What do we really know about infants who attend Accident and Emergency departments?

Aims: Accident and Emergency attendances continue to rise. Infants are disproportionately represented. This study examines the clinical reasons infants attend UK Accident and Emergency departments. Methods: A retrospective review of 6,667 infants aged less than one year attending Accident and Emergency at two district general hospitals in London from 1st April 2009 to 30th March 2010. All infants had been assigned to a diagnostic category by the medical coding department according to National Health Service (NHS) data guidelines, based on the clinical diagnoses stated in the medical records. The Accident and Emergency case notes of a random subsample of 10% of infants in each of the top five recorded diagnostic categories (n = 535) were reviewed in detail and audited against the standard national NHS data set. Results: The top 5 clinical diagnoses were ‘infectious diseases’, ‘gastrointestinal’, ‘respiratory’, ‘unclassifiable’ and ‘no abnormality detected’ (NAD). A third of infants were originally given a diagnosis of unclassifiable (21.5%) or NAD (11.5%). After detailed case-note review, we were able to reduce this to 9.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 9.0, 10.4) and 8.8% (95% CI: 8.1, 9.5), respectively. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of providing a clear clinical diagnosis and coding system for Accident and Emergency attendances and understanding that system fully. This would allow for better informed health service evaluation, planning and research as each of these relies on the interpretation of routine health-care data. Furthermore, the relatively high proportion (10%) of infants attending with no discernible underlying medical abnormality suggests the health needs of a significant proportion of infants attending Accident and Emergency departments may be better addressed by alternative service provision and/or improved education and support to parents

A review of the mallet impact test for small scale explosive formulations

Presented at 19th Seminar on New Trends of Energetic Materials (NTREM 2016); 20-22/04/2016, Pardubice Czech RepublicDevelopment of new explosive formulations begins with the generation of only a few milligrams of material which is investigated using a number of small scale tests such as DSC, TGA, response to flame, mallet impact (mallet friction either glancing or direct blow) to determine whether the formulation is safe to scale up to 10 g. The latter of these tests, mallet impact, can be particularly subjective as the result is directly influenced by the operator carrying out the assessment. Not only can there be a change from one operator to another but there can also be a change in the force applied during each strike potentially leading to inconsistent results. This study highlights this encountered variation and assesses the load applied by a variety of operators with varying levels of explosive experience. This paper also proposes the use of a small scale laboratory based impact test which would provide improved confidence in the assessment of impact sensitiveness of explosive formulations and assist in justifying whether a formulation can be taken to the next scale. A small scale version of the BAM impact test (EMTAP Test 43) has been devised that allows the comparison of the sensitiveness of small scale formulations relative to RDX (8.7 J, EMTAP Test 43B) whilst also ensuring a reproducible result

O VI and Multicomponent H I Absorption Associated with a Galaxy Group in the Direction of PG0953+415: Physical Conditions and Baryonic Content

We report the discovery of an O VI absorption system at z(abs) = 0.14232 in a high resolution FUV spectrum of PG0953+415 obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). Both lines of the O VI 1032, 1038 doublet and multicomponent H I Lya absorption are detected, but the N V doublet and the strong lines of C II and Si III are not apparent. We examine the ionization mechanism of the O VI absorber and find that while theoretical considerations favor collisional ionization, it is difficult to observationally rule out photoionization. If the absorber is collisionally ionized, it may not be in equilibrium due to the rapid cooling of gas in the appropriate temperature range. Non-equilibrium collisionally ionized models are shown to be consistent with the observations. A WIYN survey of galaxy redshifts near the sight line has revealed a galaxy at a projected distance of 395 kpc separated by ~130 km/s from this absorber, and three additional galaxies are found within 130 km/s of this redshift with projected separations ranging from 1.0 Mpc to 3.0 Mpc. Combining the STIS observations of PG0953+415 with previous high S/N GHRS observations of H1821+643, we derive a large number of O VI absorbers per unit redshift, dN/dz ~20. We use this sample to obtain a first estimate of the cosmological mass density of the O VI systems at z ~ 0. If further observations confirm the large dN/dz derived for the O VI systems, then these absorbers trace a significant reservoir of baryonic matter at low redshift.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap.J., vol. 542 (Oct. 10, 2000

The effects of inlet turbulence and rotor/stator interactions on the aerodynamics and heat transfer of a large-scale rotating turbine model. Volume 2: Heat transfer data tabulation. 15 percent axial spacing

A combined experimental and analytical program was conducted to examine the effects of inlet turbulence on airfoil heat transfer. The experimental portion of the study was conducted in a large-scale (approx 5X engine), ambient temperature, rotating turbine model configured in both single stage and stage-and-a-half arrangements. Heat transfer measurements were obtained using low-conductivity airfoils with miniature thermcouples welded to a thin, electrically heated surface skin. Heat transfer data were acquired for various combinations of low or high inlet turbulence intensity, flow coefficient, first-stator/rotor axial spacing, Reynolds number and relative circumferential position of the first and second stators. Aerodynamic measurements obtained as part of the program include distributions of the mean and fluctuating velocities at the turbine inlet and, for each airfoil row, midspan airfoil surface pressures and circumferential distributions of the downstream steady state pressures and fluctuating velocities. Analytical results include airfoil heat transfer predictions produced using existing 2-D boundary layer computation schemes and an examination of solutions of the unsteady boundary layer equations. The results are reported in four separate volumes, of which this is Volume 2: Heat Transfer Data Tabulation; 15 Percent Axial Spacing

The effects of inlet turbulence and rotor/stator interactions on the aerodynamics and heat transfer of a large-scale rotating turbine model. Volume 3: Heat transfer data tabulation 65 percent axial spacing

This is Volume 3 - Heat Transfer Data Tabulation (65 percent Axial Spacing) of a combined experimental and analytical program which was conducted to examine the effects of inlet turbulence on airfoil heat transfer. The experimental portion of the study was conducted in a large-scale (approximately 5X engine), ambient temperature, rotating turbine model configured in both single stage and stage-and-a-half arrangements. Heat transfer measurements were obtained using low-conductivity airfoils with miniature thermocouples welded to a thin, electrically heated surface skin. Heat transfer data were acquired for various combinations of low or high inlet turbulence intensity, flow coefficient, first-stator/rotor axial spacing, Reynolds number and relative circumferential position of the first and second stators

The effects of inlet turbulence and rotor/stator interactions on the aerodynamics and heat transfer of a large-scale rotating turbine model. Part 4: Aerodynamic data tabulation

A combined experimental and analytical program was conducted to examine the effects of inlet turbulence and airfoil heat transfer. The experimental portion of the study was conducted in a large-scale (approx. 5X engine), ambient temperature, rotating turbine model configured in both single-stage and stage-and-a-half arrangements. Heat transfer measurements were obtained using low-conductivity airfoils with miniature thermocouples welded to a thin, electrically heated surface skin. Heat transfer data were acquired for various combinations of low or high inlet turbulence intensity, flow coefficient, first stator-rotor axial spacing, Reynolds number and relative circumferential position of the first and second stators. Aerodynamic measurements obtained include distributions of the mean and fluctuating velocities at the turbine inlet and, for each airfoil row, midspan airfoil surface pressures and circumferential distributions of the downstream steady state pressures and fluctuating velocities. Results include airfoil heat transfer predictions produced using existing 2-D boundary layer computation schemes and an examination of solutions of the unsteady boundary layer equations

Reconstructing Supersymmetry at ILC/LHC

Coherent analyses of experimental results from LHC and ILC will allow us to draw a comprehensive and precise picture of the supersymmetric particle sector. Based on this platform the fundamental supersymmetric theory can be reconstructed at the high scale which is potentially close to the Planck scale. This procedure will be reviewed for three characteristic examples: minimal supergravity as the paradigm; a left-right symmetric extension incorporating intermediate mass scales; and a specific realization of string effective theories.Comment: published in Proceedings of the Ustron Conference 2005; technical LaTeX problem correcte

Physical Properties and Baryonic Content of Low-Redshift Intergalactic Ly-alpha and O VI Absorption Systems: The PG1116+215 Sight Line

We present HST and FUSE observations of the intergalactic absorption toward PG1116+215 in the 900-3000 A spectral region. We detect 25 Ly-alpha absorbers at rest-frame equivalent widths W_r > 30 mA, yielding (dN/dz)_Ly-alpha = 154+/-18 over an unblocked redshift path of 0.162. Two additional weak Ly-alpha absorbers with W_r ~ 15-20 mA are also present. Eight of the Ly-alpha absorbers have large line widths (b > 40 km/sec). The detection of narrow OVI in the broad Ly-alpha absorber at z=0.06244 supports the idea that the Ly-alpha profile is thermally broadened in gas with T > 10^5 K. We find dN/dz ~ 50 for broad Ly-alpha absorbers with W_r > 30 mA and b > 40 km/sec. If the broad Ly-alpha lines are dominated by thermal broadening in hot gas, the amount of baryonic material in these absorbers is enormous, perhaps as much as half the baryonic mass in the low-redshift universe. We detect OVI absorption in several of the Ly-alpha clouds along the sight line. Two detections at z=0.13847 and z=0.16548 are confirmed by the presence of other ions at these redshifts, while the detections at z=0.04125, 0.05895, 0.05928, and 0.06244 are based upon the Ly-alpha and OVI detections alone. The information available for 13 low-redshift OVI absorbers with W_r > 50 mA along 5 sight lines yields (dN/dz)_OVI ~ 14 and Omega_b(OVI) > 0.0027/h_75, assuming a metallicity of 0.1 solar and an OVI ionization fraction < 0.2. The properties and prevalence of low-redshift OVI absorbers suggest that they too may be a substantial baryon repository, perhaps containing as much mass as stars and gas inside galaxies. The redshifts of the OVI absorbers are highly correlated with the redshifts of galaxies along the sight line, though few of the absorbers lie closer than 600/h_75 kpc to any single galaxy. [abbreviated]Comment: 99 pages, 30 figures, aastex format, ApJS in pres