzle interfairing; the last two tended to separate flow over the top of the nozzle from flow over the bottom of the nozzle. The left nozzle axial force coefficient was most affected by Mach number and left nozzle boattail angle. At Mach 0.90, the nozzle axial force coefficient was 0.0013

The Politicisation of Victimhood

No one credibly disputes that Bošnjaks (Bosnian Muslims) were the victims of genocide during the war of the early-90’s. This status is however currently being used against them by their own ethnic political elite. Former State-President Haris Silajdzic has shamelessly adopted the ‘political pose of victimhood’ to further his own political agenda to the detriment of those who genuinely deserve support and recognition. Silajdzic has led the evolution of a post-war Bošnjak identity based solely upon this victim-status. In terms of post-war state-building and conflict-transformation progress is not just obstructed but entirely paralysed by the hostile dynamic inherent in the absolute categories of victim:perpetrator. If identity is premised solely upon victimhood then not only will a reduction in perceived external threat jeopardise group-solidarity but the identity itself will be endangered by reconciliation with the persecutor. Such a stance therefore precludes the possibility of engagement with the allegedly still ‘sociocidal’ Serbs on even unrelated issues leading to political deadlock and socio-economic stagnation. This political pose of victimhood has clear political benefits vis-à-vis the silencing of opposition and maintaining Silajdzic’s hold on power as Tihomir Loza observes: ‘…how exactly do you question someone promising to undo Srebrenica’s tragedy? You just don’t?’ . Silajdzic’s specific focus on Srebrenica is strategic and not only, or even primarily, directed at his domestic audience. What makes Srebrenica useful is its status as the shibboleth of all international failings in BiH. A deserved degree of guilt elicited by its name coupled with a tacit anti-Republika Srpska prejudice stemming from the acts of the war has kept the international community silent during Silajdzic’s increasingly strident anti-entity pronouncements thereby heightening tensions in-country to their current level. Not only has the continued abuse of Bosnia’s people by their own political elite resulted in diminished life-chances for all ethnic groups; So too has international silence on the issue led to a situation of conflict-exacerbation instead of transformation in the last decade. I intend to describe the process and motivation behind this political exploitation of victimhood in post-war Bosnia, analyse its most pertinent consequences, their cross-conflict implications and discuss the impact on those who have survived genocide. Williams, G. (2008) \u27Dangerous victims: On some political dangers of vicarious claims to victimhood,\u27 Distinktion - Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory 17pp77-95 p81 Statement by Haris Silajdzic, 27 January 2000, to the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust at http://balkan-studies.blogspot.com/2006/06/bosniaks-honor-holocaust-victims.html Loza, T. (2007) ‘Playing With Srebrenica’ Transitions Online 20 March at http://www.tol.org/client/article/18402-playing-with-srebrenica.htm

The Forum of European Geological Surveys Geochemistry Task Group 1994-1996 inventory

The Forum of European Geological Surveys (FOREGS) includes representatives from 33 European countries and is responsible for co-ordinating Geological Survey activities in Europe. The FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group was established in 1994 to develop a strategy for the preparation of European geochemical maps following the recommendations of the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) Project 259 ‘International Geochemical Mapping’ (now the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) /International Association of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry (IAGC) Working Group on Global Geochemical Baselines). The FOREGS geochemistry programme is aimed at preparing a standardised European geochemical baseline to IGCP-259 standards. The principal aims of this dataset will be for environmental purposes, as a baseline for the assessment of the extent and distribution of contaminated land in the context of variations in the natural geochemical background, but it will also have applications in resource assessment and for the development of policy for the sustainable management of metalliferous mineral and other resources. The first phase of the programme was the compilation of an inventory of geochemical data based on the results of a questionnaire completed by Geological Surveys and related organisations throughout the FOREGS community. The results show that the sample types which have been used most extensively are stream sediment (26% coverage), surface water (19% coverage) and soil (11% coverage). Stream sediments have been collected using a narrow range of mesh sizes (< 150–< 200 μm), but soil samples have been collected according to two different conventions: some surveys used a similar mesh size range to that used for stream sediments while others employed the < 1000 or < 2000 μm fractions traditionally used by soil surveys. Sample densities range from 1 sample per 0.5 km2 to 1 per 3500 km2. Various analytical methods have been used, but most of the available data have been calibrated using international reference materials, and data for the most important of the potentially harmful elements (PHEs) are available for most datasets. Systematic radiometric data are available for only a small proportion of Europe, a situation which compares very unfavourably with that in Australia, North America, the former Soviet Union and many developing countries. Recommendations are made for increasing the compatibility of geochemical methods between national geochemical surveys as a basis for the preparation of a series of European geochemical maps. The next stage of the FOREGS Geochemistry Task Group will be the collection of the Global Reference Network of samples against which to standardise national datasets according to the methods recommended in the final report of the IGCP 259 programme

Study of an engine flow diverter system for a large scale ejector powered aircraft model

Requirements were established for a conceptual design study to analyze and design an engine flow diverter system and to include accommodations for an ejector system in an existing 3/4 scale fighter model equipped with YJ-79 engines. Model constraints were identified and cost-effective limited modification was proposed to accept the ejectors, ducting and flow diverter valves. Complete system performance was calculated and a versatile computer program capable of analyzing any ejector system was developed