PB1793 Budget Considerations for Various Herd Sizes of Goat Enterprises

Version 5.

PB1793 Budget Considerations for Various Herd Sizes of Goat Enterprises

Version 5.

Dynamical study on polaron formation in a metal/polymer/metal structure

By considering a metal/polymer/metal structure within a tight-binding one-dimensional model, we have investigated the polaron formation in the presence of an electric field. When a sufficient voltage bias is applied to one of the metal electrodes, an electron is injected into the polymer chain, then a self-trapped polaron is formed at a few hundreds of femtoseconds while it moves slowly under a weak electric field (not larger than $$ V/cm). At an electric field between $1.0\times 10^4$ V/cm and $$ V/cm, the polaron is still formed, since the injected electron is bounded between the interface barriers for quite a long time. It is shown that the electric field applied at the polymer chain reduces effectively the potential barrier in the metal/polymer interface

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an educational intervention for practice teams to deliver problem focused therapy for insomnia: rationale and design of a pilot cluster randomised trial

Background: Sleep problems are common, affecting over a third of adults in the United Kingdom and leading to reduced productivity and impaired health-related quality of life. Many of those whose lives are affected seek medical help from primary care. Drug treatment is ineffective long term. Psychological methods for managing sleep problems, including cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) have been shown to be effective and cost effective but have not been widely implemented or evaluated in a general practice setting where they are most likely to be needed and most appropriately delivered. This paper outlines the protocol for a pilot study designed to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an educational intervention for general practitioners, primary care nurses and other members of the primary care team to deliver problem focused therapy to adult patients presenting with sleep problems due to lifestyle causes, pain or mild to moderate depression or anxiety. Methods and design: This will be a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention. General practices will be randomised to an educational intervention for problem focused therapy which includes a consultation approach comprising careful assessment (using assessment of secondary causes, sleep diaries and severity) and use of modified CBTi for insomnia in the consultation compared with usual care (general advice on sleep hygiene and pharmacotherapy with hypnotic drugs). Clinicians randomised to the intervention will receive an educational intervention (2 × 2 hours) to implement a complex intervention of problem focused therapy. Clinicians randomised to the control group will receive reinforcement of usual care with sleep hygiene advice. Outcomes will be assessed via self-completion questionnaires and telephone interviews of patients and staff as well as clinical records for interventions and prescribing. Discussion: Previous studies in adults have shown that psychological treatments for insomnia administered by specialist nurses to groups of patients can be effective within a primary care setting. This will be a pilot study to determine whether an educational intervention aimed at primary care teams to deliver problem focused therapy for insomnia can improve sleep management and outcomes for individual adult patients presenting to general practice. The study will also test procedures and collect information in preparation for a larger definitive cluster-randomised trial. The study is funded by The Health Foundation

Swift J1644+5734: the EVN view

A small fraction of Tidal Disruption Events (TDE) produce relativistic jets, evidenced by their non-thermal X-ray spectra and transient radio emission. Here we present milliarcsecond-resolution imaging results on TDE J1644+5734 with the European VLBI Network (EVN). These provide a strong astrometric constraint on the average apparent jet velocity βapp < 0.27, that constrains the intrinsic jet velocity for a given viewing angle

Anisotropy parameters of superconducting MgB2_2

Data on macroscopic superconducting anisotropy of MgB$_2$ are reviewed. The data are described within a weak coupling two-gaps anisotropic s-wave model of superconductivity. The calculated ratio of the upper critical fields $\gamma_H=H_{c2,ab}/H_{c2,c}$ increases with decreasing temperature in agreement with available data, whereas the calculated ratio of London penetration depths $\gamma_{\lambda}=\lambda_c/\lambda_{ab}$ decreases to reach $\approx 1.1$ at T=0. Possible macroscopic consequences of $\gamma_{\lambda}\ne\gamma_H$ are discussed.Comment: accepted to Physica C, special MgB2 issu

Pre-Construction Progress of Giant Steerable Science Mirror for TMT

The Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) team is developing the Giant Steerable Science Mirror (GSSM) for Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) which will enter the preliminary design phase in 2016. The GSSM is the tertiary mirror of TMT and consists of the world’s largest flat telescope mirror (approximately 3.4m X 2.4 m X 100mm thick) having an elliptical perimeter positioned with an extremely smooth tracking and pointing mechanism in a gravity-varying environment. In order to prepare for developing this unique mirror system, CIOMP has been developing a 1/4 scale, functionally accurate version of the GSSM prototype during the pre-construction phase of GSSM. The prototype will incorporate the same optomechanical system and servo control system as the GSSM. The size of the prototype mirror is 898.5mm×634mm×12.5mm with an elliptical perimeter. The mirror will be supported axially by an 18 point whiffletree and laterally with a 12 point whiffletree. The main objective of the preconstruction phase includes requirement validation and risk reduction for GSSM and to increase confidence that the challenge of developing the GSSM can be met. The precision mechanism system and the optical mirror polishing and testing have made good progress. CIOMP has completed polishing the mirror, the prototype mechanism is nearly assembled, some testing has been performed, and additional testing is being planned and prepared. A dummy mirror is being integrated into the cell assembly prototype to verify the design, analysis and interface and will be used when testing the prototype positioner tilt and rotation motions. The prototype positioner tilt and rotator structures have been assembled and tested to measure each subsystem’s jitter and dynamic motion. The mirror prototype has been polished and tested to verify the polishing specification requirement and the mirror manufacturing process. The complete assembly, integration and verification of the prototype will be soon finished. Final testing will verify the prototype requirements including mounted mirror surface figure accuracy in 5 different orientations; rotation and tilt motion calibration and pointing precision; motion jitter; and internally generated vibrations. CIOMP has scheduled to complete the prototype by the end of July 2016. CIOMP will get the sufficient test results during the pre-construction phase to prepare to enter the preliminary design for GSSM

Primed Infusion with Delayed Equilibrium of Gd.DTPA for Enhanced Imaging of Small Pulmonary Metastases.

To use primed infusions of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Gd.DTPA (Magnevist), to achieve an equilibrium between blood and tissue (eqMRI). This may increase tumor Gd concentrations as a novel cancer imaging methodology for the enhancement of small tumor nodules within the low signal-to-noise background of the lung

The prevalence of cubital tunnel syndrome: A cross-sectional study in a U.S. metropolitan cohort

BACKGROUND: Although cubital tunnel syndrome is the second most common peripheral mononeuropathy (after carpal tunnel syndrome) encountered in clinical practice, its prevalence in the population is unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of cubital tunnel syndrome in the general population. METHODS: We surveyed a cohort of adult residents of the St. Louis metropolitan area to assess for the severity and localization of hand symptoms using the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire Symptom Severity Scale (BCTQ-SSS) and the Katz hand diagram. We identified subjects who met our case definitions for cubital tunnel syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome: self-reported hand symptoms associated with a BCTQ-SSS score of >2 and localization of symptoms to the ulnar nerve or median nerve distributions. RESULTS: Of 1,001 individuals who participated in the cross-sectional survey, 75% were women and 79% of the cohort was white; the mean age (and standard deviation) was 46 ± 15.7 years. Using a more sensitive case definition (lax criteria), we identified 59 subjects (5.9%) with cubital tunnel syndrome and 68 subjects (6.8%) with carpal tunnel syndrome. Using a more specific case definition (strict criteria), we identified 18 subjects (1.8%) with cubital tunnel syndrome and 27 subjects (2.7%) with carpal tunnel syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of cubital tunnel syndrome in the general population may be higher than that reported previously. When compared with previous estimates of disease burden, the active surveillance technique used in this study may account for the higher reported prevalence. This finding suggests that a proportion of symptomatic subjects may not self-identify and may not seek medical treatment. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This baseline estimate of prevalence for cubital tunnel syndrome provides a valuable reference for future diagnostic and prognostic study research and for the development of clinical practice guidelines