This paper reports findings of a pilot survey of adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) knowledge and behaviour in Homabay County of western Kenya. The study was based on a cross-sectional survey of 523 male and female adolescents aged 10–19 years from 32 Community Health Units (CHUs). Bivariate analysis of gender differences and associations between ASRH knowledge and behaviour was followed with two-level logistic regression analysis of predictors of ASRH behaviour (sexual activity, unprotected sex, HIV testing), taking individual adolescents as level-1 and CHUs as level-2. The findings reveal important gender differences in ASRH knowledge and behaviour. While male adolescents reported higher sexual activity (ever had sex, unprotected last sex), female adolescents reported higher HIV testing. Despite having lower HIV/AIDS knowledge, female adolescents were more likely to translate their SRH knowledge into appropriate behaviour. Education emerged as an important predictor of ASRH behaviour. Out-of-school adolescents had significantly higher odds of having ever had sex (aOR=3.3) or unprotected last sex (aOR=3.2) than their in-school counterparts of the same age, gender and ASRH knowledge, while those with at least secondary education had lower odds of unprotected sex (aOR=0.52) and higher odds of HIV testing (aOR=5.49) than their counterparts of the same age, gender and SRH knowledge who had primary education or lower. However, being out of school was associated with higher HIV testing (aOR=2.3); and there was no evidence of significant differences between younger (aged 10–14) and older (aged 15–19) adolescents in SRH knowledge and behaviour. Besides individual-level predictors, there were significant community variations in ASRH knowledge and behaviour, with relatively more-deprived CHUs being associated with poorer indicators. The overall findings have important policy/programme implications. There is a need for a comprehensive approach that engages schools, health providers, peers, parents/adults and the wider community in developing age-appropriate ASRH interventions for both in-school and out-of-school adolescents in western Kenya.

We performed a retrospective analysis of the changes in accuracy of International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification (ICD-CM) diagnosis codes for colectomy and hysterectomy surgical site infection surveillance. After the transition from ICD-CM ninth edition to tenth edition codes, there was no significant change in the accuracy of these codes for SSI surveillance.

Active labour market policy (ALMP) is a well-established strategy but one aspect is greatly neglected – employer participation – about which there is a lack of systematic evidence. The question of why and how employers participate in ALMP, and whether there may be some shift from employers solely being passive recipients of job-ready candidates to having a more proactive and strategic role, is addressed by drawing on new research into Talent Match, a contemporary UK employability programme which places particular emphasis on employer involvement. The research findings point to a conceptual distinction between employers’ roles as being reactive gatekeepers to jobs and/or being proactive strategic partners, with both evident. It is argued that the Talent Match programme demonstrates potential to benefit employers, jobseekers and programme providers, with devolution of policy to the local level a possible way forward. The conclusion, however, is that the barrier to wider replication is not necessarily a problem of practice but of centralised control of policy and, in particular, commitment to a supply-side approach. Empirical, conceptual and policy contributions are made to this under-researched topic.

Çatalhöyük is one of the most well-known and important Neolithic/Chalcolithic sites in the Middle East. Settlement at the site encompasses two separate tell mounds known as Çatalhöyük East and West, with the focus of attention having traditionally been upon what is often regarded as the main site, the earlier East Mound. Limitations of dating evidence have, however, rendered the nature of the relationship between the settlements on these mounds unclear. Traditional models favoured a hiatus between their occupation, or, alternatively, a rapid shift from one site to the other, often invoking changes in natural conditions by way of an explanation. New dates challenge these theories, and indicate a potentially significant overlap between the occupation of the mounds, starting in the late seventh millennium BC.

Bats (Order: Chiroptera) have been widely studied as reservoir hosts for viruses of concern for human and animal health. However, whether bats are equally competent hosts of non-viral pathogens such as bacteria remains an important open question. Here, we surveyed blood and saliva samples of vampire bats from Peru and Belize for hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. (hemoplasmas), bacteria that can cause inapparent infection or anemia in hosts. 16S rRNA gene amplification of blood showed 67% (150/223) of common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) were infected by hemoplasmas. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene amplicons revealed three novel genotypes that were phylogenetically related but not identical to hemoplasmas described from other (non-vampire) bat species, rodents, humans, and non-human primates. Hemoplasma prevalence in vampire bats was highest in non-reproductive and young individuals, did not differ by country, and was relatively stable over time (i.e., endemic). Metagenomics from pooled D. rotundus saliva from Peru detected non-hemotropic Mycoplasma species and hemoplasma genotypes phylogenetically similar to those identified in blood, providing indirect evidence for potential direct transmission of hemoplasmas through biting or social contacts. This study demonstrates vampire bats host several novel hemoplasmas and sheds light on risk factors for infection and basic transmission routes. Given the high frequency of direct contacts that arise when vampire bats feed on humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, the potential of these bacteria to be transmitted between species should be investigated in future work.

The Neolithic in the central Balkans saw dramatic changes in settlement forms, architecture, and material culture, with substantial, often long-lived settlements that can reasonably be called villages emerging in the later part of the period. This paper examines the role of herding practices in the development of these large, more-or-less settled communities. Radiocarbon results (including twenty-seven new AMS dates from Gomolava, Opovo, and Petnica) are used to place the available zooarchaeological data into a chronological framework, allowing comparison of inter- and intra-site changes across the region. The data point to the development of large-scale cattle herding in the later Neolithic, the implications of which for mobility and community cohesion are discussed. This trend is seen clearly over time at certain sites but, like the settlement evidence, is neither universal nor synchronous across the region, emphasizing that change occurred, and should be understood, on the level of individual communities.

Model scale tests of modern ‘open rotor’ propulsor concepts that have potential for significant fuel burn reduction for aircraft applications were completed at NASA Glenn Research Center. The recent test campaign was a collaboration between NASA, FAA, and General Electric (GE). GE was the primary industrial partner, but other organisations were involved such as Boeing and Airbus who provided additional hardware for fuselage simulations. The open rotor is a modern version of the UnDucted Fan (UDF®) that was flight tested in the late 1980s through a partnership between NASA and GE. The UDF® was memorable for its scimitar shaped propeller blades and its unique noise signature. Design methods of the time were not able to optimise for both high aerodynamic efficiency and low noise simultaneously. Contemporary CFD/CAA based design methods can produce open rotor blade designs that maintain efficiency with acceptable acoustic signatures. Tests of two generations of new open rotor designs were conducted in the 9’ × 15’ Low Speed Wind Tunnel and the 8’ × 6’ Supersonic Wind Tunnel starting in late 2009 and completed in early 2012. Aerodynamic performance and acoustic data were obtained for take-off, approach and cruise conditions in isolated and semi-installed configurations. Additional detailed flow diagnostic measurements and acoustic measurements, including canonical shielding configurations, were obtained by NASA. NASA and GE conducted joint systems analysis to evaluate the performance of the new blade designs on a Boeing 737 class aircraft. The program demonstrated a 2-3% improvement in overall net efficiency relative to the best efficiency designs of the 1980s while nominally achieving 15-17 EPNdB noise margin to Chapter 4 (at a Technology Readiness Level of 5) for a notional aircraft system defined by NASA.

The Exeter Book Riddles are anonymous, and the generally formulaic character of all Old English verse discourages attempts to establish unity or diversity of authorship for them; but correlations between the sequence of Riddles in the manuscript and the recurrence from poem to poem of aspects of form, content (including solutions), presentation and style sometimes suggest common authorship for particular runs of texts, or reveal shaping episodes in the collection's transmission. Investigation along these lines throws up clear differences between the two main blocks of Riddles (1–59 and 61–95), and evidence emerges that the composition of many (at least) of Riddles 61–95 was influenced by a reading of Riddles 1–59.