Radical re-appraisal of water structure in hydrophilic confinement

The structure of water confined in MCM41 silica cylindrical pores is studied to determine if confined water really is simply a version of the bulk liquid which can be substantially supercooled without crystallisation. A combination of total neutron scattering from the porous silica, both wet and dry,and computer simulation using a realistic model of the scattering substrate isused. The water in the pore is divided into three regions: core, interfacial and overlap. The average local densities of water in these simulations are found to be about 20% lower than bulk water density, while the density in the core region is below, but closer to, the bulk density. There is a decrease in both local and core densities when the temperature is lowered from 298K to 210K. The radical proposal is made here that water in hydrophilic confinement is under significant tension, around -100MPa, inside the pore

Comment on "Oxygen as a Site Specific Probe of the Structure of Water and Oxide Materials", PRL 107, 144501 (2011)

A recent paper by Zeidler et al. (PRL 107, 144501 (2011)) describes a neutron scattering experiment on water in which oxygen isotope substitution is successfully achieved for the first time. Differences between scattering patterns with different oxygen isotopes give a combination of the O-O and O-H (or O-D) structure factors, and the method elegantly minimizes some of the problematic inelasticity effects associated with neutron scattering from hydrogen. Particular conclusions of the new work are that the OH bond length in the light water molecule is about 0.005A longer than the same bond in heavy water, and that the hydrogen bond peaks in both liquids are at about the same position. Notwithstanding the substantial progress demonstrated by the new work, the comparison with our own results (PRL, 101, 065502 (2008)) by Zeidler et al. is in our opinion misleading.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure

Benefits from clinicians and healthcare organisations engaging in research

In Editor’s Choice, Godlee supports and re-emphasises the positive points about National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) clinical research networks that are made in Gulland’s article.1 2 We welcome this support for research networks and for the part they can play in a more fully integrated research and healthcare system. Research engagement by clinicians and healthcare organisations is widely held to improve health services performance. However, we found the issue to be complex in our review conducted for the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme in 2012-13.3 Thirty three papers were included in the analysis, and 28 were positive about improved performance, although only seven identified improved outcomes rather than improved processes. Diverse mechanisms contributed to these improvements. In a subsequent article we consider more recent evidence,4 including that UK NHS trusts active in research have lower risk adjusted mortality for acute admissions.5 Increased attention to this issue covers not only clinician participation but also organisational developments in the NIHR and NHS, such as Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) and Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).6 7 These seek to promote better integration of research and healthcare systems by strengthening research networks, developing research capacity, and ensuring that healthcare organisations (both providers and commissioners) see research as an integral component of their overall structure. Such initiatives need to be linked to further empirical analysis that considers not only the research engagement of all relevant actors but also the organisational determinants of the impact on practice of such engagement

Nuclear Physics on the Light Front

High energy scattering experiments involving nuclei are typically analyzed in terms of light front variables. The desire to provide realistic, relativistic wave functions expressed in terms of these variables led me to try to use light front dynamics to compute nuclear wave functions. The progress is summarized here.Comment: 4 pages, text of presentation made at PANIC9

Teaching Plans in Range Management for Utah High School Vocational Agricultural Programs

Although several course of study outlines have been prepared to cover the subject of range management, the author has been unable to use them too effectively in teaching this important phase of vocational agriculture. Other teachers of vocational agriculture have expressed similar experiences and in group meetings have indicated a need for more teaching materials in range management and other important areas of agriculture. Panguitch, Utah, where the author teaches, is located in Garfield County in the heart of a vast range area . There is a vital need for youth ar.d adults in the area to understand the important role the rangelands play in their lives . According to authorities in range management, Bureau of Land Management, and U. S . Forest Service, all citizens of the United States should know more about the contributions the Western rangelands make to the total economy and welfare of the nation . Also the citizens should know how important it is to conserve and to further develop these valuable lands. This report was written to fulfill, in part , the need for teaching plans to assist teachers and therefore help students to get a better understanding of the Western rangelands and how to manage, conserve, and develop them. It is hoped that teachers of Utah and other Western States will be able to use the plans, to develop an attitude and a desire in the students to conserve and improve the Western rangelands and other natural resources of the nation. The teaching plans in this report are to be used as aids to teachers of vocational agriculture in presenting a beginning course in range management. The material covered in this report may be used as a unit by itself or as a supplement to a course in the field of natural resources. This report is written to serve as a beginning course and should be used in a freshmen or sophomore vocational agricultural class. It is designed to cover from six to eight weeks but could be extended or shortened according to the needs and amount of time spent in field study. There are 13 lessons written on the one enterprise of range management. The instructor using these lessons should plan to work with the federal conservation agencies such as the U. S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Soil Conservation Service . The instructor should plan to spend as much time as necessary with his class in the field in actual range study. Teachers who use this report should not attempt to use it word for word but as a guide in teaching range management. The different areas of this state and other states will have different problems to solve so the situation and method of motivation will be different with each instructor

Cancer: a global concern that demands new detection technologies

There are over 100 cancer-related diseases and it is becoming clear that the standard-of-care for managing cancer diseases, which involves physical examinations and assessment of a patient's symptoms and/or various imaging modalities, is not keeping pace with the expanding nature of these diseases. For example, while the death rate (per 100,000 individuals) has decreased by 39% over the time span from 1991 to 2015 for cardiovascular diseases, over this same time period, the death rate for the cancer diseases has only seen a 21% drop. Worldwide, in 2014 there were >13 million new cancer cases and 70% of all cancer deaths occurred in low to middle income countries; cancer is not restricted to developed countries only. In the US alone, there were 580,350 cancer deaths and 1.66 million new cases. The (US) National Cancer Institute estimates that cancer care costs were $125 billion in 2010 and are project to be$200B by 2020! It is abundantly clear that the future will require new paradigms for managing all cancer-related diseases, such as molecular diagnostics/prognostic

Structure of a new dense amorphous ice

The detailed structure of a new dense amorphous ice, VHDA, is determined by isotope substitution neutron diffraction. Its structure is characterized by a doubled occupancy of the stabilizing interstitial location that was found in high density amorphous ice, HDA. As would be expected for a thermally activated unlocking of the stabilizing "interstitial," the transition from VHDA to LDA (low-density amorphous ice) is very sharp. Although its higher density makes VHDA a better candidate than HDA for a physical manifestation of the second putative liquid phase of water, as for the HDA case, the VHDA to LDA transition also appears to be kinetically controlled