The BSE Crisis and the Price of Red Meat in the UK

This paper presents estimates of price functions for beef, lamb and pork for the UK economy which allow for the effects of the 1996 BSE crisis. Our estimates illustrate the importance of allowing for the joint endogeneity of prices in these markets. We show that the effects of this crisis had a significant negative effect on the price of beef and a positive and significant effect on the price of lamb. However, there appears to have been little effect on the price of pork

Asymmetries in Bank of England Monetary Policy

In this paper we estimate limited dependent variable models for Bank of England monetary policy using monthly data over the period June 1997 to March 2003. During this period the Bank has had operational independence to set the interest rate in order to meet the inflation target set by the Government. We find evidence that the Bank has responded to current output growth rather than inflation which is consistent with targeting future inflation when there is a lag in the response of inflation to the output gap. We also find evidence of an asymmetry in the sense that the link between the interest rate and output growth is stronger when an increase in the interest rate is required than when circumstances dictate it should be cut. On the other hand there is considerably more inertia for interest rate cuts in the sense that a cut in the rate in one month significantly increases the probability of a cut in the next month which is not the case for increases

BGS Sigma 2012 open source user guide

The British Geological Survey began developing digital field mapping systems in 1989. However, it was apparent that the commercially available hardware was not suitable at that time. In 2001, we revisited the topic under the System for Integrated Geoscience Mapping (SIGMA) programme. By 2003, BGS had developed a PDA (personal digital assistant) field system, which was superseded in 2005, when we began deploying a beta system on rugged Tablet PCs. The Tablet PC system, which we called BGS•SIGMAmobile was used by BGS in mapping projects across the UK as well as overseas. It first became available in Open Source form, in June 2009 via the BGS website, www.bgs.ac.uk, under an agreement which stipulates that updates and modifications must be supplied to BGS in order to stimulate further developments. In 2011/2012, BGS•SIGMAmobile was rewritten in .NET and combined with our office based mapping software BGS•SIGMAdesktop within ArcGIS 10.x to create BGS•SIGMA 2012. It is envisaged that future releases will be made available from the BGS website incorporating new modules, modifications and upgrades supplied by BGS and external users of the system. This document has been written to guide users through the installation and use of BGS•SIGMA 2012 (mobile and desktop), which is the third free release. We are happy to receive feedback and modifications emailed to [email protected]

The impact of rheumatoid arthritis on foot function in the early stages of disease: a clinical case series

BACKGROUND Foot involvement occurs early in rheumatoid arthritis but the extent to which this impacts on the structure and function leading to impairment and foot related disability is unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare clinical disease activity, impairment, disability, and foot function in normal and early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) feet using standardised clinical measures and 3D gait analysis. METHODS Twelve RA patients with disease duration ≤2 years and 12 able-bodied adults matched for age and sex underwent 3D gait analysis to measure foot function. Disease impact was measured using the Leeds Foot impact Scale (LFIS) along with standard clinical measures of disease activity, pain and foot deformity. For this small sample, the mean differences between the groups and associated confidence intervals were calculated using the t distribution RESULTS Moderate-to-high foot impairment and related disability were detected amongst the RA patients. In comparison with age- and sex-matched controls, the patients with early RA walked slower (1.05 m/s Vs 1.30 m/s) and had a longer double-support phase (19.3% Vs 15.8%). In terminal stance, the heel rise angle was reduced in the patients in comparison with normal (-78.9° Vs -85.7°). Medial arch height was lower and peak eversion in stance greater in the RA patients. The peak ankle plantarflexion power profile was lower in the patients in comparison with the controls (3.4 W/kg Vs 4.6 W/kg). Pressure analysis indicated that the RA patients had a reduced lesser toe contact area (7.6 cm2 Vs 8.1 cm2), elevated peak forefoot pressure (672 kPa Vs 553 kPa) and a larger mid-foot contact area (24.6 cm2 Vs 19.4 cm2). CONCLUSION Analysis detected small but clinically important changes in foot function in a small cohort of RA patients with disease duration <2 years. These were accompanied by active joint disease and impairment and disability

Continuously observing a dynamically decoupled spin-1 quantum gas

We continuously observe dynamical decoupling in a spin-1 quantum gas using a weak optical measurement of spin precession. Continuous dynamical decoupling aims to dramatically modify the character and energy spectrum of spin states to render them insensitive to parasitic fluctuations. Continuous observation measures this new spectrum in a single-preparation of the quantum gas. The measured time-series contains seven tones, which spectrogram analysis parses as splittings, coherences, and coupling strengths between the decoupled states in real-time. With this we locate a regime where a transition between two states is decoupled from magnetic field instabilities up to fourth order, complementary to the parallel work at higher fields by Trypogeorgos et al. (arXiv:1706.07876). The decoupled microscale quantum gas offers magnetic sensitivity in a tunable band, persistent over many milliseconds: the length scales, frequencies, and durations relevant to many applications, including sensing biomagnetic phenomena such as neural spike trains.Comment: 5+ pages, 4 figures, 1 table; revised citation of Trypogeorgos et al. (2017

Alessi 95 and the short period Cepheid SU Cassiopeiae

The parameters for the newly-discovered open cluster Alessi 95 are established on the basis of available photometric and spectroscopic data, in conjunction with new observations. Colour excesses for spectroscopically-observed B and A-type stars near SU Cas follow a reddening relation described by E(U-B)/E(B-V)=0.83+0.02*E(B-V), implying a value of R=Av/E(B-V)~2.8 for the associated dust. Alessi 95 has a mean reddening of E(B-V)_(B0)=0.35+-0.02 s.e., an intrinsic distance modulus of Vo-Mv=8.16+-0.04 s.e. (+-0.21 s.d.), d=429+-8 pc, and an estimated age of 10^8.2 yr from ZAMS fitting of available UBV, CCD BV, NOMAD, and 2MASS JHKs observations of cluster stars. SU Cas is a likely cluster member, with an inferred space reddening of E(B-V)=0.33+-0.02 and a luminosity of =-3.15+-0.07 s.e., consistent with overtone pulsation (P_FM=2.75 d), as also implied by the Cepheid's light curve parameters, rate of period increase, and Hipparcos parallaxes for cluster stars. There is excellent agreement of the distance estimates for SU Cas inferred from cluster ZAMS fitting, its pulsation parallax derived from the infrared surface brightness technique, and Hipparcos parallaxes, which all agree to within a few percent.Comment: Accepted for Publication (MNRAS

Abelian homotopy Dijkgraaf-Witten theory

We construct a version of Dijkgraaf-Witten theory based on a compact abelian Lie group within the formalism of Turaev's homotopy quantum field theory. As an application we show that the 2+1-dimensional theory based on U(1) classifies lens spaces up to homotopy type.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

The Impact of Contaminated RR Lyrae/Globular Cluster Photometry on the Distance Scale

RR Lyrae variables and the stellar constituents of globular clusters are employed to establish the cosmic distance scale and age of the universe. However, photometry for RR Lyrae variables in the globular clusters M3, M15, M54, M92, NGC2419, and NGC6441 exhibit a dependence on the clustercentric distance. For example, variables and stars positioned near the crowded high-surface brightness cores of the clusters may suffer from photometric contamination, which invariably affects a suite of inferred parameters (e.g., distance, color excess, absolute magnitude, etc.). The impetus for this study is to mitigate the propagation of systematic uncertainties by increasing awareness of the pernicious impact of contaminated and radial-dependent photometry.Comment: To appear in ApJ