Capoeira for beginners: self-benefit for, and community action by, new Capoeiristas

Capoeira could be defined as a Brazilian martial art and game to be played. This research explored how capoeira play might be considered to facilitate connectedness amongst newly-recruited persons, plus any other ramifications of capoeira involvement. A beginners’ course of capoeira was provided to participants, free of charge, in an English city in the West Midlands—new capoeiristas in a new venue for capoeira. Researchers attended classes to collect/construct overt non-participant observation data. In addition, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the new capoeiristas post-course. This article explores researchers’ observation fieldnotes and interviewees’ narratives. These qualitative data-driven debates include the concepts: self, identity, escapism, multiparty endeavour, community, temporality, enjoyment, and transcending boundaries. Capoeira is theorised in a fresh manner that highlights social benefits of capoeira—for example as an enjoyable and supportive group endeavour which includes elements of social play and community-building—plus benefits for self that can transcend the boundaries of the class. Findings highlight how capoeira can be considered an inherently multiparty endeavour whereby social actors form, and experience, a community in order to embrace capoeira play. Data suggest capoeira can facilitate group playfulness, joviality, and laughter. Further, capoeiristas can enact and experience—some mode of—escapism via capoeira, whereby new place and pursuit can facilitate hedonistic diversion from the mundane. Capoeira appears to provide adventure and liberation into a relatively unburdened part of, or place in, social life. Corporeal and discursive boundary-empowerment can also be experienced by capoeiristas, fostering positive identity work in the wider world. Capoeira can be argued to facilitate mutuality (e.g. community experience and group work) and egoism (e.g. an individual's identity work) concurrently. This research suggests that modified capoeira for beginners can be beneficial for both the new capoeiristas themselves and for positive community action during and beyond class

Early changes in rpS6 phosphorylation and BH3 profiling predict response to chemotherapy in AML cells

Blasts from different patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) vary in the agent(s) to which they are most responsive. With a myriad of novel agents to evaluate, there is a lack of predictive biomarkers to precisely assign targeted therapies to individual patients. Primary AML cells often survive poorly in vitro, thus confounding conventional cytotoxicity assays. The purpose of this work was to assess the potential of two same-day functional predictive assays in AML cell lines to predict long-term response to chemotherapy. (i) Ribosomal protein S6 (rpS6) is a downstream substrate of PI3K/akt/mTOR/ kinase and MAPK kinase pathways and its dephosphorylation is also triggered by DNA double strand breaks. Phospho-rpS6 is reliably measurable by flow cytometry and thus has the potential to function as a biomarker of responsiveness to several therapeutic agents. (ii) A cell’s propensity for apoptosis can be interrogated via a functional assay termed “Dynamic BH3 Profiling” in which mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization in drug-treated cells can be driven by pro-apoptotic BH3 domain peptides such as PUMA-BH3. The extent to which a particular cell is primed for apoptosis by the drug can be determined by measuring the amount of cytochrome C released on addition of BH3 peptide. We demonstrate that phospho-rpS6 expression and PUMA-BH3 peptide-induced cytochrome C release after 4 hours both predict long term chemoresponsiveness to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and DNA double strand break inducers in AML cell lines. We also describe changes in expression levels of the prosurvival BCL-2 family member Mcl-1 and the pro-apoptotic protein BIM after short term drug culture

Spontaneous Polarisation Build up in a Room Temperature Polariton Laser

We observe the build up of strong (~50%) spontaneous vector polarisation in emission from a GaN-based polariton laser excited by short optical pulses at room temperature. The Stokes vector of emitted light changes its orientation randomly from one excitation pulse to another, so that the time-integrated polarisation remains zero. This behaviour is completely different to any previous laser. We interpret this observation in terms of the spontaneous symmetry breaking in a Bose-Einstein condensate of exciton-polaritons

What does safety in mental health care transitions mean for service users and other stakeholder groups?: An open-ended questionnaire study

BackgroundHistorically, safety mental health research has tended to focus on risks of homicide, suicide, and deaths. Although wider safety issues are now recognised in regards to mental health services, the safety of mental health transitions, a key research and policy priority according to World Health Organisation, has not been explored.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of safety in mental health transitions (hospital to community) among five stakeholder groups.Design and settingAn online, international cross-sectional, open-ended questionnaire. ParticipantsThere were five stakeholder participant groups: service users; families/carers; mental health care professionals; researchers and end users of research.Results Ninety-three participants from 12 different countries responded. Three over-arching themes emerged: ‘individual/clinical’, ‘systems/services’ and ‘human, behavioural and social’ elements of safe mental health transitions. Whilst there was a great focus on clinical elements from researchers and healthcare professionals, service users and carers considered safety in terms of human, behavioural and social elements of transitional safety (i.e. loneliness, emotional readiness for discharge) and systems/services (i.e. inter-professional communication). DiscussionSafety in mental health care transitions is perceived differently by service users and families compared to healthcare professionals and researchers. Traditional safety indicators for care transitions such as suicide, self-harm, risk of adverse drug events are raised as important. However, service users and families in particular, have a much wider perception of transitions safety. ConclusionFuture quality and safety research and policy should consider including a service-user voice and consider integration of psychosocial elements in discharge interventions

Pluto's global surface composition through pixel-by-pixel Hapke modeling of New Horizons Ralph/LEISA data

On July 14th 2015, NASA's New Horizons mission gave us an unprecedented detailed view of the Pluto system. The complex compositional diversity of Pluto's encounter hemisphere was revealed by the Ralph/LEISA infrared spectrometer on board of New Horizons. We present compositional maps of Pluto defining the spatial distribution of the abundance and textural properties of the volatiles methane and nitrogen ices and non-volatiles water ice and tholin. These results are obtained by applying a pixel-by-pixel Hapke radiative transfer model to the LEISA scans. Our analysis focuses mainly on the large scale latitudinal variations of methane and nitrogen ices and aims at setting observational constraints to volatile transport models. Specifically, we find three latitudinal bands: the first, enriched in methane, extends from the pole to 55deg N, the second dominated by nitrogen, continues south to 35deg N, and the third, composed again mainly of methane, reaches 20deg N. We demonstrate that the distribution of volatiles across these surface units can be explained by differences in insolation over the past few decades. The latitudinal pattern is broken by Sputnik Planitia, a large reservoir of volatiles, with nitrogen playing the most important role. The physical properties of methane and nitrogen in this region are suggestive of the presence of a cold trap or possible volatile stratification. Furthermore our modeling results point to a possible sublimation transport of nitrogen from the northwest edge of Sputnik Planitia toward the south.Comment: 43 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in Icaru

Overview of the New Horizons Science Payload

The New Horizons mission was launched on 2006 January 19, and the spacecraft is heading for a flyby encounter with the Pluto system in the summer of 2015. The challenges associated with sending a spacecraft to Pluto in less than 10 years and performing an ambitious suite of scientific investigations at such large heliocentric distances (> 32 AU) are formidable and required the development of lightweight, low power, and highly sensitive instruments. This paper provides an overview of the New Horizons science payload, which is comprised of seven instruments. Alice provides spatially resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy. The Ralph instrument has two components: the Multicolor Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC), which performs panchromatic and color imaging, and the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA), which provides near-infrared spectroscopic mapping capabilities. The Radio Experiment (REX) is a component of the New Horizons telecommunications system that provides both occultation and radiometry capabilities. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) provides high sensitivity, high spatial resolution optical imaging capabilities. The Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP) instrument measures the density and speed of solar wind particles. The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) measures energetic protons and CNO ions. The Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (VB-SDC) is used to record dust particle impacts during the cruise phases of the mission.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; To appear in a special volume of Space Science Reviews on the New Horizons missio

High-excitation OH and H_2O lines in Markarian 231: the molecular signatures of compact far-infrared continuum sources

The ISO/LWS far-infrared spectrum of the ultraluminous galaxy Mkn 231 shows OH and H_2O lines in absorption from energy levels up to 300 K above the ground state, and emission in the [O I] 63 micron and [C II] 158 micron lines. Our analysis shows that OH and H_2O are radiatively pumped by the far-infrared continuum emission of the galaxy. The absorptions in the high-excitation lines require high far-infrared radiation densities, allowing us to constrain the properties of the underlying continuum source. The bulk of the far-infrared continuum arises from a warm (T_dust=70-100 K), optically thick (tau_100micron=1-2) medium of effective diameter 200-400 pc. In our best-fit model of total luminosity L_IR, the observed OH and H2O high-lying lines arise from a luminous (L/L_IR~0.56) region with radius ~100 pc. The high surface brightness of this component suggests that its infrared emission is dominated by the AGN. The derived column densities N(OH)>~10^{17} cm^{-2} and N(H_2O)>~6x10^{16} cm^{-2} may indicate XDR chemistry, although significant starburst chemistry cannot be ruled out. The lower-lying OH, [C II] 158 micron, and [O I] 63 micron lines arise from a more extended (~350 pc) starburst region. We show that the [C II] deficit in Mkn 231 is compatible with a high average abundance of C+ because of an extreme overall luminosity to gas mass ratio. Therefore, a [C II] deficit may indicate a significant contribution to the luminosity by an AGN, and/or by extremely efficient star formation.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Report from an EWRS workshop on modelling weed population dynamics

A three-day workshop on modelling weed population dynamics partially sponsored by the European Weed Research Society (EWRS) was held in October 2006 at Research Centre Flakkebjerg. 24 participants attended the workshop from 8 countries, mainly Europe and USA. The aim of the workshop was to gather some of those active and interested in the field, i.e. most of the participants had either published papers on weed population dynamic models or had a model under development. By gathering these people, it was our hope to learn from each other and possibly benefit by increasing the knowledge and use of each other's work. The EWRS saw the workshop as an opportunity to interconnect some of the work going on in (at least) three working groups: Weed Seed Germination and Early Growth, Crop-Weed Interactions and Physical and Cultural Weed Control. The preparations of the workshop were initiated by the keynote paper on modelling weed population dynamics presented by N. Holst at the EWRS Symposium in Bari, Italy, 2005, which has recently been published in Weed Research. In connection with this, a database with a bibliography of publications on weed population dynamic models was created, and is public online at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3180.2007.00534.x. At the workshop, ten weed population dynamics models were presented, and all of these were available on computers for the participants to try. Many of the models are freely available on the Internet, although some must be paid for, and some are still under development. The themes discussed at the workshop were presented under five headings: 1. Using models for understanding weed biology, 2. Modelling tools for understanding the dynamics of weed populations, 3. Using models for prediction purposes and decision support, 4. Understanding basic spatial-temporal dynamics through use of models and 5. Model analysis. A common understanding at the workshop, in respect of the fact that no model can accurately show the complexity of the real world, was that "All models are wrong – but some are useful". Some important discussion points brought up at the workshop were related to application domain and model complexity. Are the models used to explain what actually has happened, or are they used for forecasting. It was decided that some of the participants will collaborate on a common publication on this subject. Another topic was the required level of complexity also phrased as ‘How long do we keep on improving our models?’ Does added complexity make the model more realistic, or does it just add errors? We also discussed how we could make better use of each other's work. In this regard it was decided to make a list of the presented models, including links to the models and where possible open source code, so that parts of generic models could be used by other modellers. In addition, a common database with parameters characterizing different life cycle stages of specific weed species was planned. Since participants agreed that this workshop was a very important opportunity for weed population dynamics modellers to convene, it was suggested that a new workshop should be arranged within 2-3 years, location depending on possibilities for sponsoring