7,317 research outputs found
One Hour of Chemical Demonstrations
This article describes a diverse set of chemistry demonstrations especially selected to encourage student interaction and to be easily transported. The demonstrations may be presented at a level that can be tailored to any audience– from very young children to high school students planning careers in science. An ideal environment is a small classroom with 20-30 students where everyone can take part in the discussion. Once the chemicals are prepared, the collection of demonstrations takes about ten minutes to set-up, and one hour (or less) to perform. Very little is needed at the visiting site, no more than a table and a pitcher of water. A single electrical outlet is useful, but not essential. In Table 2 th
Testing Feedback-Modified Dark Matter Haloes with Galaxy Rotation Curves: Estimation of Halo Parameters and Consistency with CDM
Cosmological -body simulations predict dark matter (DM) haloes with steep
central cusps (e.g. NFW, Navarro et al. 1996). This contradicts observations of
gas kinematics in low-mass galaxies that imply the existence of shallow DM
cores. Baryonic processes such as adiabatic contraction and gas outflows can,
in principle, alter the initial DM density profile, yet their relative
contributions to the halo transformation remain uncertain. Recent high
resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations (Di Cintio et al. 2014, DC14)
predict that inner density profiles depend systematically on the ratio of
stellar to DM mass (M/M). Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo
approach, we test the NFW and the M/M-dependent DC14 halo
models against a sample of 147 galaxy rotation curves from the new {\it
Spitzer} Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) data set. These
galaxies all have extended H{\small I} rotation curves from radio
interferometry as well as accurate stellar mass density profiles from
near-infrared photometry. The DC14 halo profile provides markedly better fits
to the data compared to the NFW profile. Unlike NFW, the DC14 halo parameters
found in our rotation curve fits naturally fall within two standard deviations
of the mass-concentration relation predicted by CDM and the stellar
mass-halo mass relation inferred from abundance matching with few outliers.
Halo profiles modified by baryonic processes are therefore more consistent with
expectations from cold dark matter (CDM) cosmology and
provide better fits to galaxy rotation curves across a wide range of galaxy
properties than do halo models that neglect baryonic physics. Our results offer
a solution to the decade long cusp-core discrepancy.Comment: 23 Pages, 18 Figures, MNRAS Accepte
MaGICC-WDM: the effects of warm dark matter in hydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxy formation
We study the effect of warm dark matter (WDM) on hydrodynamic simulations of
galaxy formation as part of the Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context
(MaGICC) project. We simulate three different galaxies using three WDM
candidates of 1, 2 and 5 keV and compare results with pure cold dark matter
simulations. WDM slightly reduces star formation and produces less centrally
concentrated stellar profiles. These effects are most evident for the 1 keV
candidate but almost disappear for keV. All simulations
form similar stellar discs independent of WDM particle mass. In particular, the
disc scale length does not change when WDM is considered. The reduced amount of
star formation in the case of 1 keV particles is due to the effects of WDM on
merging satellites which are on average less concentrated and less gas rich.
The altered satellites cause a reduced starburst during mergers because they
trigger weaker disc instabilities in the main galaxy. Nevertheless we show that
disc galaxy evolution is much more sensitive to stellar feedback than it is to
WDM candidate mass. Overall we find that WDM, especially when restricted to
current observational constraints ( keV), has a minor
impact on disc galaxy formation.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables; minor clarifications added in results
section, conclusions unchanged; accepted for publication in MNRA
The role of beta-lactamase-producing-bacteria in mixed infections
Beta-lactamase-producing bacteria (BLPB) can play an important role in polymicrobial infections. They can have a direct pathogenic impact in causing the infection as well as an indirect effect through their ability to produce the enzyme beta-lactamase. BLPB may not only survive penicillin therapy but can also, as was demonstrated in in vitro and in vivo studies, protect other penicillin-susceptible bacteria from penicillin by releasing the free enzyme into their environment. This phenomenon occurs in upper respiratory tract, skin, soft tissue, surgical and other infections. The clinical, in vitro, and in vivo evidence supporting the role of these organisms in the increased failure rate of penicillin in eradication of these infections and the implication of that increased rate on the management of infections is discussed
Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori by carbon-13 urea breath test using a portable mass spectrometer
CONTEXT: In the non-invasive detection of markers of disease, mass spectrometry is able to detect small quantities of volatile markers in exhaled air. However, the problem of size, expense and immobility of conventional mass spectrometry equipment has restricted its use. Now, a smaller, less expensive, portable quadrupole mass spectrometer system has been developed. Helicobacter pylori has been implicated in the development of chronic gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer. OBJECTIVES: To compare the results obtained from the presence of H. pylori by a carbon-13 urea test using a portable quadrupole mass spectrometer system with those from a fixed mass spectrometer in a hospital-based clinical trial. METHODS: Following ethical approval, 45 patients attending a gastroenterology clinic at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital exhaled a breath sample into a Tedlar gas sampling bag. They then drank an orange juice containing urea radiolabelled with carbon and 30 min later gave a second breath sample. The carbon-13 content of both samples was measured using both quadrupole mass spectrometer systems. If the post-drink level exceeded the pre-drink level by 3% or more, a positive diagnosis for the presence of H. pylori was made. RESULTS: The findings were compared to the results using conventional isotope ratio mass spectrometry using a laboratory-based magnetic sector instrument off-site. The results showed agreement in 39 of the 45 patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that a portable quadrupole mass spectrometer is a potential alternative to the conventional centralised testing equipment. Future development of the portable quadrupole mass spectrometer to reduce further its size and cost is indicated, together with further work to validate this new equipment and to enhance its use in mass spectrometry diagnosis of other medical conditions
The effect of individual radiographers on rates of attendance to breast screening: A 7-year retrospective study
AIM: To establish whether individual radiographers had significantly different rescreening rates whilst controlling for other known confounding factors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Women aged 50e69 years were identified from a state-wide screening database at their first screening attendance during the study period (2007e2013). The radiographer performing this index screen and potential confounding factors were recorded and subsequent screening behaviour was assessed. Clients with abnormal screens and those known to have died during the time period were excluded. A univariate analysis of the data from 160,028 women was assessed using the chi-square test to compare those women who attended their next mammography with non-re-attenders. Logistic regression was used to calculate the likelihood of “re-attendance success” across a range of variables. The probability of re-attendance for 11 randomly selected radiographers was determined from the logistic regression model, whilst controlling for other variables.
RESULTS: Comparison of non-re-attenders (n¼49,698) with 110,330 (69%) women attending the next round of screening revealed significant differences, including radiographer (Wald statistics¼1188, p\u3c0.000) even when all other known factors were controlled.
CONCLUSION: This large, population-level study demonstrates that individual radiographer factors appear to influence a women’s decision to return for their next screening round. Further research is required to identify reasons for differing rescre
Pressure control of magnetic order and excitations in the pyrochlore antiferromagnet MgCrO
MgCrO is one of the best-known realizations of the
pyrochlore-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The strong antiferromagnetic
exchange interactions are perturbed by small further-neighbor exchanges such
that this compound may in principle realize a spiral spin liquid (SSL) phase in
the zero-temperature limit. However, a spin Jahn-Teller transition below
K yields a complicated long-range magnetic order with
multiple coexisting propagation vectors. We present neutron scattering and
thermo-magnetic measurements of MgCrO samples under applied
hydrostatic pressure up to GPa demonstrating the existence of multiple
close-lying nearly degenerate magnetic ground states. We show that the
application of hydrostatic pressure increases the ordering temperature by
around 0.8 K per GPa and increases the bandwidth of the magnetic excitations by
around 0.5 meV per GPa. We also evidence a strong tendency for the preferential
occupation of a subset of magnetic domains under pressure. In particular, we
show that the magnetic phase, which is almost
negligible at ambient pressure, dramatically increases in spectral weight under
pressure. This modifies the spectrum of magnetic excitations, which we
interpret unambiguously as spin waves from multiple magnetic domains. Moreover,
we report that the application of pressure reveals a feature in the magnetic
susceptibility above the magnetostructural transition. We interpret this as the
onset of a short-range ordered phase associated with ,
previously not observed in magnetometry measurements.Comment: 19 pages including supplementary information, 10 main figures 6
supplementary figure
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