Letter from Kashmir

Colonel S.W. “Syd” Thomson, D.S.O., M.C., CD. Joined the Rocky Mountain Rangers in the 1930s transferring to the Seqforth Highlanders at the outbreak of war. Wounded in Sicily, he returned to serve as Company Commander, Second-in-Command and Commanding Officer of the Battalion. In October 1944 he was promoted to Acting Colonel and sent to England to command an infantry training unit at Aldershot. In April 1945 he reverted to Lieut.-Colonel to take command of the Black Watch. Colonel Thomson volunteered for the Pacific Force and remained in the Army until 1946. He rejoined the forces to serve with the United Nations Military Observers Group in Pakistan. This letter to “Big” Jim Stone (Lieut.-Colonel Jim Stone D.S.O., M.C., CD.) is one of several colourful accounts of his service in Kashmir. Colonel Thomson’s letters will be a regular feature in CMH

Models suggesting field experiments to test two hypotheses explaining successional diversity

A simple mathematical model of competition is developed that includes two alternative mechanisms promoting successional diversity. The first underpins the competition-colonization hypothesis in which early successional species are able to persist because they colonize disturbed habitats before the arrival of late successional dominant competitors. The second underpins the niche hypothesis, in which early successional species are able to persist, even with unlimited colonization by late successional dominants, because they specialize on the resource-rich conditions typical of recently disturbed sites. We modify the widely studied competition-colonization model so that it also includes the mechanism behind the niche hypothesis. Analysis of this model suggests simple experiments that determine whether the successional diversity of a field system is maintained primarily by the competition-colonization mechanism, primarily by the niche mechanism, by neither, or by both. We develop quantitative metrics of the relative importance of the two mechanisms. We also discuss the implications for the management of biodiversity in communities structured by the two mechanisms

Virtual Black Holes

One would expect spacetime to have a foam-like structure on the Planck scale with a very high topology. If spacetime is simply connected (which is assumed in this paper), the non-trivial homology occurs in dimension two, and spacetime can be regarded as being essentially the topological sum of $S^2\times S^2$ and $K3$ bubbles. Comparison with the instantons for pair creation of black holes shows that the $S^2\times S^2$ bubbles can be interpreted as closed loops of virtual black holes. It is shown that scattering in such topological fluctuations leads to loss of quantum coherence, or in other words, to a superscattering matrix $\$$ that does not factorise into an $S$ matrix and its adjoint. This loss of quantum coherence is very small at low energies for everything except scalar fields, leading to the prediction that we may never observe the Higgs particle. Another possible observational consequence may be that the $\theta$ angle of QCD is zero without having to invoke the problematical existence of a light axion. The picture of virtual black holes given here also suggests that macroscopic black holes will evaporate down to the Planck size and then disappear in the sea of virtual black holes.Comment: 24p, LaTeX, 3 postscript figures included with epsf sent in a seperate uuencoded fil

The low-temperature geochemical cycle of iron: From continental fluxes to marine sediment deposition

Suspended sediments from 34 major rivers (geographically widespread)and 36 glacial meltwater streams have been examined for their variations in different operationally-defined iron fractions; FeHR (iron oxides soluble in dithionite), FePR (iron soluble in boiling HCl but not in dithionite) and FeU (total iron less that soluble in boiling HCl). River particulates show a close association between FeHR and total iron (FeT), reflecting the effects of chemical weathering which derive oxide iron from, and retain it in close association with, total iron. Consistent with this, continentalscale average FeHR/FeT ratios vary with runoff ratios (average river runoff per unit area/average precipitation per unit area). By contrast, the diminished effects of chemical weathering produce no recognizable association of FeHR with FeT in glacial particulates, and instead both FePR and FeU are closely correlated with FeT, reflecting essentially pristine mineralogy. A comparison of the globally-averaged compositions of riverine particulates and marine sediments reveals that the latter are depleted in FeHR, FePR and FeT but enriched in FeU. The river and glacial particulate data are combined with estimates of authigenic, hydrothermal, atmospheric and coastal erosive iron fluxes from the literature to produce a global budget for FeHR, FePR, FeU and FeT. This budget suggests that the differences between riverine particulates and marine sediments can be explained by; (i) preferentially removing FeHR from the riverine particulate flux by deposition into inner shore reservoirs such as floodplains, salt marshes and estuaries; and (ii) mixing the resulting riverine particulates with FeHRdepleted glacial particulates. Preliminary measurements of inner shore sediments are consistent with (i) above. Phanerozoic and modern normal marine sediments have similar iron speciation characteristics, which implies the existence of a long-term steady state for the iron cycle. This steady state could be maintained by a glacioeustatic feedback, where FeHR-enriched riverine particulates are either more effectively trapped when sealevel is high (small ice masses, diminished glacial erosion), or are mixed with greater masses of FeHR-depleted glacial particulates when sealevel is low (large ice masses, enhanced glacial erosion). Further important controls on the steady state for FeHR operate through the formation of euxinic sediments and ironstones, which also provide sealevel-dependent sinks for FeHR-enriched sediment

Identifying entrepreneurial potential? An investigation of the identifiers and features of entrepreneurship

Abstract. The paper reports a study of entrepreneurship potential amongst students at one university using a quantitative instrument to measure three of the most commonly cited predictors: access to entrepreneurial role models; urgency of entrepreneurial intent; and desire for economic autonomy. The paper reports also on qualitative interviews with those identified as most and least likely to become entrepreneurs by the measure. Results suggest that the measure is effective and that there is variation between those most and least likely to become entrepreneurs and commonalities amongst those most likely to become entrepreneurs. Of the three predictors 'desire for economic autonomy' is most influential, but the generation of this 'desire' involves various internal and external influences. Findings are of interest to educators insofar as they might identify the stage of entrepreneurial development of students and develop appropriate pedagogic responses. It has implications also for policy aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship support

An Empirical Study of Asian Stock Volatility Using Stochastic Volatility Factor Model: Factor Analysis and Forecasting

This paper is an empirical study of Asian stock volatility using stochastic volatility factor (SVF) model of Cipollini and Kapetanios (2005). We adopt their approach to carry out factor analysis and to forecast volatility. Our results show some Asian factors exhibit long memory that is in line with existing empirical findings in financial volatility. However, their local-factor SVF model is not powerful enough in forecasting Asian volatility. This has led us to propose an extension to a multi-factor SVF model. We also discuss how to produce forecast using this multi-factor model.Stochastic volatility, Local-factor model, Multi-factor model, Principal components, Forecasting

Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of La Grande Terre, New Caledonia

From October 2006 to May 2008, The WorldFish Center coordinated a ZoNéCo project to provide support to the Southern and Northern Provinces for decisions about how best to manage the sea cucumber fishery around La Grande Terre. We collected data during underwater population surveys, questionnaire-based interviews with fishers and processors, and landing catch surveys. A core aim was to furnish the Provinces with ‘ballpark’ estimates of the abundance and density of commercially important sea cucumbers on 50 lagoon and barrier reefs. Analysis and synthesis of the ecological and sociological data provide the basis for informed recommendations for fisheries management. Counts of trochus and giant clams on the reefs allow us to also describe the general status of those resources. We propose 13 recommendations for management actions and fishery regulations and advocate an adaptive management approach. This multidisciplinary study should serve as a useful template for assessing other fisheries, and we provide a series of generic ‘lessons learnt’ to aid future programmes. (PDF has 140 pages.

Research on patients with multiple health conditions: different constructs, different views, one voice

Technological advances, improvements in medical care and public health policies have resulted in a growing proportion of patients with multiple health conditions. The prevalence of multiple health conditions among individuals increases with age, is substantial among older adults, and will increase dramatically in coming years. This phenomenon has received growing interest in the most recent literature and has led to several – and often differing – conceptualizations.<p></p> The term “comorbidity” was originally defined by Feinstein as “any distinct additional clinical entity that has existed or may occur during the clinical course of a patient who has the index disease under study”. This definition places one disease in a central position and all other condition(s) as secondary, in that they may or may not affect the course and treatment of the index disease. Feinstein’s principle has been applied all too readily as if the effect of comorbidity was secondary or indeed negligible. In clinical research, individuals with a narrowly defined index condition and no major comorbidities are usually enrolled, leaving the majority of the patients seen in a typical family practice out in the cold. In clinical practice, management of the index condition invariably takes priority, with disjointed – if any – treatment plans developed for each of the comorbidities. This model of care is typical of delivery systems constructed around specialized care, where areas of expertise are defined around specific conditions and bodily systems [11]. Not surprisingly, clinical practice guidelines arising from that model of care lack pertinence for patients with multiple health conditions

Comparison of breed of dairy cow under grass-based spring milk production systems

End of project reportThe objective of this study was to investigate the potential differences among different dairy cow breeds across two feeding systems on milk production, udder health, milking characteristics, body weight, body condition score, hormone parameters, ovarian function, survival and overall reproductive efficiency. The breeds investigated included Holstein-Friesian (HF), Montbéliarde (MB), Normande (NM), Norwegian Red (NRF) and Holstein- Friesian × Montbéliarde (MBX) and Holstein- Friesian × Normande (NMX). Selection within the HF breed has, until recently, been predominantly for milk production with little or no direct selection for functional traits other than those correlated with superior type. The MB and the NM have been simultaneously selected for both milk and beef production in the past. The NRF were imported as calves and come from a more balanced total merit index incorporating production and cow functionality since the early 1970s. The dairy cow breeds were grouped into blocks of two within breed groups and randomized across two spring-calving grass-based feeding systems: low concentrate feeding system (LC) and high concentrate feeding system (HC). Those on LC feeding system were offered approximately 530 kg/cow over the total lactation, while those on HC feeding system were offered approximately 1030 kg/cow