Cosmic ray intensity and the tilt of the neutral sheet

Recent publications have related long-term variations in cosmic ray intensity at the Earth with long term variations in the tilt of the neutral sheet in the inner heliosphere. The tilt of the neutral sheet from 1971 to 1974 is compared with the cosmic ray intensity at Earth, recorded by the Mt. Washington neutron monitor. The remarkable large decreases in cosmic ray intensity which occurred in 1973 and 1974 correlate well with excursions in the tilt of the neutral sheet which occurred earlier during these same two years

Corrected sidereal anisotropy for underground moons

Data from underground muon telescopes in New Mexico and Bolivia are analyzed in sidereal time and anti-sidereal time in the rigidity range 20 GV to a few 100's of GV. Using both vertical and north- and south- pointing telescopes in both hemispheres, a latitude range of 70 N to 50 S is covered. It is shown that there is an anti-sidereal variation of the P 1 over 2 type, having opposite phase in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and maximum amplitude at mid latitudes. The anti-sidereal data are used to correct the sidereal data, using the Nagashima method (Nagashima, 1984); the resulting corrected sidereal vectors for northern hemisphere telescopes have their sidereal maxima close to 3h sidereal time, in reasonable agreement with sidereal data at higher energies from small air showers. The Nagashima correction also eliminates effects due to the reversal of the Sun's polar magnetic field which show up in the uncorrected sidereal data

North-south asymmetry in activity on the Sun and cosmic ray density gradients

The marked N-S asymmetry in solar activity (with predominant activity in the Sun's Northern Hemisphere) during the 1960's could certainly account for a S-pointing cosmic ray gradient. It is also clear from the data that the response to this change in solar activity asymmetry, and the related change in the perpendicular cosmic ray density gradient, is different for cosmic ray telescopes in the Earth's Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Northern Hemisphere detectors see a S-pointing gradient in the 60's and a N-pointing gradient after 1971, while Southern Hemisphere telescopes see a S-pointing gradient both before and after the reversal

North-South Distribution of Solar Flares during Cycle 23

In this paper, we investigate the spatial distribution of solar flares in the northern and southern hemisphere of the Sun that occurred during the period 1996 to 2003. This period of investigation includes the ascending phase, the maximum and part of descending phase of solar cycle 23. It is revealed that the flare activity during this cycle is low compared to previous solar cycle, indicating the violation of Gnevyshev-Ohl rule. The distribution of flares with respect to heliographic latitudes shows a significant asymmetry between northern and southern hemisphere which is maximum during the minimum phase of the solar cycle. The present study indicates that the activity dominates the northern hemisphere in general during the rising phase of the cycle (1997-2000). The dominance of northern hemisphere is shifted towards the southern hemisphere after the solar maximum in 2000 and remained there in the successive years. Although the annual variations in the asymmetry time series during cycle 23 are quite different from cycle 22, they are comparable to cycle 21.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; Accepted for the publication in the proceedings of international solar workshop held at ARIES, Nainital, India on "Transient Phenomena on the Sun and Interplanetary Medium" in a special issue of "Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (JAA)

Enablers and challenges to occupational therapists’ research engagement: A qualitative study

Introduction: To develop occupational therapy’s evidence base and improve its clinical outcomes, occupational therapists must increase their research involvement. Barriers to research consumption and leadership are well documented, but those relating to delivering research interventions, less so. Yet, interventions need to be researched within practice to demonstrate their clinical effectiveness. This study aims to improve understanding of challenges and enablers experienced by occupational therapists who deliver interventions within research programmes. Method: Twenty-eight occupational therapists who participated in the Valuing Active Life in Dementia (VALID) research programme reported their experiences in five focus groups. Data were analysed thematically to identify key and subthemes. Results: Occupational therapists reported that overwhelming paperwork, use of videos, recruitment and introducing a new intervention challenged their research involvement, whereas support, protected time and a positive attitude enabled it. The impact of these challenges and enablers varied between therapists and organisations. Conclusion: Challenges and enablers to research involvement can be identified but must be addressed within individual and organisational contexts. Multifaceted collective action to minimise challenges and maximise enablers can facilitate clinicians’ involvement in research. Using this approach should enable occupational therapists to increase their research involvement, thus demonstrating the clinical effectiveness of their interventions

DEVELOPMENT OF A FAST MICRON-RESOLUTION BEAM POSITION MONITOR SIGNAL PROCESSOR FOR LINEAR COLLIDER BEAMBASED FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

We present the design of a prototype fast beam position monitor (BPM) signal processor for use in inter-bunch beam-based feedbacks for linear colliders and electron linacs. We describe the FONT4 intra-train beam-based digital position feedback system prototype deployed at the Accelerator test facility (ATF) extraction line at KEK, Japan. The system incorporates a fast analogue beam position monitor front-end signal processor, a digital feedback board, and a fast kicker-driver amplifier. The total feedback system latency is less than 150ns, of which less than 10ns is used for the BPM processor. We report preliminary results of beam tests using electron bunches separated by c. 150ns. Position resolution of order 1 micron was obtained

BEAM TEST RESULTS WITH THE FONT4 ILC PROTOTYPE INTRA-TRAIN BEAM FEEDBACK SYSTEM

We present the design and beam test results of a prototype beam-based digital feedback system for the Interaction Point of the International Linear Collider. A custom analogue front-end processor, FPGA-based digital signal processing board, and kicker drive amplifier have been designed, built, and tested on the extraction line of the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF). The system was measured to have a latency of approximately 140 ns

Dermatomyositis complicating penicillamine treatment.

SUMMARY A case of dermatomyositis developing during the course of treatment with D-penicil-lamine in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis is described. Complete remission occurred on with-drawal of the drug. Possible alternative diagnoses are discussed. Penicillamine, which has been used successfully for many years in the long-term treatment of Wilson's disease and cystinuria, is now being used increasingly in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortu-nately, side effects are frequent and often lead to discontinuance of the drug. They include nausea and vomiting, rashes, loss of taste, thrombocytopenia, and immune-complex nephritis. Less common side effects are drug-induced systemic lupus erythemato-sus (Day and Golding, 1974) and myasthenia gravis (Bucknall et al., 1975). There have also been three single case reports of polymyositis occurring durin

Evolution of central pattern generators for the control of a five-link bipedal walking mechanism

Central pattern generators (CPGs), with a basis is neurophysiological studies, are a type of neural network for the generation of rhythmic motion. While CPGs are being increasingly used in robot control, most applications are hand-tuned for a specific task and it is acknowledged in the field that generic methods and design principles for creating individual networks for a given task are lacking. This study presents an approach where the connectivity and oscillatory parameters of a CPG network are determined by an evolutionary algorithm with fitness evaluations in a realistic simulation with accurate physics. We apply this technique to a five-link planar walking mechanism to demonstrate its feasibility and performance. In addition, to see whether results from simulation can be acceptably transferred to real robot hardware, the best evolved CPG network is also tested on a real mechanism. Our results also confirm that the biologically inspired CPG model is well suited for legged locomotion, since a diverse manifestation of networks have been observed to succeed in fitness simulations during evolution.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures; substantial revision of content, organization, and quantitative result