Geomagnetic storm dependence on the solar flare class

Content. Solar flares are often used as precursors of geomagnetic storms. In particular, Howard and Tappin (2005) recently published in A&A a dependence between X-ray class of solar flares and Ap and Dst indexes of geomagnetic storms which contradicts to early published results. Aims. We compare published results on flare-storm dependences and discuss possible sources of the discrepancy. Methods. We analyze following sources of difference: (1) different intervals of observations, (2) different statistics and (3) different methods of event identification and comparison. Results. Our analysis shows that magnitude of geomagnetic storms is likely to be independent on X-ray class of solar flares.Comment: 3 pages, 1 tabl

Low-temperature concentration of tellurium and gold in continental red bed successions

Acknowledgements This research was supported by NERC grants (NE/L001764/1, NE/M010953/1). We are grateful to J. Still and A. Sandison for technical support and to the gypsum mines and C. Brolley for access and sampling. Critical comments from Cristiana Ciobanu, Eric Gloaguen and Georges Calas are gratefully acknowledged. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Understanding service users’ and therapists’ experiences of pharmacological treatment for sexual preoccupation and/or hypersexuality in incarcerated sex offenders

This research comprises two qualitative studies understanding the experiences of 1) convicted sex offenders voluntarily receiving pharmacological treatment to reduce sexual preoccupation and 2) therapists working with these offenders. The studies form part of a research programme evaluating the use of pharmacological treatment with sexual offenders. In study one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 sexual offenders receiving selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In study two, interviews were conducted with eight intervention staff with varying levels of experience of working with offenders taking anti-libidinals. Thematic analysis was used and in study one, two main themes emerged: (i) the impact of the pharmacological treatment on prisoners’ daily functioning; (ii) barriers to compliance/engagement. In study two, three main themes emerged: (i) offenders’ reluctance to engage with pharmacological treatment; (ii) challenges for therapists; (iii) pharmacology: ‘just another piece of the puzzle’. Findings are discussed in relation to practice and future research

Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background I: Form Factors and their Calculation in Synchronous Gauge

It is shown that the fluctuation in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background in any direction may be evaluated as an integral involving scalar and dipole form factors, which incorporate all relevant information about acoustic oscillations before the time of last scattering. A companion paper gives asymptotic expressions for the multipole coefficient $C_\ell$ in terms of these form factors. Explicit expressions are given here for the form factors in a simplified hydrodynamic model for the evolution of perturbations.Comment: 35 pages, no figures. Improved treatment of damping, including both Landau and Silk damping; inclusion of late-time effects; several references added; minor changes and corrections made. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D1

Gauge-ready formulation of the cosmological kinetic theory in generalized gravity theories

We present cosmological perturbations of kinetic components based on relativistic Boltzmann equations in the context of generalized gravity theories. Our general theory considers an arbitrary number of scalar fields generally coupled with the gravity, an arbitrary number of mutually interacting hydrodynamic fluids, and components described by the relativistic Boltzmann equations like massive/massless collisionless particles and the photon with the accompanying polarizations. We also include direct interactions among fluids and fields. The background FLRW model includes the general spatial curvature and the cosmological constant. We consider three different types of perturbations, and all the scalar-type perturbation equations are arranged in a gauge-ready form so that one can implement easily the convenient gauge conditions depending on the situation. In the numerical calculation of the Boltzmann equations we have implemented four different gauge conditions in a gauge-ready manner where two of them are new. By comparing solutions solved separately in different gauge conditions we can naturally check the numerical accuracy.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, revised thoroughly, to appear in Phys. Rev.

A multilevel neo-institutional analysis of infection prevention and control in English hospitals: coerced safety culture change?

Despite committed policy, regulative and professional efforts on healthcare safety, little is known about how such macro-interventions permeate organisations and shape culture over time. Informed by neo-institutional theory, we examined how inter-organisational influences shaped safety practices and inter-subjective meanings following efforts for coerced culture change. We traced macro-influences from 2000 to 2015 in infection prevention and control (IPC). Safety perceptions and meanings were inductively analysed from 130 in-depth qualitative interviews with senior- and middle-level managers from 30 English hospitals. A total of 869 institutional interventions were identified; 69% had a regulative component. In this context of forced implementation of safety practices, staff experienced inherent tensions concerning the scope of safety, their ability to be open and prioritisation of external mandates over local need. These tensions stemmed from conflicts among three co-existing institutional logics prevalent in the NHS. In response to requests for change, staff flexibly drew from a repertoire of cognitive, material and symbolic resources within and outside their organisations. They crafted 'strategies of action', guided by a situated assessment of first-hand practice experiences complementing collective evaluations of interventions such as 'pragmatic', 'sensible' and also 'legitimate'. Macro-institutional forces exerted influence either directly on individuals or indirectly by enriching the organisational cultural repertoire

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review

Search for supersymmetry in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum and one isolated lepton in sqrt{s} = 7 TeV pp collisions using 1 fb-1 of ATLAS data

We present an update of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum, and one isolated electron or muon, using 1.04 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in the first half of 2011. The analysis is carried out in four distinct signal regions with either three or four jets and variations on the (missing) transverse momentum cuts, resulting in optimized limits for various supersymmetry models. No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Limits are set on the visible cross-section of new physics within the kinematic requirements of the search. The results are interpreted as limits on the parameters of the minimal supergravity framework, limits on cross-sections of simplified models with specific squark and gluino decay modes, and limits on parameters of a model with bilinear R-parity violation.Comment: 18 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 9 figures, 4 tables, final version to appear in Physical Review

Reducing heterotic M-theory to five dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary

This paper constructs the reduction of heterotic $M$-theory in eleven dimensions to a supergravity model on a manifold with boundary in five dimensions using a Calabi-Yau three-fold. New results are presented for the boundary terms in the action and for the boundary conditions on the bulk fields. Some general features of dualisation on a manifold with boundary are used to explain the origin of some topological terms in the action. The effect of gaugino condensation on the fermion boundary conditions leads to a `twist' in the chirality of the gravitino which can provide an uplifting mechanism in the vacuum energy to cancel the cosmological constant after moduli stabilisation.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe