2,516 research outputs found
Integrating the promotion of physical activity within a smoking cessation programme: Findings from collaborative action research in UK Stop Smoking Services
Background: Within the framework of collaborative action research, the aim was to explore the feasibility of
developing and embedding physical activity promotion as a smoking cessation aid within UK 6/7-week National
Health Service (NHS) Stop Smoking Services.
Methods: In Phase 1 three initial cycles of collaborative action research (observation, reflection, planning,
implementation and re-evaluation), in an urban Stop Smoking Service, led to the development of an integrated
intervention in which physical activity was promoted as a cessation aid, with the support of a theoretically based
self-help guide, and self monitoring using pedometers. In Phase 2 advisors underwent training and offered the
intervention, and changes in physical activity promoting behaviour and beliefs were monitored. Also, changes in
clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a cessation aid, physical activity beliefs and behaviour and
physical activity levels were assessed, among those who attended the clinic at 4-week post-quit. Qualitative data
were collected, in the form of clinic observation, informal interviews with advisors and field notes.
Results: The integrated intervention emerged through cycles of collaboration as something quite different to
previous practice. Based on field notes, there were many positive elements associated with the integrated
intervention in Phase 2. Self-reported advisors’ physical activity promoting behaviour increased as a result of
training and adapting to the intervention. There was a significant advancement in clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a smoking cessation aid.
Conclusions: Collaboration with advisors was key in ensuring that a feasible intervention was developed as an aid to smoking cessation. There is scope to further develop tailored support to increasing physical activity and
smoking cessation, mediated through changes in perceptions about the benefits of, and confidence to do physical activity
Analysis and Modeling of Two Flare Loops Observed by AIA and EIS
We analyze and model an M1.0 flare observed by SDO/AIA and Hinode/EIS to
investigate how flare loops are heated and evolve subsequently. The flare is
composed of two distinctive loop systems observed in EUV images. The UV 1600
\AA emission at the feet of these loops exhibits a rapid rise, followed by
enhanced emission in different EUV channels observed by AIA and EIS. Such
behavior is indicative of impulsive energy deposit and the subsequent response
in overlying coronal loops that evolve through different temperatures. Using
the method we recently developed, we infer empirical heating functions from the
rapid rise of the UV light curves for the two loop systems, respectively,
treating them as two big loops of cross-sectional area 5\arcsec by 5\arcsec,
and compute the plasma evolution in the loops using the EBTEL model (Klimchuk
et al. 2008). We compute the synthetic EUV light curves, which, with the
limitation of the model, reasonably agree with observed light curves obtained
in multiple AIA channels and EIS lines: they show the same evolution trend and
their magnitudes are comparable by within a factor of two. Furthermore, we also
compare the computed mean enthalpy flow velocity with the Doppler shift
measurements by EIS during the decay phase of the two loops. Our results
suggest that the two different loops with different heating functions as
inferred from their footpoint UV emission, combined with their different
lengths as measured from imaging observations, give rise to different coronal
plasma evolution patterns captured both in the model and observations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
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Life in the Atacama — Year 2: Geologic reconnaissance through long-range roving and implications on the search for life
The Life in the Atacama-2004 project, which included geological, morphological, and mineralogical mapping through combined satellite, field-based, and microscopic perspectives and long-range roving, led to the localization of potential habitats
Accelerator system for the PRISM based muon to electron conversion experiment
The next generation of lepton flavor violation experiments need high
intensity and high quality muon beams. Production of such beams requires
sending a short, high intensity proton pulse to the pion production target,
capturing pions and collecting the resulting muons in the large acceptance
transport system. The substantial increase of beam quality can be obtained by
applying the RF phase rotation on the muon beam in the dedicated FFAG ring,
which was proposed for the PRISM project.This allows to reduce the momentum
spread of the beam and to purify from the unwanted components like pions or
secondary protons. A PRISM Task Force is addressing the accelerator and
detector issues that need to be solved in order to realize the PRISM
experiment. The parameters of the required proton beam, the principles of the
PRISM experiment and the baseline FFAG design are introduced. The spectrum of
alternative designs for the PRISM FFAG ring are shown. Progress on ring main
systems like injection and RF are presented. The current status of the study
and its future directions are discussed.Comment: Studies performed within the PRISM Task Force initiativ
The prion gene is associated with human long-term memory
Human cognitive processes are highly variable across individuals and are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Although genetic variations affect short-term memory in humans, it is unknown whether genetic variability has also an impact on long-term memory. Because prion-like conformational changes may be involved in the induction of long-lasting synaptic plasticity, we examined the impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the prion protein gene (PRNP) on long-term memory in healthy young humans. SNPs in the genomic region of PRNP were associated with better long-term memory performance in two independent populations with different educational background. Among the examined PRNP SNPs, the common Met129Val polymorphism yielded the highest effect size. Twenty-four hours after a word list-learning task, carriers of either the 129MM or the 129MV genotype recalled 17% more information than 129VV carriers, but short-term memory was unaffected. These results suggest a role for the prion protein in the formation of long-term memory in human
Supergravity loop contributions to brane world supersymmetry breaking
We compute the supergravity loop contributions to the visible sector scalar
masses in the simplest 5D `brane-world' model. Supersymmetry is assumed to be
broken away from the visible brane and the contributions are UV finite due to
5D locality. We perform the calculation with N = 1 supergraphs, using a
formulation of 5D supergravity in terms of N = 1 superfields. We compute
contributions to the 4D effective action that determine the visible scalar
masses, and we find that the mass-squared terms are negative.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX 2
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