Geodemographics as a tool for targeting neighbourhoods in public health campaigns

Geodemographics offers the prospects of integrating, modelling and mapping health care needs and other health indicators that are useful for targeting neighbourhoods in public health campaigns. Yet reports about this application domain has to date been sporadic. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of a bespoke geodemographic system for neighbourhood targeting in an inner city public health authority, Southwark Primary Care Trust, London. This system, the London Output Area Classification (LOAC), is compared to six other geodemographic systems from both governmental and commercial sources. The paper proposes two new indicators for assessing the performance of geodemographic systems for neighbourhood targeting based on local hospital demand data. The paper also analyses and discusses the utility of age- and sex standardisation of geodemographic profiles of health care demand.     

The Butterfly Diagram Fine Structure

The present work describes the evolution of the sunspot zone in cycles 20, 21, and 22. In each cycle, and in both hemispheres, the equatorward drift of the spot zone “center of mass” results from the alternation of five or six prograde (namely, equatorward) segments, with other stationary or poleward segments. The duration of the stationary/retrograde phases (resulting from averaging data pertaining to the six semicycles examined here) amounts to ≈36% of the total duration of these semicycles. In the prograde phases, the drift rate is almost twice the “traditional” equatorward rate, resulting only from the extreme positions of the spot zone center of mass (at the beginning and at the end of the cycle). If there were no stationary/retrograde phases, the cycle duration would be half the actual one. We conclude that the retrograde phases should not be regarded as accidental; rather, they are essential features of the 11-year cycle.     

The relativistic precession of the orbits

The relativistic precession can be quickly inferred from the nonlinear polar orbit equation without actually solving it.     

Lava stones from Neapolitan volcanic districts in the architecture of Campania region,Italy

Results of a research carried out on the lavas from Campi Flegrei and Somma-Vesuvius volcanic districts are reported here. The lavas have been widely employed, since Roman age, in several important monumental buildings of the Campania region, mainly in the town of Naples and in its province. They are classified as trachytes (Campi Flegrei products), tephri-phonolites and phono-tephrites (Somma-Vesuvius complex) from a petrographical point of view. Sampling was carried out from well-known exploitation districts. A substantial chemical difference between the products of the two sectors was confirmed, while petrophysical characterization evidenced similarity among the two different materials, although some differences were recorded even in samples coming from the same exploitation site.     

Parentage Identification of Differentiated Achondritic Meteorites by Hand‐held Energy Dispersive X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

We evaluate the potential of a hand‐held energy dispersive XRF spectrometer for the preliminary classification of non‐chondritic differentiated meteorites. The studied achondrites include nine lunar meteorites, seventeen Martian meteorites, five angrites and eighteen meteorites from asteroid 4 Vesta. Analytical precision and accuracy was tested on thirty‐nine terrestrial igneous rock slabs with a wide range of composition. Replicate analyses, performed on the studied meteorites, show that Fe/Mn values together with Si and Ca/K ratio can be used in the discrimination of different achondrite groups. Fusion crust's Fe/Mn values of meteorites from Vesta and Mars are indistinguishable from those of the interior implying that even measurements on the fusion‐crusted external surface could be sufficient to pigeonhole non‐chondritic meteorites. Hand‐held energy dispersive XRF spectrometer is a non‐destructive but very effective technique for preliminary classification of achondrites in the field and in laboratory and for the identification of mislabelled meteorites in museum collections.     

The growth and contamination mechanism of the Cana Brava layered mafic-ultramafic complex: new field and geochemical evidences

Mineralogy and Petrology - The Cana Brava complex is the northernmost of three layered complexes outcropping in the Goiás state (central Brasil). New field and geochemical evidences suggest...     

Coastal Phytoplankton Do Not Rest in Winter

The climatology and interannual variability of winter phytoplankton was analyzed at the Long Term Ecological Research Station MareChiara (LTER-MC, Gulf of Naples, Mediterranean Sea) using data collected from 1985 to 2006. Background winter chlorophyll values (0.2–0.5 μg chl a dm⁻³) were associated with the dominance of flagellates, dinoflagellates, and coccolithophores. Winter biomass increases (<5.47 μg chl a dm⁻³) were often recorded until 2000, generally in association with low-salinity surface waters (37.3–37.9). These blooms were most often caused by colonial diatoms such as Chaetoceros spp., Thalassiosira spp., and Leptocylindrus danicus. In recent years, we observed more modest and sporadic winter biomass increases, mainly caused by small flagellates and small non-colonial diatoms. The resulting negative chl a trend over the time series was associated with positive surface salinity and negative nutrient trends. Physical and meteorological conditions apparently exert a strict control on winter blooms, hence significant changes in winter productivity can be foreseen under different climatic scenarios.     

Global and Local Multiscale Analysis of Magnetic Susceptibility Data

Geophysical well-logs often show a complex behavior which seems to suggest a multifractal nature. Multifractals are highly intermittent signals, with distinct active bursts and passive regions which cannot be satisfactorily characterized in terms of just second-order statistics. They need a higher-order statistical analysis. In contrast with monofractals which have a homogeneous scaling, multifractals may include singularities of many types. Here we describe how a multiscale analysis can be used to describe the magnetic susceptibility data scaling properties for a deep well (KTB, Germany), down to about 9000 m. A multiscale analysis describes the local and global singular behavior of measures or distributions in a statistical fashion. The global analysis allows the estimation of the global repartition of the various Holder exponents. As such, it leads to the definition of a spectrum, D(), called the singularity spectrum. The local analysis is related to the possibility of estimating the Lipschitz regularity locally, i.e., at each point of the support of a multifractal signal. The application of both approaches to the KTB magnetic susceptibility data shows a meaningful correlation between the sequence of Holder exponents vs. depth and the lithological units. The Holder exponents reach the highest values for gneiss units, intermediate ones for amphibolite units and the lowest values for variegated units. Faults are found to correspond to changes for H also when they are of intra-lithological type.     

Lava effusion rates from hand-held thermal infrared imagery: an example from the June 2003 effusive activity at Stromboli

A safe, easy and rapid method to calculate lava effusion rates using hand-held thermal image data was developed during June 2003 at Stromboli Volcano (Italy). We used a Forward Looking Infrared Radiometer (FLIR) to obtain images of the active lava flow field on a daily basis between May 31 and June 16, 2003. During this time the flow field geometry and size (where flows typically a few hundred meters long were emplaced on a steep slope) meant that near-vertical images of the whole flow field could be captured in a single image obtained from a helicopter hovering, at an altitude of 750 m and ∼1 km off shore. We used these images to adapt a thermally based effusion rate method, previously applied to low and high spatial resolution satellite data, to allow automated extraction of effusion rates from the hand-held thermal infrared imagery. A comparison between a thermally-derived (0.23–0.87 m³ s⁻¹) and dimensionally-derived effusion rate (0.56 m³ s⁻¹) showed that the thermally-derived range was centered on the expected value. Over the measurement period, the mean effusion rate was 0.38±0.25 m³ s⁻¹, which is similar to that obtained during the 1985–86 effusive eruption and the time-averaged supply rate calculated for normal (non-effusive) Strombolian activity. A short effusive pulse, reaching a peak of ∼1.2 m³ s⁻¹, was recorded on June 3, 2003. One explanation of such a peak would be an increase in driving pressure due to an increase in the height of the magma contained in the central column. We estimate that this pulse would require the magma column to attain a height of ∼190 m above the effusive vent, which is approximately the elevation difference between the vent and the floor of the NE crater. Our approach gives an easy-to-apply method that has the potential to provide effusion rate time series with a high temporal resolution.Editorial responsibility: M. Carroll