Topics in Meson Spectroscopy

In this mini-review I discuss three topics in meson spectroscopy. The production of heavy quarkonium states, S-wave scattering below 1 GeV, and exotic hybrid meson production. This is not intended to be a comprehensive review, just an overview of several topics of current interest.Comment: Invited talk given at 31st International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2002), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24-31 Jul 200

Developing personal relationships in care homes: realising the contributions of staff, residents and family members

Personal relationships are all integral part of living, working and visiting in care homes, but little research has made relationships the main focus of enquiry, and there have been few studies of the perspectives of residents, staff and family members. The study reported here sought to redress this neglect. Using a constructivist approach, the nature and types of relationships between residents, staff and family members were explored in three care homes in England using combined methods including participant observation, interviews and focus groups. The data collection and analysis Occurred iteratively Over 21 months and three types of relationships were identified: 'pragmatic relationships' that primarily focus oil the instrumental aspects of care; 'personal and responsive relationships' that engage more fully with the particular needs of individual residents; and 'reciprocal relationships' that recognise the roles of residents, staff and family members in creating a sense of community within the home. This paper explores the contributions made by staff; residents and family members in the development of these relationships. The findings enhance our understanding of the role of inter-personal relationships in care home settings and of the factors that condition them. The implications for developing improved practice in care ponies are also considered

Energy bands, conductance and thermoelectric power for ballistic electrons in a nanowire with spin-orbit interaction

We calculated the effects of spin-orbit interaction (SOI) on the energy bands, ballistic conductance and the electron-diffusion thermoelectric power of a nanowire by varying the temperature, electron density and width of the wire. The potential barriers at the edges of the wire are assumed to be very high. A consequence of the boundary conditions used in this model is determined by the energy band structure, resulting in wider plateaus when the electron density is increased due to larger energy-level separation as the higher subbands are occupied by electrons. The nonlinear dependence of the transverse confinement on position with respect to the well center excludes the "pole-like feature" in the conductance which is obtained when a harmonic potential is employed for confinement. At low temperature, the electron diffusion thermoelectric power increases linearly with T but deviates from the linear behavior for large values of T.Comment: Updated corrected version of the original submissio

Fetal liver blood flow distribution: role in human developmental strategy to prioritize fat deposition versus brain development

Among primates, human neonates have the largest brains but also the highest proportion of body fat. If placental nutrient supply is limited, the fetus faces a dilemma: should resources be allocated to brain growth, or to fat deposition for use as a potential postnatal energy reserve? We hypothesised that resolving this dilemma operates at the level of umbilical blood distribution entering the fetal liver. In 381 uncomplicated pregnancies in third trimester, we measured blood flow perfusing the fetal liver, or bypassing it via the ductus venosus to supply the brain and heart using ultrasound techniques. Across the range of fetal growth and independent of the mother's adiposity and parity, greater liver blood flow was associated with greater offspring fat mass measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, both in the infant at birth (r = 0.43, P<0.001) and at age 4 years (r = 0.16, P = 0.02). In contrast, smaller placentas less able to meet fetal demand for essential nutrients were associated with a brain-sparing flow pattern (r = 0.17, p = 0.02). This flow pattern was also associated with a higher degree of shunting through ductus venosus (P = 0.04). We propose that humans evolved a developmental strategy to prioritize nutrient allocation for prenatal fat deposition when the supply of conditionally essential nutrients requiring hepatic inter-conversion is limited, switching resource allocation to favour the brain if the supply of essential nutrients is limited. Facilitated placental transfer mechanisms for glucose and other nutrients evolved in environments less affluent than those now prevalent in developed populations, and we propose that in circumstances of maternal adiposity and nutrient excess these mechanisms now also lead to prenatal fat deposition. Prenatal developmental influences play important roles in the human propensity to deposit fa

Hunting a light CP-odd non-standard Higgs boson through its tauonic decay at a (Super) B factory

Several scenarios beyond the minimal extension of the Standard Model still allow light non-standard Higgs bosons evading LEP bounds. We examine the mixing between a light CP-odd Higgs boson and $\eta_b$ states and its implications on a slight (but observable) lepton universality breaking in Upsilon decays which could be measured at the percent level at a (Super) B factory.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

f_B^{stat} and \mu_\pi^2 in quasiclassical approximation of sum rules

In the framework of sum rules with a use of quarkonium mass spectrum, evaluated in the quasiclassical approximation, estimates of leptonic constant $f_B^{stat}\simeq 320\pm 60$ MeV in a static limit and for the average heavy quark momentum squared $\mu_\pi^2 \simeq 0.5\pm 0.1$ GeV$^2$ are obtained.Comment: 7 pages, LATEX fil

Tetraquarks in a chiral constituent quark model

We analyze the possibility of heavy-light tetraquark bound states by means of a chiral constituent quark model. The study is done in a variational approach. Special attention is paid to the contribution given by the different terms of the interacting potential and also to the role played by the different color channels. We find a stable state for both $qq\bar{c}\bar{c}$ and $qq\bar{b}\bar{b}$ configurations. Possible decay modes of these structures are analyzed.Comment: 13 pages, no figures. Accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Undertaking a scoping review: a practical guide for nursing and midwifery students, clinicians, researchers, and academics.

Aim: The aim of this study is to discuss the available methodological resources and best-practice guidelines for the development and completion of scoping reviews relevant to nursing and midwifery policy, practice, and research. Design: Discussion Paper. Data Sources: Scoping reviews that exemplify best practice are explored with reference to the recently updated JBI scoping review guide (2020) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Scoping Review extension (PRISMA-ScR). Implications for nursing and midwifery: Scoping reviews are an increasingly common form of evidence synthesis. They are used to address broad research questions and to map evidence from a variety of sources. Scoping reviews are a useful form of evidence synthesis for those in nursing and midwifery and present opportunities for researchers to review a broad array of evidence and resources. However, scoping reviews still need to be conducted with rigour and transparency. Conclusion: This study provides guidance and advice for researchers and clinicians who are preparing to undertake an evidence synthesis and are considering a scoping review methodology in the field of nursing and midwifery. Impact: With the increasing popularity of scoping reviews, criticism of the rigour, transparency, and appropriateness of the methodology have been raised across multiple academic and clinical disciplines, including nursing and midwifery. This discussion paper provides a unique contribution by discussing each component of a scoping review, including: developing research questions and objectives; protocol development; developing eligibility criteria and the planned search approach; searching and selecting the evidence; extracting and analysing evidence; presenting results; and summarizing the evidence specifically for the fields of nursing and midwifery. Considerations for when to select this methodology and how to prepare a review for publication are also discussed. This approach is applied to the disciplines of nursing and midwifery to assist nursing and/or midwifery students, clinicians, researchers, and academics