Evaluation of GHA’s youth diversionary programme

To assist with funding decisions in this area and to build an evidence base, GHA commissioned an evaluation of a selection of its youth diversionary programmes in 2007

Genetic characterization of human coxsackievirus A6 variants associated with atypical hand, foot and mouth disease: a potential role of recombination in emergence and pathogenicity

Human coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6) is an enterically transmitted enterovirus. Until recently, CVA6 infections were considered as being of minor clinical significance, and only rarely aetiologically linked with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) associated with other species A enteroviruses (particularly EV71 and CVA16). From 2008 onwards, however, CVA6 infections have been associated with several outbreaks worldwide of atypical HFMD (aHFMD) accompanied by a varicelliform rash. We recently reported CVA6-associated eczema herpeticum occurring predominantly in children and young adults in Edinburgh in January and February 2014. To investigate genetic determinants of novel clinical phenotypes of CVA6, we genetically characterized and analysed CVA6 variants associated with eczema herpeticum in Edinburgh in 2014 and those with aHFMD in CAV isolates collected from 2008. A total of eight recombinant forms (RFs) have circulated worldwide over the past 10 years, with the particularly recent appearance of RF-H associated with eczema herpeticum cases in Edinburgh in 2014. Comparison of phylogenies and divergence of complete genome sequences of CVA6 identified recombination breakpoints in 2A-2C, within VP3, and between 5' untranslated region and VP1. A Bayesian temporal reconstruction of CVA6 evolution since 2004 provided estimates of dates and the actual recombination events that generated more recently appearing recombination groups (RF-E, -F, -G and -H). Associations were observed between recombination groups and clinical presentations of herpangina, aHFMD and eczema herpeticum, but not with VP1 or other structural genes. These observations provided evidence that NS gene regions may potentially contribute to clinical phenotypes and outcomes of CVA6 infection

Use of a diary for farm accounts

This Bulletin tells how a diary may be used for keeping certain farm records. Farmers have need of two kinds of accountsâ⠡¬â€�first, those in which are recorded items of a financial nature, such as receipts and expenditures, and, second, those in which are kept records of farm work and production, such as dates of planting and of harvesting, crop yields, feed fed to live stock, etc. On the average farm, where the business is not too large, a diary is a very convenient means of keeping all these records. The farm home and the farm business are intimately associated; the one is indeed the headquarters of the other. A carefully kept diary embodies a chronicle of the affairs of both which is of permanent value, not only from a personal and sentimental standpoint, but also as a continuous record of the farm business. In the following pages several different kinds of such diaries are described with suggestions as to how various farm accounts may be kept in diary form

Effects of Experimental Releases of Oil and Dispersed Oil on Arctic Nearshore Macrobenthos. I. Infauna

An experimental subsurface release of chemically dispersed oil at Cape Hatt, northern Baffin Island, resulted in short-term, relatively high oil concentrations in the waters of two adjacent bays, whereas untreated oil released onto the surface of a third bay could not be detected in the water below a depth of 1 m. Diver observations revealed no apparent short-term effects of untreated oil on shallow water infauna, whereas marked acute effects on infauna, including emergence from the substrate and narcosis, were apparent in the dispersed oil bays within 24 h of the release. Analysis of systematic airlift samples at two depths (3 and 7 m) in the three test bays and a fourth (reference) bay during the open water seasons of 1980-83 (two pre-spill and four post-spill sampling periods) showed that most affected animals recovered. Neither type of oil release caused any large-scale mortality of benthic infauna. Multivariate analyses showed no significant change in infaunal community structure, and effects attributable to oil were found in only 3 of 72 univariate analyses of density, biomass or size data for individual taxa. A progressive decrease in the condition of the filter-feeding bivalve Serripes groenlandicus in the reference bay (several km distant from the dispersed oil release) was apparently the result of exposure to dilute dispersed oil for several days. A similar effect on condition in the surface deposit-feeding bivalve Macoma calcarea was apparently caused by relatively low oil concentrations in the sediments of the dispersed and surface oil release bays. There were no apparent effects on recruitment in bivalve species with planktonic larvae, but density changes in the polychaete Spio spp. indicated that oil in the sediments of the surface oil release and dispersed oil release bays affected reproductive processes. Effects on the condition of the bivalves and on Spio spp. were still evident two years post-spill in 1983, the last year of sampling.Key words: arctic infauna, oil effects, dispersed oil effects, experimental oil releases, Baffin Island, macrobenthosMots clés: endofaune arctique, effets dus au pétrole, effets dus au pétrole dispersé, déversements expérimentaux de pétrole, île Baffin, macrobentho

Growth performance and metabolic changes in lambs and steers after mild nutritional restriction

Two trials investigating compensatory growth are reported in which lambs and young cattle were placed on either a continuous (C) or a discontinuous (RR) growth path. RR animals were subjected to a phase of restricted feeding and then realimented at an equivalent level of feeding to C animals over the same live-weight range. Eight 4-month-old lambs and 30 9-month-old Swiss Brown steers were used. The restriction (I) and realimentation (II) phase covered the live-weight ranges 23-32 kg and 32-44 kg respectively in tho lamb trial and 236-310 kg and 310-460 kg respectively in the steer trial. Fifty-six total energy balances were made with lambs using open-circuit respiration calorimetry. Fifty determinations of diet digestibility and N balance were made with steers. Lambs received a pelleted concentrate diet and, except for restrictively fed steers which received hay alone, steers were offered a diet based on maize silage. The restriction phase of RR lambs and RR steers was longer, and the daily ME intake and daily live-weight gains were significantly lower than those of the C animals. Compared with C lambs a marked reduction in methane production of RR lambs occurred during feed restriction which persisted throughout realimentation. During recovery realimented lambs gained non-significantly, but realimented steers significantly, more than C animals from a similar ME intake and required less ME/kg daily live-weight gain. Realimented lambs retained more protein at the start of recovery compared with C lambs but both C and realimented steeis retained similar amounts of nitrogen. Indirect evidence is presented that suggests improved utilization of ME for protein deposition, at least at the start of realimentation. Although the animals on the discontinuous growth path (RR) took longer to reach slaughter weight, their total intake of gross energy and overall energy conversion ratio (MJ ME/kg live-weight gain) was similar to those of animals on the continuous growth path (C

Early Atomic Models - From Mechanical to Quantum (1904-1913)

A complete history of early atomic models would fill volumes, but a reasonably coherent tale of the path from mechanical atoms to the quantum can be told by focusing on the relevant work of three great contributors to atomic physics, in the critically important years between 1904 and 1913: J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr. We first examine the origins of Thomson's mechanical atomic models, from his ethereal vortex atoms in the early 1880's, to the myriad "corpuscular" atoms he proposed following the discovery of the electron in 1897. Beyond predictions for the periodicity of the elements, the application of Thomson's atoms to problems in scattering and absorption led to quantitative predictions that were confirmed by experiments with high-velocity electrons traversing thin sheets of metal. Still, the much more massive and energetic {\alpha}-particles being studied by Rutherford were better suited for exploring the interior of the atom, and careful measurements on the angular dependence of their scattering eventually allowed him to infer the existence of an atomic nucleus. Niels Bohr was particularly troubled by the radiative instability inherent to any mechanical atom, and succeeded in 1913 where others had failed in the prediction of emission spectra, by making two bold hypotheses that were in contradiction to the laws of classical physics, but necessary in order to account for experimental facts.Comment: 58 Pages + References, 8 Figures. Accepted for publication in the European Physical Journal H (Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physics). V2 - minor typos corrected and a footnote added to p.2

A direct optical method for the study of grain boundary melting

The structure and evolution of grain boundaries underlies the nature of polycrystalline materials. Here we describe an experimental apparatus and light reflection technique for measuring disorder at grain boundaries in optically clear material, in thermodynamic equilibrium. The approach is demonstrated on ice bicrystals. Crystallographic orientation is measured for each ice sample. The type and concentration of impurity in the liquid can be controlled and the temperature can be continuously recorded and controlled over a range near the melting point. The general methodology is appropriate for a wide variety of materials.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, updated with minor changes made to published versio

The functional integral with unconditional Wiener measure for anharmonic oscillator

In this article we propose the calculation of the unconditional Wiener measure functional integral with a term of the fourth order in the exponent by an alternative method as in the conventional perturbative approach. In contrast to the conventional perturbation theory, we expand into power series the term linear in the integration variable in the exponent. In such a case we can profit from the representation of the integral in question by the parabolic cylinder functions. We show that in such a case the series expansions are uniformly convergent and we find recurrence relations for the Wiener functional integral in the $N$ - dimensional approximation. In continuum limit we find that the generalized Gelfand - Yaglom differential equation with solution yields the desired functional integral (similarly as the standard Gelfand - Yaglom differential equation yields the functional integral for linear harmonic oscillator).Comment: Source file which we sent to journa

A Kelvin-wave cascade on a vortex in superfluid 4^4He at a very low temperature

A study by computer simulation is reported of the behaviour of a quantized vortex line at a very low temperature when there is continuous excitation of low-frequency Kelvin waves. There is no dissipation except by phonon radiation at a very high frequency. It is shown that non-linear coupling leads to a net flow of energy to higher wavenumbers and to the development of a simple spectrum of Kelvin waves that is insensitive to the strength and frequency of the exciting drive. The results are likely to be relevant to the decay of turbulence in superfluid $^4$He at very low temperatures

Farm bookkeeping

Adequate records are necessary to the efficient management of any business. The farmer, to be successful, must be a business man as well as a grower of crops and producer of livestock. As a business man he should have suitable business records. Farmers, as a rule, are highly individualistic in their methods, and farm business conditions vary widely. Accordingly, ready-made systems of farm accounts seldom bring out all the facts that the farmer ought to know. Systems must be developed to fit each man\u27s requirements, and efforts to shape one\u27s needs according to a prepared system not based primarily on these needs will almost inevitably result in failure. Getting a knowledge of accounting principles is the first and most important step toward establishing an accounting system suited to one\u27s individual needs. There are many degrees in farm accounting, from the simple to the extended and complex, but it is obviously impossible to discuss them all in a single bulletin. It is the purpose of this bulletin merely to outline the principles of simple farm bookkeeping