Magnetic Confinement, MHD Waves, and Smooth Line Profiles in AGN

In this paper, we show that if the broad line region clouds are in approximate energy equipartition between the magnetic field and gravity, as hypothesized by Rees, there will be a significant effect on the shape and smoothness of broad emission line profiles in active galactic nuclei. Line widths of contributing clouds or flow elements are much wider than their thermal widths, due to the presence of non-dissipative MHD waves, and their collective contribution produce emission line profiles broader and smoother than would be expected if a magnetic field were not present. As an illustration, a simple model of isotropically emitting clouds, normally distributed in velocity, is used to show that smoothness can be achieved for less than 80,000 clouds and may even be as low as a few hundred. We conclude that magnetic confinement has far reaching consequences for observing and modeling active galactic nuclei.Comment: to appear in MNRA

Effect of Corn Type and Form of Supplement on Grazing Steers

Eighty stocker steers were grazed on bromegrass from April to the beginning of November and were provided five different feeds while on grass during the summer. Treatments evaluated included (1) mineral only; (2) free-choice supplementation in the form of liquid feed (MIX30) or (3) block format (Mintrate 40 Red); and hand-fed supplements of 60% corn:40% dried distillers grains at 0.5% of body weight on a dry matter basis offered daily where the corn was either an (4) isoline corn (ISO; parent genetic line) or (5) Enogen feed corn (ENO; includes alpha-amylase gene). Steers were weighed every 28 days while on grass and were carcass quality measured by ultrasound prior to placement in the feedlot. Hand-fed steers had greater gain than self-fed supplemented steers and these steers also had more backfat and tended to have more muscle depth coming off grass than other supplemented steers. Steers that received free-choice mineral or self-fed supplements also had lower gains than steers being hand-fed supplement. Within the first 28 days of the study, the hand-fed steers began weighing more and weighed 125 pounds more than the free-choice supplemented and control steers. On average hand-fed steers had a 0.6 lb/d greater ADG than control steers and those consuming free-choice supplement. Cost of gain was the highest with hand-fed steers at $0.27/pound, but even so profit was greatest with the hand-fed cattle

A qualitative study on Chinese Canadian male immigrants’ perspectives on stopping smoking: Implications for tobacco control in China

China has the largest number of smokers in the world; more than half of adult men smoke. Chinese immigrants smoke at lower rates than the mainstream population and other immigrant groups do. This qualitative study was to explore the influence of denormalization in Canada on male Chinese immigrant smoking after migration. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 male Chinese Canadian immigrants who were currently smoking or had quit smoking in the past 5 years. The study identified that, while becoming a prospective/father prompted the Chinese smokers to quit or reduce their smoking due to concern of the impacts of their smoking on the health of their young children, changes in smoking were also associated with the smoking environment. Four facilitators were identified which were related to the denomormalized smoking environment in Canada: (a) the stigma related to being a smoker in Canada, (b) conformity with Canadian smoking bans in public places, (c) the reduced social function of smoking in Canadian culture, and (d) the impact of graphic health messages on cigarette packs. Denormalization of tobacco in Canada in combination with collectivist values among Chinese smokers appeared to contribute to participants’ reducing and quitting smoking. Although findings of the study cannot be claimed as generalizable to the wider population of Chinese Canadian immigrants due to the small number of the participants, this study provides lessons for the development of tobacco control measures in China to reverse the current prosmoking social environment

Smoke-Free Men: Competing and Connecting to Quit

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore gender-related factors that motivate and support men’s smoking reduction and cessation to inform effective men-centered interventions. Approach or Design: Focus group design using a semi-structured interview guide. Setting: Three communities in British Columbia, Canada. Participants: A total of 56 men who currently smoked and were interested in reducing or quitting or had quit. Intervention: N/A. Methods: Data collected in 6 focus group discussions were transcribed and analyzed in accord with principles of thematic qualitative methods. Results: We report the results across 4 interconnected themes: (1) the fight to quit takes several rounds, (2) the motivation of supportive competition, (3) challenges and benefits of connecting with smoke-free peers, and (4) playing up the physical and financial gains. Conclusions: Masculine-based perspectives positioned quitting alongside fighting for self-control, competing, connecting, physical prowess, and having extra cash as motivating components of programs to engage men in efforts to be smoke-free. It may be worthwhile to consider the inclusion of gain-framed and benefit-focused messaging in programs that support men’s tobacco cessation

Investigation of prediction methods for the loads and stresses of Apollo type spacecraft parachutes. Volume 2: Stresses

For abstract, see N74-19673

Complex X-ray Absorption and the Fe Kalpha Profile in NGC 3516

We present data from simultaneous Chandra, XMM-Newton and BeppoSAX observations of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3516, taken during 2001 April and Nov. We have investigated the nature of the very flat observed X-ray spectrum. Chandra grating data show the presence of X-ray absorption lines, revealing two distinct components of the absorbing gas, one which is consistent with our previous model of the UV/X-ray absorber while the other, which is outflowing at a velocity of ~1100 km/s has a larger column density and is much more highly ionized. The broad-band spectral characteristics of the X-ray continuum observed with XMM during 2001 April, reveal the presence of a third layer of absorption consisting of a very large column (~2.5 x 10E23 cm^-2) of highly ionized gas with a covering fraction ~50%. This low covering fraction suggests that the absorber lies within a few lt-days of the X-ray source and/or is filamentary in structure. Interestingly, these absorbers are not in thermal equilibrium with one another. The two new components are too highly ionized to be radiatively accelerated, which we suggest is evidence for a hydromagnetic origin for the outflow. Applying our model to the Nov dataset, we can account for the spectral variability primarily by a drop in the ionization states of the absorbers, as expected by the change in the continuum flux. When this complex absorption is accounted for we find the underlying continuum to be typical of Seyfert 1 galaxies. The spectral curvature attributed to the high column absorber, in turn, reduces estimates of the flux and extent of any broad Fe emission line from the accretion disk.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

He II Reverberation in Active Galactic Nucleus Spectra

This paper compares the observed reverberation response lags and the intensity ratios of the broad-line region (BLR) emission lines He II λ1640, He II λ4686, and C IV λ1549 with predictions. Published observations indicate that the He II λ1640 lag is 3 times shorter than the lags of He II λ4686 or C IV λ1549. Diverse models, however, do not reproduce this observation. Extensive improved numerical simulations of the hydrogenic isoelectronic sequence emission show that the He II spectrum remains especially simple, even in the central regions of a luminous quasar. Line trapping never builds up a significant population of excited states, and the emissivities of the two He II lines are close to simple case B predictions. Using improved He II calculations, we computed the lags of distributions of clouds concentrated in approximate radius-dependent pressure laws as well as the lags of locally optimally emitting cloud (LOC) distributions. In addition, the effect on lags and intensities due to anisotropic beaming of line emission and observer orientation angle with respect to an obscuring disk is estimated. Comparing our results to observations, we do not see how any distribution of clouds can produce intrinsic He II λ1640 and He II λ4686 emission with substantially different responses, nor do we see how He II λ1640 can vary on a substantially shorter timescale than C IV λ1549. Our models suggest that in fact the observed He II λ1640 reverberation timescale is shorter than expected rather than the observed He II λ4686 timescale being longer than expected. We discuss a possible explanation

Multi-dimensional modelling of X-ray spectra for AGN accretion-disk outflows III: application to a hydrodynamical simulation

We perform multi-dimensional radiative transfer simulations to compute spectra for a hydrodynamical simulation of a line-driven accretion disk wind from an active galactic nucleus. The synthetic spectra confirm expectations from parameterized models that a disk wind can imprint a wide variety of spectroscopic signatures including narrow absorption lines, broad emission lines and a Compton hump. The formation of these features is complex with contributions originating from many of the different structures present in the hydrodynamical simulation. In particular, spectral features are shaped both by gas in a successfully launched outflow and in complex flows where material is lifted out of the disk plane but ultimately falls back. We also confirm that the strong Fe Kalpha line can develop a weak, red-skewed line wing as a result of Compton scattering in the outflow. In addition, we demonstrate that X-ray radiation scattered and reprocessed in the flow has a pivotal part in both the spectrum formation and determining the ionization conditions in the wind. We find that scattered radiation is rather effective in ionizing gas which is shielded from direct irradiation from the central source. This effect likely makes the successful launching of a massive disk wind somewhat more challenging and should be considered in future wind simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRA

Factors That Impact the Success of Interorganizational Health Promotion Collaborations: A Scoping Review

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Objective: To explore published empirical literature in order to identify factors that facilitate or inhibit collaborative approaches for health promotion using a scoping review methodology. Data Source: A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, PsycINFO, and Academic Search Complete for articles published between January 2001 and October 2015 was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: To be included studies had to: be an original research article, published in English, involve at least 2 organizations in a health promotion partnership, and identify factors contributing to or constraining the success of an established (or prior) partnership. Studies were excluded if they focused on primary care collaboration or organizations jointly lobbying for a cause. Data Extraction: Data extraction was completed by 2 members of the author team using a summary chart to extract information relevant to the factors that facilitated or constrained collaboration success. Data Synthesis: NVivo 10 was used to code article content into the thematic categories identified in the data extraction. Results: Twenty-five studies across 8 countries were identified. Several key factors contributed to collaborative effectiveness, including a shared vision, leadership, member characteristics, organizational commitment, available resources, clear roles/responsibilities, trust/clear communication, and engagement of the target population. Conclusion: In general, the findings were consistent with previous reviews; however, additional novel themes did emerge

Evaluation of Implants, Clover, and Fescue Variety on Stocker Steers – Year 2

Sixty-four growing steers were used in a split-plot experiment, where the whole plot was pasture, and the split-plot was the implant level. Whole plot treatment was a 4 × 2 factorial with four levels of fescue (High Endophyte, Low Endophyte, Novel, or Endophyte Free) and two levels of legume (Legumes or No Legumes). The split-plot included four implant levels (No Implant, Synovex One Grass, Revalor-G, or Ralgro). Data collected were weights, hair coat scores, hair length, rectal temperature (every 28 days), and ultrasound carcass characteristics when steers were coming off grass. Steers on High Endophyte had the lowest average daily gain (ADG) and final weight and smallest loin muscle as compared to steers on all other fescue types. The gain differentiation was observed beginning at day 56 through the end of the study. Overall, ADG was not impacted by the addition of legume. Steers that were implanted with Synovex One Grass had a greater gain, final weight, and lower hair score as compared to non-implanted steers. For many of the other measures, steers implanted with Ralgro or Revalor-G resulted in changes between non-implanted steers and those receiving Synovex One Grass. Steers on high endophyte fescue had greater final weight and ADG than non-implanted steers or those receiving Ralgro, with Synovex One Grass being intermediate. Gains for steers on endophyte free pastures were also impacted by the type of implant where Synovex One Grass steers had greater gains than non-implanted and Revalor-G steers, with Ralgro being intermediate. In this second year of research, the use of low to no endophyte fescue and the addition of implants increased gains