Towards a vulnerability assessment of the UK and northern European coasts: the role of regional climate variability

Within the framework of a Tyndall Centre research project, sea level and wave changes around the UK and in the North Sea have been analysed. This paper integrates the results of this project. Many aspects of the contribution of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) to sea level and wave height have been resolved. The NAO is a major forcing parameter for sea-level variability. Strong positive response to increasing NAO was observed in the shallow parts of the North Sea, while slightly negative response was found in the southwest part of the UK. The cause of the strong positive response is mainly the increased westerly winds. The NAO increase during the last decades has affected both the mean sea level and the extreme sea levels in the North Sea. The derived spatial distribution of the NAO-related variability of sea level allows the development of scenarios for future sea level and wave height in the region. Because the response of sea level to the NAO is found to be variable in time across all frequency bands, there is some inherent uncertainty in the use of the empirical relationships to develop scenarios of future sea level. Nevertheless, as it remains uncertain whether the multi-decadal NAO variability is related to climate change, the use of the empirical relationships in developing scenarios is justified. The resulting scenarios demonstrate: (i) that the use of regional estimates of sea level increase the projected range of sea-level change by 50% and (ii) that the contribution of the NAO to winter sea-level variability increases the range of uncertainty by a further 10-20cm. On the assumption that the general circulation models have some skill in simulating the future NAO change, then the NAO contribution to sea-level change around the UK is expected to be very small (<4cm) by 2080. Wave heights are also sensitive to the NAO changes, especially in the western coasts of the UK. Under the same scenarios for future NAO changes, the projected significant wave-height changes in the northeast Atlantic will exceed 0.4m. In addition, wave-direction changes of around 20 degrees per unit NAO index have been documented for one location. Such changes raise the possibility of consequential alteration of coastal erosion.     

Castration, circumcision, and anti-Semitism.

In this study, the authors look at whether circumcision is a relevant variable in anti-Semitism as measured in a contemporary male gentile population. The 52-item A-S scale described by Levinson and Sanford was administered to 381 students drawn from various psychology courses at Princeton and Rutgers Universities. The subjects (Ss) included in this study are 142 gentile male undergraduates selected from the larger population and divided into two matched groups of 71 each. No reliable differences in attitude were found between circumcised and uncircumcised subjects. These findings indicate the relative unimportance of circumcision as an isolated factor in anti-Semitism. The implications for the relationships involving circumcision, castration, and anti-Semitism are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

间歇曝气脱氮系统的影响因素研究

通过观察间歇曝气生物脱氮系统在不同水温、C/N值下的脱氮效率以及好氧/缺氧一周期内的硝化和反硝化过程,分析了温度和缺氧期C/N值对硝化和反硝化速度的影响,探讨了冬季所需外加碳源量。试验结果表明,秋、冬季提高缺氧期C/N值是保障间歇曝气脱氮系统运行效率的有效措施;在TN负荷为0.034kg/(kgMLVSS·d),水温为15℃时最适C/N值为7,10℃时最适C/N值为9。为了降低冬季运行费用,有必要寻找廉价的外碳源。     

Death at a discount: how the tobacco industry thwarted tobacco control policies in US military commissaries

Background

The US military is perhaps the only retailer consistently losing money on tobacco. Military stores (commissaries and exchanges) have long sold discount‐priced cigarettes, while the Department of Defense (DoD) pays directly for tobacco‐related healthcare costs of many current and former customers. Tobacco use also impairs short‐term troop readiness.

Objective

To examine the long struggle to raise commissary tobacco prices and the tobacco industry''s role in this policy effort.

Methods

Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents, searches of government and military websites and newspaper databases, and interviews with key informants identified in the documents.

Results

Efforts to raise commissary tobacco prices began in the mid‐1980s. Opposition quickly emerged. Some military officials viewed tobacco use as a “right” and low prices as a “benefit”. Others raised issues of authority, and some saw the change as threatening the stores. The tobacco industry successfully exploited complex relationships among the Congress, the DoD, commissaries, exchanges and private industry, obstructing change for over a decade. Leadership from the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries of Defense, presidential support and procedural manoeuvring finally resulted in a modest price increase in 1996, but even then, high‐level military officials were apparently threatened with retaliation from pro‐tobacco Congressmen.

Conclusions

The longstanding military tradition of cheap cigarettes persists because of the politics of the military sales system, the perception within the military of tobacco use as a right, and tobacco industry pressures. Against its own best interests, the US military still makes tobacco available to service members at prices below those in the civilian sector.The US military includes 1.4 million active duty personnel, stationed worldwide. Their smoking prevalence is higher (33.8% in 2002) than the US Department of Defense (DoD) goal of ⩽20%,¹ exceeding the civilian rate of 23.6%.² Smoking diminishes even short‐term troop health and readiness^3,4 and increases medical and training costs.^5,6 As an authoritarian, hierarchical institution, DoD should, theoretically, be able to establish and implement strong tobacco control policies. Nonetheless, DoD sells its personnel tobacco products virtually tax free. Military health personnel and some members of Congress have long sought to address this contradiction. This case study shows how for more than a decade, the tobacco industry worked to defeat policy changes by framing cheap cigarettes as a “benefit”, mobilising Congressional and military‐affiliated allies, and exploiting DoD ambivalence about tobacco.     

Irreversible conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase into xanthine oxidase by a mitochondrial protease

Irreversible conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) to its oxygen free radical producing oxidase (XO) form occurs through an uncharacterized proteolytic process, which was studied in human liver. Upon incubation of fresh unfrozen liver cytosol, XDH remained intact. When recombinant human XDH was coincubated with subcellular fractions of human liver, the mitochondrial intermembrane space was shown to contain a heat-labile activity that converted XDH irreversibly to XO. This activity is resistant to inhibitors of all major groups of proteases. We postulate that this novel type of proteolytic enzyme is released into the cytosol upon mitochondrial damage.     

Exhaust Cleaning with Dielectric Barrier Discharge

To clean the exhaust emissions as one of the most important tasks in pollution control, a study on the treatment of engine emissions with discharge assistance was reported. A DBD plasma source shaped in grid and cylinder was examined in different engine operational modes to reduce the NOX content of diesel engine exhaust. The composition of the exhaust gases and chemical reactions initiated by the discharge were analyzed. The discharge frequency had a crucial impact on the device’s performance and gas treatment. The voltages applied to the discharge gap could alter the chemical reactions occurring in the treated gases, which were indicated by the NO to NO2 ratio. The operation of the system was studied at frequencies ranging from 400 Hz to 16 kHz.     

Effects of oxidative compounds on thermotolerance in escherichia coli O157:H7 strains EO139 and 380-94

An oxidative complex composed of ferric iron chloride hexahydrate, ADP, and ascorbic acid can generate hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals in fibroblasts. These compounds are naturally found in meat and meat-based products and may elicit oxidative stress on Escherichia coli O157:H7, thus conferring thermotolerance to the bacterium due to the phenomenon of the global stress response. The effect of the levels of the oxidative complex on the thermotolerance of E. coli O157:H7 was investigated. Cultures of E. coli O157:H7 strains EO139 and 380-94 were mixed in three different concentrations (10:10: 40, 15:15:60, and 20:20:80 microM) of the oxidative complex (iron III chloride, ADP, and ascorbic acid, respectively). The samples were inserted into capillary tubes and heated in a circulating water bath at 59 and 60 degrees C for EO139 and 380-94, respectively. Tubes were removed at intervals of 5 min for up to 1 h and contents spirally plated on plate count agar that was incubated for 48 h at 37 degrees C. The thermotolerance of both E. coli O157:H7 strains EO139 and 380-94 was influenced by the concentrations of the oxidative complex. The ratio of 10:10:40 microM enhanced thermotolerance of EO139 and 390-94 at 59 and 60 degrees C, respectively. However, exposure to the ratios of 15:15:60 and 20:20:80 microM rendered the pathogen more sensitive to the lethal effect and did not enhance the thermotolerance of the cells. The significance of this study is twofold. This experiment proves that oxidative stress can enhance thermotolerance of bacterial cells induced by an oxidative complex if only in a specific ratio and concentration. It is possible to speculate that if the chemical compounds are present in this ratio in meats, they may enhance the thermal resistance of E. coli O157:H7 and make the bacteria more difficult to eliminate, thus increasing the risk of foodborne illness in consumers.     

Effects of monoglyceride content,cooling rate and shear on the rheological properties of olive oil/monoglyceride gel networks

Functionality of conventional fat spreads can be achieved without hydrogenation by the formation of stable network structures upon cooling of mixtures of monoglycerides (MGs) and vegetable oils from the melt. Such mixtures are healthy substitutes for margarine and butter. The effects of MG content, cooling rate and shear on the temperature ramp, mechanical spectra and hardness of olive oil/MG gel networks were investigated. A minimum MG volume fraction was necessary for formation of a gelled network, but this concentration was less than that needed for a space‐filling network structure. Onset of gel network or structure formation was indicated by a sudden divergence in value of the elastic modulus G′. The temperature at onset of structure formation, T_o, final G′ value and network hardness all increased with increase in MG content. High cooling rates led to low final G′ values but harder networks, and vice versa. Maximum gel network development occurred when moderate shear (about 300 s^?1) was applied at incipient gelation. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

A robust source tracking algorithm for partially adaptive arrays

A new algorithm for overcoming the problem of incidental cancellation and improving the convergence behaviour of large partially adaptive arrays is proposed and investigated. The algorithm uses an auxiliary adaptive source tracker to separate individual sources in the environment before using the resulting outputs to cancel unwanted jamming picked up through the main beam of the system. Because the source tracker's outputs are roughly orthogonal in the steady state and the positions of sources of significant powers are available, the algorithm possesses fast convergence behaviour and solves the problem of incidental cancellation in the most natural manner by adding back the desired signal to the canceller output if the former is cancelled during the adaptation process. In addition, the algorithm has about the same computational complexity as partially adaptive generalized sidelobe cancellers using steepest descent based algorithms.