Searches for New Particles

The status of searches for new particles and new physics during the past year at the Fermilab Tevatron, at HERA and at LEP is summarized. A discussion of the hints for the Standard Model Higgs boson from LEP2 data is presented. Searches for non-Standard Model Higgs bosons are also described. Many searches have been carried out for the particles predicted by supersymmetry theories, and a sampling of these is given. There have also been searches for flavor changing neutral currents in the interactions of the top quark. In addition, searches for excited leptons, leptoquarks and technicolor are summarized.Comment: LaTeX2e, ws-p10x7.cls, 16 pages, 25 figures, Proceedings of the XX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, Italy, 23-28 July, 200

Political Astuteness of Nurse Educators

Nurses comprise the largest segment of the healthcare workforce. Although nurses have advocated for patients since Florence Nightingale’s time, advocating for changes in health policies that affect populations on a larger scale has not changed over time (Rasheed et al., 2020). Professional nursing associations, nurse educators, and the Institute of Medicine have all identified the need to educate nurses in advocacy and health policy. With the recent revision of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Essentials publication, health policy has moved from an essential to a featured concept that is found in the competencies and subcompetencies of the domains. Therefore, it is imperative that nurse educators have the knowledge, or political astuteness, to teach health policy to the future nursing workforce. This study explored the political astuteness level from a national sample of 72 nurse educators teaching in pre-licensure programs. An electronic survey containing the Political Astuteness Inventory (Clark, 1984, 2008) and a demographics questionnaire that also included questions seeking comfort and enthusiasm levels when teaching health policy content was distributed via network and social media approaches. Although the results showed no significant difference in the political astuteness score mean between educators who are teaching health policy and educators who have not taught health policy in 24 months, there were statistically significant findings with political astuteness scores, comfort, and enthusiasm. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge regarding levels of political astuteness in nurses. Recommendations for future research and implications for nursing education are included

Entombment: It is Time to Reconsider this Technology

It is time to reconsider entombment of nuclear reactors and other facilities. Decommissioning worker exposure and safety, transportation, cost, potential loss of LLW disposal capacity, and need for strong technical basis are shared drivers for the renewed interest in developing the entombment D&D option. Entombment relies on retarding the release of radionuclides for a very long period, a number of factors must be considered prior to selection and implementation of entombment. A technical basis for addressing and evaluating these factors with associated stakeholder acceptance of the technology is needed before entombment becomes an accepted D&D option

Improving public services through open data: public toilets

Bichard’s work for the TACT3 project (Bichard REF Output 3) found that UK toilet provision is not centrally collated and no national map or database of toilets exists. In contrast, the UK government’s white paper Open Public Services (2011) emphasised its commitment to incorporating the use of Open Data in public services provision that could be tailored to community preferences, and therefore be more sustainable. Incorporating Open Data on public toilet provision, Bichard and Knight (RCA) developed The Great British Public Toilet Map (GBPTM). Whilst a number of other websites and applications map toilets by ‘crowd surfing’, GBPTM is entirely populated by Open Data, and not only uses the data as information for users, but informs members of the public that such information is available and accessible for their use. This paper presents the development of the GBPTM, including inclusive design research and studies that compare accuracy of information directly provided by users with Open Data collected by local authorities. It suggests that, to meet the health and well-being of an ageing population, a sustainable and cost-effective solution must be found for ‘publicly accessible’ toilet provision, including opening up provision beyond that ‘for customers only’ and providing accurate information on current public provision. The paper highlights the barriers encountered in the production of Open Data by local authorities. A review of the paper in the journal Civil Engineering (May 2013) described the design of the GBPTM as a ‘simple and elegant solution’. The development of a digital output and an understanding of digitally based research led to Bichard’s successful submission to an EPSRC Digital Economy sandpit, in which she developed an interdisciplinary project with the Universities of Newcastle, Bournemouth and the West of England. The project, Family Rituals 2.0, secured £750,000 in research funding with Bichard as co-investigator (2013–15)

The Case for a Muon Collider Higgs Factory

We propose the construction of a compact Muon Collider Higgs Factory. Such a machine can produce up to \sim 14,000 at 8\times 10^{31} cm^-2 sec^-1 clean Higgs events per year, enabling the most precise possible measurement of the mass, width and Higgs-Yukawa coupling constants.Comment: Supporting letter for the document: "Muon Collider Higgs Factory for Smowmass 2013", A White Paper submitted to the 2013 U.S. Community Summer Study of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society, Y. Alexahin, et. al, FERMILAB-CONF-13-245-T (July, 2013

Habitat associations of marine predators in the northern California Current during the low productivity downwelling season

IntroductionEastern Boundary Upwelling Systems are some of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world. Little is known about habitat associations and spatial distributions of marine predators during seasonal periods of low productivity because there are few at-sea surveys during this period. During low productivity or prey scarcity, predators consuming similar prey in the same time and space may compete for limited resources, or they may avoid competition by exploiting different habitats or occupying separate spaces (i.e. niche partitioning). In this study, we examined habitat associations and niche partitioning of marine predators during the low-productivity winter downwelling season of the northern California Current Ecosystem (CCE). MethodsSeabird and marine mammal counts were continuously collected during systematic at-sea surveys during February–March/April in the northern California Current across four years (2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012). We examined seabird and marine mammal distributions in relation to seven habitat characteristics [i.e., sea surface temperature (°C), salinity, depth (m), seafloor slope (%), distance from shore (km), and distance from the 100 m and 200 m isobaths (km)]. We used a non-parametric multivariate analysis [i.e. canonical correspondence analysis (CCA)] to quantify species’ habitat associations and directional distribution ellipses to explore overlap in species core winter habitat.ResultsResults show 49 seabird and ten marine mammal species inhabit the CCE during this low productivity period, including endangered southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca). Seabirds and marine mammals exhibited significant but low overlap in habitat associations (i.e. weak niche partitioning) and similar habitat associations to summer studies. DiscussionWe also found that some species with similar foraging strategies showed asymmetrical spatial range overlap (i.e. common murre (Uria aalge) and parakeet auklet (Aethia psittacula)), which may mean that expected increased competition due to climate change can negatively affect some species more than others. Given that climate change is leading to increased frequencies, intensities, and durations of marine heat waves during winter months, addressing the winter ecology knowledge gap will be important to understanding how climate change is going to affect species that reside in or migrate through the northern California Current during the low productivity downwelling season

Rationale, design and methods of the Study of Work and Pain (SWAP): a cluster randomised controlled trial testing the addition of a vocational advice service to best current primary care for patients with musculoskeletal pain (ISRCTN 52269669)

Background Musculoskeletal pain is a major contributor to short and long term work absence. Patients seek care from their general practitioner (GP) and yet GPs often feel ill-equipped to deal with work issues. Providing a vocational case management service in primary care, to support patients with musculoskeletal problems to remain at or return to work, is one potential solution but requires robust evaluation to test clinical and cost-effectiveness. Methods/Design This protocol describes a cluster randomised controlled trial, with linked qualitative interviews, to investigate the effect of introducing a vocational advice service into general practice, to provide a structured approach to managing work related issues in primary care patients with musculoskeletal pain who are absent from work or struggling to remain in work. General practices (n = 6) will be randomised to offer best current care or best current care plus a vocational advice service. Adults of working age who are absent from or struggling to remain in work due to a musculoskeletal pain problem will be invited to participate and 330 participants will be recruited. Data collection will be through patient completed questionnaires at baseline, 4 and 12 months. The primary outcome is self-reported work absence at 4 months. Incremental cost-utility analysis will be undertaken to calculate the cost per additional QALY gained and incremental net benefits. A linked interview study will explore the experiences of the vocational advice service from the perspectives of GPs, nurse practitioners (NPs), patients and vocational advisors. Discussion This paper presents the rationale, design, and methods of the Study of Work And Pain (SWAP) trial. The results of this trial will provide evidence to inform primary care practice and guide the development of services to provide support for musculoskeletal pain patients with work-related issues. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN52269669