7,760 research outputs found
Tourism and the smartphone app: capabilities, emerging practice and scope in the travel domain.
Based on its advanced computing capabilities and ubiquity, the smartphone has rapidly been adopted as a tourism travel tool.With a growing number of users and a wide varietyof applications emerging, the smartphone is fundamentally altering our current use and understanding of the transport network and tourism travel. Based on a review of smartphone apps, this article evaluates the current functionalities used in the domestic tourism travel domain and highlights where the next major developments lie. Then, at a more conceptual level, the article analyses how the smartphone mediates tourism travel and the role it might play in more collaborative and dynamic travel decisions to facilitate sustainable travel. Some emerging research challenges are discussed
Tests of star formation metrics in the low metallicity galaxy NGC 5253 using ALMA observations of H30 line emission
We use Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of
H30 (231.90 GHz) emission from the low metallicity dwarf galaxy NGC
5253 to measure the star formation rate (SFR) within the galaxy and to test the
reliability of SFRs derived from other commonly-used metrics. The H30
emission, which originates mainly from the central starburst, yields a
photoionizing photon production rate of (1.90.3)10 s
and an SFR of 0.0870.013 M yr based on conversions that
account for the low metallicity of the galaxy and for stellar rotation. Among
the other star formation metrics we examined, the SFR calculated from the total
infrared flux was statistically equivalent to the values from the H30
data. The SFR based on previously-published versions of the H flux that
were extinction corrected using Pa and Pa lines were lower than
but also statistically similar to the H30 value. The mid-infrared (22
m) flux density and the composite star formation tracer based on H
and mid-infrared emission give SFRs that were significantly higher because the
dust emission appears unusually hot compared to typical spiral galaxies.
Conversely, the 70 and 160 m flux densities yielded SFR lower than the
H30 value, although the SFRs from the 70 m and H30 data
were within 1-2 of each other. While further analysis on a broader
range of galaxies are needed, these results are instructive of the best and
worst methods to use when measuring SFR in low metallicity dwarf galaxies like
NGC 5253.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Dispersity-Driven Melting Transition in Two Dimensional Solids
We perform extensive simulations of Lennard-Jones particles to study
the effect of particle size dispersity on the thermodynamic stability of
two-dimensional solids. We find a novel phase diagram in the dispersity-density
parameter space. We observe that for large values of the density there is a
threshold value of the size dispersity above which the solid melts to a liquid
along a line of first order phase transitions. For smaller values of density,
our results are consistent with the presence of an intermediate hexatic phase.
Further, these findings support the possibility of a multicritical point in the
dispersity-density parameter space.Comment: In revtex format, 4 pages, 6 postscript figures. Submitted to PR
Ledipasvir-Sofosbuvir for treating Chronic Hepatitis C: A NICE Single Technology Appraisal - An Evidence Review Group Perspective
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) invited Gilead, the company manufacturing
ledipasvir-sofosbuvir (LDV/SOF), to submit evidence for the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of
LDV/SOF for treating Chronic Hepatitis C. The School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) Technology
Assessment Group was commissioned as the Evidence Review Group (ERG). This paper describes the
company’s submission (CS), the ERG review and the subsequent decision of the NICE Appraisal Committee
(AC). The ERG produced a critical review of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evidence of
LDV/SOF based upon the CS.
The clinical effectiveness data for LDV/SOF were taken from ten trials, comprised of three Phase III trials and
seven Phase II trials. Trials compared different durations of LDV/SOF, with and without ribavirin (RBV). There
were no head-to-head trials comparing LDV/SOF with any comparator listed in the NICE scope. Data from the
trials were mostly from populations with genotype 1 (GT1) disease, although some limited data were available
for populations with genotypes 3 and 4. For GT1 treatment-naïve patients, sustained viral response for 12 weeks
(SVR12) rates for LDV/SOF ranged from 93.1% to 99.4% for subgroups of patients with non-cirrhotic disease,
whilst SVR rates of 94.1% to 100% were reported for subgroups of patients with compensated cirrhosis. For
GT1 treatment-experienced patients, SVR12 rates ranging from 95.4% to 100% were reported for subgroups of
non-cirrhotic patients and SVR rates ranging from 81.8% to 100% were reported within subgroups of patients
with compensated cirrhosis.
Comparator data were not searched systematically as part of the submission, but were based on the company’s
previous NICE submission of sofosbuvir, with additional targeted searches.
The ERG’s critical appraisal of the company’s economic evaluation highlighted a number of concerns. The
ERG’s base case analyses suggested that the incremental cost effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for LDV/SOF
(+RBV) are dependent on a) treatment durations, b) whether patients have been previously treated and c)
whether patients have liver cirrhosis or not.
The AC concluded that it was appropriate to use the approach taken in the ERG’s exploratory analyses, in line
with the marketing authorisation, which considered people with and without cirrhosis separately, and estimated
the cost-effectiveness for each recommended treatment duration of LDV/SOF
Families' social backgrounds matter : socio-economic factors, home learning and young children's language, literacy and social outcomes
Parental support with children's learning is considered to be one pathway through which socio-economic factors influence child competencies. Utilising a national longitudinal sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, this study examined the relationship between home learning and parents' socio-economic status and their impact on young children's language/literacy and socio-emotional competence. The findings consistently showed that, irrespective of socio-economic status, parents engaged with various learning activities (except reading) roughly equally. The socio-economic factors examined in this study, i.e., family income and maternal educational qualifications, were found to have a stronger effect on children's language/literacy than on social-emotional competence. Socio-economic disadvantage, lack of maternal educational qualifications in particular, remained powerful in influencing competencies in children aged three and at the start of primary school. For children in the first decade of this century in England, these findings have equity implications, especially as the socio-economic gap in our society widens
IR-correlated 31 GHz radio emission from Orion East
Lynds dark cloud LDN1622 represents one of the best examples of anomalous
dust emission, possibly originating from small spinning dust grains. We present
Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) 31 GHz data of LDN1621, a diffuse dark cloud to
the north of LDN1622 in a region known as Orion East. A broken ring with
diameter g\approx 20 arcmin of diffuse emission is detected at 31 GHz, at
\approx 20-30 mJy beam with an angular resolution of \approx 5 arcmin.
The ring-like structure is highly correlated with Far Infra-Red emission at
m with correlation coefficients of r \approx 0.7-0.8, significant
at . Multi-frequency data are used to place constraints on other
components of emission that could be contributing to the 31 GHz flux. An
analysis of the GB6 survey maps at 4.85 GHz yields a upper limit on
free-free emission of 7.2 mJy beam (\la 30 per cent of the observed
flux) at the CBI resolution. The bulk of the 31 GHz flux therefore appears to
be mostly due to dust radiation. Aperture photometry, at an angular resolution
of 13 arcmin and with an aperture of diameter 30 arcmin, allowed the use of
IRAS maps and the {\it WMAP} 5-year W-band map at 93.5 GHz. A single modified
blackbody model was fitted to the data to estimate the contribution from
thermal dust, which amounts to \sim\sim100 \mu18.1\pm4.4 \mu^{-1}$, consistent with the values found for
LDN1622.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, submitted to MNRA
Modeling Activity of the Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis) at Mammoth Cave National Park Using Remotely-Sensed Descriptors of Forest Canopy Conditions
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