499 research outputs found
Using chemical, microbial and fluorescence techniques to understand contaminant sources and pathways to wetlands in a conservation site
Nutrients and faecal contaminants can enter wetland systems in a number of ways, with both biological and potentially human-health implications. In this study we used a combination of inorganic chemistry, dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluorescence and Escherichia coli and total coliform (TC) count techniques to study the sources and multiple pathways of contamination affecting a designated sand dune site of international conservation importance, surrounded by agricultural land. Analysis of stream samples, groundwater and dune slack wetlands revealed multiple input pathways. These included riverbank seepage, runoff events and percolation of nutrients from adjacent pasture into the groundwater, as well as some on-site sources. The combined techniques showed that off-site nutrient inputs into the sand dune system were primarily from fertilisers, revealed by high nitrate concentrations, and relatively low tryptophan-like fulvic-like ratios < 0.4 Raman units (R.U.). The E. coli and TC counts recorded across the site confirm a relatively minor source of bacterial and nutrient inputs from on-site grazers. Attenuation of the nutrient concentrations in streams, in groundwater and in run-off inputs occurs within the site, restoring healthier groundwater nutrient concentrations showing that contaminant filtration by the sand dunes provides a valuable ecosystem service. However, previous studies show that this input of nutrients has a clear adverse ecological impact
Relativistic Heavy--Ion Collisions in the Dynamical String--Parton Model
We develop and extend the dynamical string parton model. This model, which is
based on the salient features of QCD, uses classical Nambu-Got\=o strings with
the endpoints identified as partons, an invariant string breaking model of the
hadronization process, and interactions described as quark-quark interactions.
In this work, the original model is extended to include a phenomenological
quantization of the mass of the strings, an analytical technique for treating
the incident nucleons as a distribution of string configurations determined by
the experimentally measured structure function, the inclusion of the gluonic
content of the nucleon through the introduction of purely gluonic strings, and
the use of a hard parton-parton interaction taken from perturbative QCD
combined with a phenomenological soft interaction. The limited number of
parameters in the model are adjusted to and -- data. Utilizing
these parameters, the first calculations of the model for -- and
-- collisions are presented and found to be in reasonable agreement with
a broad set of data.Comment: 26 pages of text with 23 Postscript figures placed in tex
Study of Interplanetary Magnetic Field with Ground State Alignment
We demonstrate a new way of studying interplanetary magnetic field -- Ground
State Alignment (GSA). Instead of sending thousands of space probes, GSA allows
magnetic mapping with any ground telescope facilities equipped with
spectropolarimeter. The polarization of spectral lines that are pumped by the
anisotropic radiation from the Sun is influenced by the magnetic realignment,
which happens for magnetic field (<1G). As a result, the linear polarization
becomes an excellent tracer of the embedded magnetic field. The method is
illustrated by our synthetic observations of the Jupiter's Io and comet Halley.
Polarization at each point was constructed according to the local magnetic
field detected by spacecrafts. Both spatial and temporal variations of
turbulent magnetic field can be traced with this technique as well. The
influence of magnetic field on the polarization of scattered light is discussed
in detail. For remote regions like the IBEX ribbons discovered at the boundary
of interstellar medium, GSA provides a unique diagnostics of magnetic field.Comment: 11 pages, 19 figures, published in Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Partnership or insanity: why do health partnerships do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result?
Objectives
The paper reports on an empirical study of Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) in England. Established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, HWBs act as place-based hubs for leaders in health, social care, local government and other sectors to come together to address health improvement and the wider determinants of health.
Methods
We conducted a three-year study of HWBs (2015â2017) in five localities across England. This involved collecting qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with key actors in the HWBs at strategic and operational levels, and focus group sessions with voluntary-sector participants at each HWB.
Results
HWBs have largely followed the path of previous partnerships in terms of a lack of clear aims and objectives, lack of ownership and accountability by partners, and an absence of any significant impact on health outcomes.
Conclusions
Many of the features of unsuccessful partnership working were largely displayed by HWBs. Boards require more executive power and ownership from the bottom up if they are to have any real impact
Pre-notched and corroded low cycle fatigue behaviour of a nickel based alloy for disc rotor applications
Currently there is doubt surrounding the suitability of chemically-induced stress independent pre-conditioning of specimens to simulate turbine corrosion prior to fatigue testing. the thick oxide scales developed using such techniques can lead to net section loss and typically a lack of grain boundary sulphide attack seen in components that experience stress. An alternative approach to a corrosion-fatigue test scenario is suggested by micro-notching fatigue specimens prior to low salt flux corrosion to form grain boundary sulphide particles within channel-like features akin to stress assisted morphologies. On fatigue testing, a trend was identified where a change of mechanism was observed. The grain boundary oxide likely formed in the wake of freshly precipitated sulphide particles fractures around segments of grains leading to a metal loss that contributes to a significant reduction in fatigue properties
Gene mutations and three-dimensional structural analysis in 13 families with severe factor X deficiency
Factor X (FX) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder. The phenotype and genotype of 15 Iranian patients with FX deficiency from 13 unrelated families with a high frequency of consanguinity were analysed. Five different assays identified four patients from three families with a discrepancy between low-FX coagulant activity (FX:C) and higher-FX antigen (FX:Ag) (a type II deficiency). The remaining 11 patients had parallel reductions of FX:C and FX:Ag (a type I deficiency). Nine different homozygous candidate mutations were identified, of which eight were novel. The four type II cases were associated with an Arg()1)Thr missense mutation in the prepropeptide: Arg()1) is highly conserved in all vitamin K-dependent
proteins. Four type I mutations (Gly78Asp, Cys81Tyr, Gly94Arg and Asp95Glu) were localized to the EGF-1 and EGF-2 domains, for which molecular views showed that the protein folding would be disrupted. The type I mutation Gly222Asp was localized in the catalytic domain of FX, and is sufficiently close to the Asp-His-Ser catalytic triad to disrupt its correct protein folding. The two type I splice site mutations were IVS1+3, A fi T and IVS2\u20133, T fi G. These novel homozygous FX mutations were consistent with their phenotypes and agree with experimental data from knockout mice, indicating that FX is an essential protein for survival
The angular distribution of the reaction
The reaction is very important for low-energy
( MeV) antineutrino experiments. In this paper we calculate
the positron angular distribution, which at low energies is slightly backward.
We show that weak magnetism and recoil corrections have a large effect on the
angular distribution, making it isotropic at about 15 MeV and slightly forward
at higher energies. We also show that the behavior of the cross section and the
angular distribution can be well-understood analytically for MeV by calculating to , where is the nucleon mass. The
correct angular distribution is useful for separating events from other reactions and detector backgrounds, as well as for
possible localization of the source (e.g., a supernova) direction. We comment
on how similar corrections appear for the lepton angular distributions in the
deuteron breakup reactions and . Finally, in the reaction , the
angular distribution of the outgoing neutrons is strongly forward-peaked,
leading to a measurable separation in positron and neutron detection points,
also potentially useful for rejecting backgrounds or locating the source
direction.Comment: 10 pages, including 5 figure
Understanding the process of psychological development in youth athletes attending an intensive wrestling camp
This study used a grounded theory methodology to understand if and how psychological development in youth athletes was facilitated by an âintensiveâ summer wrestling camp experience. The theoretical sampling approach involved 10 athlete participants of the camp, nine parents of athletes, the director of the camp, and four camp staff members, who took part in a series of interviews before, during, and after the camp. Two researchers were also embedded in the camp and attended all sessions, took detailed notes, collected camp materials, and conducted observations. Following a grounded theory analysis approach, a model is presented that outlines how youth participantsâ developed psychological qualities from the coach created hallenges and adversity that were systematically designed to facilitate sport performance enhancement and life skills. Variations emerged in psychological antecedents and characteristics, how the challenging wrestling camp environment was interpreted and experienced, and how learning was transferred to sport and life domains outside of the wrestling camp. This study provided insight into a unique youth sport context that was able to simultaneously develop psychological qualities to be used as sport performance enhancement and life skills
- âŠ