Postal survey of contacts between cattle farms on the Isle of Lewis

The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) database contains an unprecedented quantity of data on the movement of cattle within the UK. These data may be used to construct models of the contact structure of the UK cattle herd, for epidemiological purposes. There are two significant potential sources of inaccuracy within such models: movements that are not reported or are reported inaccurately to the BCMS, and contacts between farms that might transmit infection, but are not animal movements. This field study addressed these issues. Cattle farmers on the Isle of Lewis were recruited with the assistance of the local veterinary surgeon, and asked to record a range of potential risk behaviours for a one-month period. They were also asked questions about husbandry practices on their farm. Comparison of the BCMS contact data with that reported by Lewis' farmers highlighted use of common grazing land as a significant source of contact, and potential disease transmission, between cattle that currently goes unreported; around half of responding holdings on Lewis use common grazing land at some point during the year, and these movements are not reported to the BCMS

Cycloconverter on the all-electric airplane

This paper discusses the application of a cycloconverter to a permanent magnet generator. Recent developments, advanced concepts, and advanced technology systems will be covered. Recent developments include permanent magnets, permanent magnet motors and generators, and power semiconductors

Remotely controlled mirror of variable geometry for small angle x-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation

A total-reflecting mirror of 120-cm length was designed and built to focus synchrotron radiation emanating from the electron-positron storage ring at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SPEAR). The reflecting surface is of unpolished float glass. The bending and tilt mechanism allows very fine control of the curvature and selectability of the critical angle for wavelengths ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 Å. Elliptical curvature is used to minimize aberrations. The mirror is placed asymmetrically onto the ellipse so as to achieve a tenfold demagnification of the source. The bending mechanism reduces nonelastic deformation (flow) and minimizes strains and stresses in the glass despite its length. Special design features assure stability of the focused image. The mirror reduces the intensity of shorter wavelength harmonics by a factor of approximately 100

Unveiling Palomar 2: The Most Obscure Globular Cluster in the Outer Halo

We present the first color-magnitude study for Palomar 2, a distant and heavily obscured globular cluster near the Galactic anticenter. Our (V,V-I) color-magnitude diagram (CMD), obtained with the UH8K camera at the CFHT, reaches V(lim) = 24 and clearly shows the principal sequences of the cluster, though with substantial overall foreground absorption and differential reddening. The CMD morphology shows a well populated red horizontal branch with a sparser extension to the blue, similar to clusters such as NGC 1261, 1851, or 6229 with metallicities near [Fe/H] = -1.3$. From an average of several indicators, we estimate the foreground reddening at E(B-V) = 1.24 +- 0.07 and obtain a true distance modulus (m-M)_0 = 17.1 +- 0.3$, placing it about 34 kpc from the Galactic center. We use starcounts of the bright stars to measure the core radius, half-mass radius, and central concentration of the cluster. Its integrated luminosity is M_V = -7.9, making it clearly brighter and more massive than most other clusters in the outer halo.Comment: 25 pages, aastex, with 8 postscript figures; accepted for publication in AJ, September 1997. Also available by e-mail from [email protected]. Please consult Harris directly for (big) postscript files of Figures 1a,b (the images of the cluster

Analysis of Economic Depreciation for Multi-Family Property

This paper uses a hedonic pricing model and National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries data to estimate economic depreciation for multi-family real estate. The findings indicate that investment grade multi-family housing depreciates approximately 2.7% per year in real terms based on total property value. This implies a depreciation rate for just the building of about 3.25% per year. With 2% inflation, this suggests a nominal depreciation rate of about 5.25% per year. Converted into a straight-line depreciation rate that has the same present value, this suggests a depreciable life of 30.5 years - as compared to 27.5 years allowed under the current tax laws. Thus, these laws are slightly favorable to multi-family properties by providing a tax depreciation rate that exceeds economic depreciation, which is in part due to inflation that has been less than expected during the past decade.

Limited access orders in the developing world :a new approach to the problems of development

The upper-income, advanced industrial countries of the world today all have market economies with open competition, competitive multi-party democratic political systems, and a secure government monopoly over violence. Such open access orders, however, are not the only norm and equilibrium type of society. The middle and low-income developing countries today, like all countries before about 1800, can be understood as limited access orders that maintain their equilibrium in a fundamentally different way. In limited access orders, the state does not have a secure monopoly on violence, and society organizes itself to control violence among the elite factions. A common feature of limited access orders is that political elites divide up control of the economy, each getting some share of the rents. Since outbreaks of violence reduce the rents, the elite factions have incentives to be peaceable most of the time. Adequate stability of the rents and thus of the social order requires limiting access and competition-hence a social order with a fundamentally different logic than the open access order. This paper lays out such a framework and explores some of its implications for the problems of development today.Corporate Law,Labor Policies,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,E-Business,Disability

A systematic review of measures of mental health and emotional wellbeing in parents of children aged 0-5

BACKGROUND: A significant proportion of women with young children experience mental health problems and recent research suggests fathers may also be affected. This may have a long term negative impact on the child's development with significant costs to society. Appropriate measures are therefore needed to identify parents and children at risk. METHOD: This literature review aimed to identify the most reliable, evidence based global measures of mental health for parents of infants from pregnancy to 5 years postpartum (0-5 years). Literature searches were conducted on online databases and hand searches of reference lists were also carried out. Studies were included in the review if they reported information on measures of global psychological distress or wellbeing from 0 to 5 years postpartum. RESULTS: A total of 183 studies were included in the review, 19 of which directly examined the psychometric validity of an outcome measure. These studies reported information on 23 outcome measures, 4 of which had been validated in parents of children from 1 to 5. These were: the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Symptom Checklist (SCL), the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) and the Kessler scale (K10/6). Reliability and validity varied across studies. LIMITATIONS: Only a small number of studies included fathers and examined psychometric validity across the entire period of early childhood. CONCLUSIONS: The GHQ was the most frequently validated but results suggest poor reliability and validity. The SRQ and K10/6 were the most promising measures in terms of psychometric properties and clinical utility