Research on magnesium antimonide and magnesium bismuthide as thermocouple materials for thermoelectric power generation

Magnesium antimonide and magnesium bismuthide evaluated as thermocouple material for thermoelectric power generatio

A simple screening method for determining knowledge of the appropriate levels of activity and risk behaviour in young people with congenital cardiac conditions

Objective: To assess a novel method for assessing risk and providing advice about activity to children and young people with congenital cardiac disease and their parents. Design and setting: Questionnaire survey in outpatient clinics at a tertiary centre dealing with congenital cardiac disease, and 6 peripheral clinics. Interventions: Children or their parents completed a brief questionnaire. If this indicated a desire for help, or a serious mismatch between advised and real level of activity, they were telephoned by a physiotherapist. Main measures of outcome: Knowledge about appropriate levels of activity, and identification of the number exercising at an unsafe level, the number seeking help, and the type of help required. Results: 253/258 (98.0%) questionnaires were returned, with 119/253 (47.0%) showing incorrect responses in their belief about their advised level of exercise; 17/253 (6.7%) had potentially dangerous overestimation of exercise. Asked if they wanted advice 93/253 (36.8%) said “yes”, 43/253 (17.0%) “maybe”, and 117/253 (46.2%) “no”. Of those contacted by phone to give advice, 72.7% (56/77) required a single contact and 14.3% (11/77) required an intervention that required more intensive contact lasting from 2 up to 12 weeks. Of the cohort, 3.9% (3/77) were taking part in activities that put them at significant risk. Conclusions: There is a significant lack of knowledge about appropriate levels of activity, and a desire for further advice, in children and young people with congenital cardiac disease. A few children may be at very significant risk. These needs can be identified, and clinical risk reduced, using a brief self-completed questionnaire combined with telephone follow-up from a suitably knowledgeable physiotherapist

The views of parents concerning the planning of services for rehabilitation of families of children with congenital cardiac disease

Background and purpose: Although much previous research has focused on the medical aspects of congenital cardiac disease, there is a growing body of research which suggests that families may need help and support with the wider issues associated with the medical condition. We have previously ascertained from young people with congenital cardiac disease their views on this subject. The purpose of this study was to obtain the views of their parents about the need for, and shape of, services for rehabilitation. Methods: This was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. We interviewed 17 parents in their own home. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Results: Parents would welcome more help and support from health professionals to enable them to manage more effectively the condition with their children. Particular areas of concern relate to the information they receive about the condition; communication between themselves and health professionals; establishing safe levels of activity; and managing the condition at school. Conclusions: This is a small study of the experiences and views of parents, which provides some important information on ways in which health professionals. could address the current lack of services for rehabilitation

Experimental and analytical strains in an edge-cracked sheet

Elastoplastic strain distribution in edge-cracked metal sheets determined by optical interference and moire technique

Solar sustained plasma/absorber conceptual design

A space power system concept was evaluated which uses concentrated solar energy to heat a working fluid to temperatures as high as 4000 K. The high temperature working fluid could be used for efficient electric power production in advanced thermal or magnetohydrodynamic conversion cycles. Energy absorber configurations utilizing particles or cesium vapor absorber material were investigaed. Results of detailed radiant heat transfer calculations indicated approximately 86 percent of the incident solar energy could be absorbed within a 12-cm-dia flowing stream of gas borne carbon particles. Calculated total energy absorption in the cesium vapor seeded absorber configuration ranged from 34 percent to 64 percent of the incident solar energy. Solar flux concentration ratios of between approximately 3000 and 10,000 will be required to sustain absorber temperatures in the range from 3000 K to 4000 K

Factors associated with self-perceived state of health in adolescents with congenital cardiac disease attending paediatric cardiologic clinics

The purpose of our study was to determine the ways in which adolescents with congenital cardiac disease believed that the condition had affected their life, and how these views were related to their perceived health. Interviews were conducted with a series of 37 adolescents, 17 girls and 20 boys, aged from 11 to 18, as they attended the clinics of 4 paediatric cardiologists in a teaching hospital in the United Kingdom. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed for recurring themes. A questionnaire was formed consisting of a set of questions for each theme, and additional items eliciting “perceived health”, and administered to a second series of 74 adolescents, 40 boys and 34 girls, who were again aged from 11 to 18 years. Slightly less than half (46%) perceived their health as either “good” or “very good”, and one-third (33%) rated it as “average”. The majority (66%) felt themselves to be “the same” as, or only very slightly “different” from, their peers. The assessment of the seriousness of their condition by the adolescents, the degree to which they saw themselves as different from others, and their perceived health, were not related to the “complexity of the underlying medical condition” as rated by their physician. It was the psychosocial themes, such as exclusion from activities or the effect of the condition on relationships, that were most strongly related to the perception of their health by the adolescents. Improved education of parents, teachers and peers, and attendance at classes for cardiac rehabilitation, might help to ameliorate some of these problems

Commentary on 'Improving the seasonal cycle and interannual variations of biomass burning aerosol sources' by Generoso et al.

In a recent published paper, Generoso et al. (2003) describe a method for improving the spatial and temporal distribution of pyrogenic aerosol emission inventories. In the course of their analysis, the authors note several significant discrepancies in the seasonality of burning as observed by the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and four other biomass burning data sets derived from satellite observations. In this commentary we explain the source of these discrepancies and clarify the origin of the VIRS observations that were used by Generoso et al

Thermochemical ablation of rocket nozzle insert materials Final report

Resistance of rocket nozzle throat insert materials to corrosion and meltin