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Iron Oxide Grains in Stardust Track 121 Grains as Evidence of Comet Wild 2 Hydrothermal Alteration
Stardust Track 121 terminal grains contain Fe-oxide. These are consistent with the presence of hydrothermal alteration on the Comet Wild 2 parent body
Pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer risks in relation to occupational history and asbestos lung burden.
BACKGROUND: We have conducted a population-based study of pleural mesothelioma patients with occupational histories and measured asbestos lung burdens in occupationally exposed workers and in the general population. The relationship between lung burden and risk, particularly at environmental exposure levels, will enable future mesothelioma rates in people born after 1965 who never installed asbestos to be predicted from their asbestos lung burdens. METHODS: Following personal interview asbestos fibres longer than 5 µm were counted by transmission electron microscopy in lung samples obtained from 133 patients with mesothelioma and 262 patients with lung cancer. ORs for mesothelioma were converted to lifetime risks. RESULTS: Lifetime mesothelioma risk is approximately 0.02% per 1000 amphibole fibres per gram of dry lung tissue over a more than 100-fold range, from 1 to 4 in the most heavily exposed building workers to less than 1 in 500 in most of the population. The asbestos fibres counted were amosite (75%), crocidolite (18%), other amphiboles (5%) and chrysotile (2%). CONCLUSIONS: The approximate linearity of the dose-response together with lung burden measurements in younger people will provide reasonably reliable predictions of future mesothelioma rates in those born since 1965 whose risks cannot yet be seen in national rates. Burdens in those born more recently will indicate the continuing occupational and environmental hazards under current asbestos control regulations. Our results confirm the major contribution of amosite to UK mesothelioma incidence and the substantial contribution of non-occupational exposure, particularly in women
Growth mechanisms of perturbations in boundary layers over a compliant wall
The temporal modal and nonmodal growth of three-dimensional perturbations in
the boundary-layer flow over an infinite compliant flat wall is considered.
Using a wall-normal velocity/wall-normal vorticity formalism, the dynamic
boundary condition at the compliant wall admits a linear dependence on the
eigenvalue parameter, as compared to a quadratic one in the canonical
formulation of the problem. This greatly simplifies the accurate calculation of
the continuous spectrum by means of a spectral method, thereby yielding a very
effective filtering of the pseudospectra as well as a clear identification of
instability regions. The regime of global instability is found to be matching
the regime of the favorable phase of the forcing by the flow on the compliant
wall so as to enhance the amplitude of the wall. An energy-budget analysis for
the least-decaying hydroelastic (static-divergence, traveling-wave-flutter and
near-stationary transitional) and Tollmien--Schlichting modes in the parameter
space reveals the primary routes of energy flow. Moreover, the flow exhibits a
slower transient growth for the maximum growth rate of a superposition of
streamwise-independent modes due to a complex dependence of the wall-boundary
condition with the Reynolds number. The initial and optimal perturbations are
compared with the boundary-layer flow over a solid wall; differences and
similarities are discussed. Unlike the solid-wall case, viscosity plays a
pivotal role in the transient growth. A slowdown of the maximum growth rate
with the Reynolds number is uncovered and found to originate in the transition
of the fluid-solid interaction from a two-way to a one-way coupling. Finally, a
term-by-term energy budget analysis is performed to identify the key
contributors to the transient growth mechanism
Brain neurons as quantum computers: {\it in vivo} support of background physics
The question: whether quantum coherent states can sustain decoherence,
heating and dissipation over time scales comparable to the dynamical timescales
of the brain neurons, is actively discussed in the last years. Positive answer
on this question is crucial, in particular, for consideration of brain neurons
as quantum computers. This discussion was mainly based on theoretical
arguments. In present paper nonlinear statistical properties of the Ventral
Tegmental Area (VTA) of genetically depressive limbic brain are studied {\it in
vivo} on the Flinders Sensitive Line of rats (FSL). VTA plays a key role in
generation of pleasure and in development of psychological drug addiction. We
found that the FSL VTA (dopaminergic) neuron signals exhibit multifractal
properties for interspike frequencies on the scales where healthy VTA
dopaminergic neurons exhibit bursting activity. For high moments the observed
multifractal (generalized dimensions) spectrum coincides with the generalized
dimensions spectrum calculated for a spectral measure of a {\it quantum} system
(so-called kicked Harper model, actively used as a model of quantum chaos).
This observation can be considered as a first experimental ({\it in vivo})
indication in the favour of the quantum (at least partially) nature of the
brain neurons activity
Will opposites attract? Similarities and differences in students' perceptions of the stereotype profiles of other health and social care professional groups
The extent to which health and social care (HSC) students hold stereotypical views of other HSC professional groups is of great potential importance to team working in health care. This paper explores students' perceptions of different HSC professional groups at the beginning of their university programmes. Findings are presented from an analysis of baseline data collected as part of the New Generation Project longitudinal cohort study which is assessing the impact of interprofessional education over time on a range of variables including stereotyping. Questionnaires were administered to a cohort of over 1200 students from 10 different HSC professional groups entering their first year of university. Stereotypes were measured using a tool adapted from Barnes et al. (2000) designed to elicit stereotype ratings on a range of nine characteristics. The findings confirm that students arrive at university with an established and consistent set of stereotypes about other health and social care professional groups. Stereotypical profiles were compiled for each professional group indicating the distinctive characteristics of the groups as well as the similarities and differences between groups.
Midwives, social workers and nurses were rated most highly on interpersonal skills and on being a team player whilst doctors were rated most highly on academic ability. Doctors, midwives and social workers were perceived as having the strongest leadership role, whilst doctors were also rated most highly on decision making. All professions were rated highly on confidence and professional competence and, with the exception of social workers, on practical skills. A comparison of profiles for each professional group reveals that, for example, pharmacists and doctors were perceived as having very similar characteristics as were social workers, midwives and nurses. However, the profiles of nurses and doctors were perceived to be very different. The implications of these similarities and differences are discussed in terms of their potential impact on interprofessional interactions, role boundaries and team working
Probing stellar accretion with mid-infrared hydrogen lines
In this paper we investigate the origin of the mid-infrared (IR) hydrogen
recombination lines for a sample of 114 disks in different evolutionary stages
(full, transitional and debris disks) collected from the {\it Spitzer} archive.
We focus on the two brighter {H~{\sc i}} lines observed in the {\it Spitzer}
spectra, the {H~{\sc i}}(7-6) at 12.37m and the {H~{\sc i}}(9-7) at
11.32m. We detect the {H~{\sc i}}(7-6) line in 46 objects, and the {H~{\sc
i}}(9-7) in 11. We compare these lines with the other most common gas line
detected in {\it Spitzer} spectra, the {[Ne~{\sc iii}]} at 12.81m. We
argue that it is unlikely that the {H~{\sc i}} emission originates from the
photoevaporating upper surface layers of the disk, as has been found for the
{[Ne~{\sc iii}]} lines toward low-accreting stars. Using the {H~{\sc
i}}(9-7)/{H~{\sc i}}(7-6) line ratios we find these gas lines are likely
probing gas with hydrogen column densities of 10-10~cm.
The subsample of objects surrounded by full and transitional disks show a
positive correlation between the accretion luminosity and the {H~{\sc i}} line
luminosity. These two results suggest that the observed mid-IR {H~{\sc i}}
lines trace gas accreting onto the star in the same way as other hydrogen
recombination lines at shorter wavelengths. A pure chromospheric origin of
these lines can be excluded for the vast majority of full and transitional
disks.We report for the first time the detection of the {H~{\sc i}}(7-6) line
in eight young (< 20~Myr) debris disks. A pure chromospheric origin cannot be
ruled out in these objects. If the {H~{\sc i}}(7-6) line traces accretion in
these older systems, as in the case of full and transitional disks, the
strength of the emission implies accretion rates lower than
10M/yr. We discuss some advantages of extending accretion
indicators to longer wavelengths
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