366 research outputs found

    Synthesis and Processing of MgB2MgB_2 powders and wires

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    Sintered powders and wires of superconducting MgB2MgB_2 have been fabricated under a variety of conditions in order to determine details of the diffusion of the MgMg into BB and to study the types of defects that arise during growth. For samples prepared by exposure of boron to MgMg vapor at 950C950^{\circ}C, the conversion of particles of less than 100μm100\mu m size particles to MgB2MgB_2 is complete in about 2h2 h. The lattice parameters of the MgB2MgB_2 phase determined from X-ray are independent of the starting stoichiometry and the time of reaction. Wire segments of MgB2MgB_2 with very little porosity have been produced by reacting 141μm141 \mu m diameter boron fibers in an atmosphere of excess MgMg vapor at 950C950^{\circ}C. Defects in the reacted fibers are predominantly the voids left as the boron is converted to MgB2MgB_2

    Dense circumnuclear molecular gas in starburst galaxies

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    We present results from a study of the dense circumnuclear molecular gas of starburst galaxies. The study aims to investigate the interplay between starbursts, active galactic nuclei and molecular gas.We characterize the dense gas traced by HCN, HCO and HNC and examine its kinematics in the circumnuclear regions of nine starburst galaxies observed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We detect HCN (1-0) and HCO (1-0) in seven of the nine galaxies and HNC (1-0) in four. Approximately 7 arcsec resolution maps of the circumnuclear molecular gas are presented. The velocity-integrated intensity ratios, HCO (1-0)/HCN (1-0) and HNC (1-0)/HCN (1-0), are calculated. Using these integrated intensity ratios and spatial intensity ratio maps, we identify photon-dominated regions (PDRs) in NGC 1097, NGC 1365 and NGC 1808. We find no galaxy which shows the PDR signature in only one part of the observed nuclear region.We also observe unusually strong HNC emission in NGC 5236, but it is not strong enough to be consistent with X-ray-dominated region chemistry. Rotation curves are derived for five of the galaxies and dynamical mass estimates of the inner regions of three of the galaxies are made. © 2016 The Authors.This project was supported by the Brother Vincent Cotter Award for Physics (UNSW). LVM has been supported by Grant AYA2011-30491-C02-01 co-financed by MICINN and FEDER funds, and the Junta de Andalucia (Spain) grants P08-FQM-4205 and TIC-114. WAB acknowledges the support as a Visiting Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJZD-EW-T01). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (/FP7/2007-2013/) under grant agreement No 229517.Peer Reviewe

    Molecular and Historical Aspects of Corn Belt Dent Diversity

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    Tens-of-thousands of open-pollinated cultivars of corn (Zea mays L.) are being maintained in germplasm banks. Knowledge of the amount and distribution of genetic variation within and among accessions can aid end users in choosing among them. We estimated molecular genetic variation and looked for influences of pedigree, adaptation, and migration in the genetic makeup of conserved Corn-Belt Dent-related germplasm. Plants sampled from 57 accessions representing Corn-Belt Dents, Northern Flints, Southern Dents, plus 12 public inbreds, were genotyped at 20 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci. For 47 of the accessions, between 5 and 23 plants per accession were genotyped (mean = 9.3). Mean number of alleles per locus was 6.5 overall, 3.17 within accessions, and 3.20 within pooled inbreds. Mean gene diversity was 0.53 within accessions and 0.61 within pooled inbreds. Open-pollinated accessions showed a tendency toward inbreeding (FIS = 0.09), and 85% of genetic variation was shared among them. A Fitch-Margoliash tree strongly supported the distinctiveness of flint from dent germplasm but did not otherwise reveal evidence of genetic structure. Mantel tests revealed significant correlations between genetic distance and geographical (r = 0.54, P= 0.04) or maturity zone (r = 0.33, P = 0.03) distance only if flint germplasm was included in the analyses. A significant correlation (r = 0.76, P \u3c 0.01) was found between days to pollen shed and maturity zone of accession origin. Pedigree, rather than migration or selection, has most influenced the genetic structure of the extant representatives of the open-pollinated cultivars at these SSR loci

    Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study

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    A41 Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study In: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice 2017, 12(Suppl 1): A4

    Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050

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    Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US,2020US, 2020 US per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted USpercapita,andasaproportionofgrossdomesticproduct.Weusedvariousmodelstogeneratefuturehealthspendingto2050.FindingsIn2019,healthspendinggloballyreached per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached 8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or 1132(11191143)perperson.Spendingonhealthvariedwithinandacrossincomegroupsandgeographicalregions.Ofthistotal,1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total, 40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that 54.8billionindevelopmentassistanceforhealthwasdisbursedin2020.Ofthis,54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this, 13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. 12.3billionwasnewlycommittedand12.3 billion was newly committed and 1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. 3.1billion(22.43.1 billion (22.4%) of the funds focused on country-level coordination and 2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only 714.4million(7.7714.4 million (7.7%) of COVID-19 development assistance for health went to Latin America, despite this region reporting 34.3% of total recorded COVID-19 deaths in low-income or middle-income countries in 2020. Spending on health is expected to rise to 1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe
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