Power-Law Distributions of Particle concentrations in Free-Surface Turbulence

Particles floating on the surface of an incompressible turbulent fluid cluster into intermittent,complex structures. This system is studied experimentally by analyzing the statistics of thecoarse-grained particle concentration, cr, as a function of scale r, in both the inertial anddissipative regimes of the turbulent field. The first moment of the concentration cr exhibits scalefreedependence on the coarse-graining scale r in both the inertial and dissipative ranges, withexponents αi (inertial) and αd (dissipative). The probability density function of the coarse-grainedparticle concentration exhibits a power-law decay over a broad range of values of theconcentration: rr r c c ( ) ~ , where r is approximately independent of scale in the dissipativerange 0.8 0.05 r , and decreases with increasing r in the inertial range. The PDF then fallsoff faster than algebraically at very large values of cr. The observed steep algebraic decay is amanifestation of the broad distribution of particle concentrations produced by surface flowupwellings (sources), which lie between very dense line-like concentrations along surface flowdownwellings (sinks)

Exploration of the perceptual-cognitive processes that contribute to in-game decision-making of Australian football umpires

Decision-making is fundamental to officiating in all sports. It is well established in contemporary research that decision-making skills underpin umpire expertise; however, there is little understanding of the cognitive processes that contribute to in-game decision-making. This research implemented an in-depth case study approach, using qualitative methods, to explore the in-game decision-making process of three Australian football umpires. Concurrent and retrospective verbalisation methods were used to obtain verbal reports of the cognitive processes associated with decision-making. Findings identified three salient themes related to both in-game decision-making processes (i.e. decision evaluation, player intention during game-play) and umpire performance (i.e. knowledge of game-play). These themes contributed to the development of decision-making heuristics for Australian football umpires. This study provides initial evidence of the factors that may contribute to and/or affect in-game decision-making processes; however, additional exploration is necessary to further inform training programmes aimed to develop domain-specific decision-making skills and subsequent in-game performance. © 2016 International Society of Sport Psychology

WOOD THRUSH MOVEMENTS AND HABITAT USE: EFFECTS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT FOR RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS

We monitored adult and juvenile breeding-season movements and habitat use of radio-tagged Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) at the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, central Georgia, USA. We investigated the effects that management for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis), thinning and burning \u3e30 year old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) habitat, had on Wood Thrushes, a ground-foraging and midstory-nesting species. Adult Wood Thrush pairs regularly moved long distances between nesting attempts (range 1 to 17,388 m). The only experimental effect we found on adult movements was a decrease in weekly emigration rates (AP) from thinned and burned compartments after silvicultural management. Adult males preferred riparian hardwoods with sparse to moderate cover and those preferences increased following management. Juveniles remained near their nest site (x = 177 m, SE = 113) for an average 24 days (SE = 6.3), and then dispersed a mean 2,189 m (SE = 342). Before dispersal, juveniles preferred upland hardwood-pine mixed habitat (P \u3c 0.05) with moderate overstory cover (P \u3c 0.05). We found no management effects on dispersal distances or predispersal habitat use. However, juveniles from thinned and burned compartments dispersed to hardwood habitats with dense cover, whereas birds from control compartments dispersed to pine-dominated habitats with sparse cover. All juveniles dispersed to areas with habitat similar to what they used before dispersal. Small-scale thinning and burning for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers may have had little effect on Wood Thrush habitat use and movements because typical movements were often larger than the scale (stand or compartment) targeted for management. Monitoreamos con radio-telemetria los movimientos y el uso de habitat durante la 6poca reproductiva de adultos y juveniles de Hylocichla mustelina en el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Piedmont, en Georgia central, EEUU. Investigamos los efectos que tiene el manejo del bosque (entresaca y quema de hibitat de Pinus taeda con mas de 30 anios de edad) orientado a la conservaci6n de Picoides borealis sobre H. mustelina, una especie que se alimenta en el suelo y que nidifica a media altura del bosque. Las parejas adultas de H. mustelina por lo general se movieron largas distancias entre los intentos de nidificaci6n (rango 1 a 17,388 m). El uanico efecto experimental que encontramos en los movimientos de adultos fue una disminuci6n en las tasas semanales de emigraci6n (T) desde los sectores entresacados y quemados luego del manejo silvicultural. Los machos adultos prefirieron los bosques riberefios con poca a moderada cobertura, y estas preferencias incrementaron luego del manejo. Los juveniles permanecieron cercanos al sitio de nidificaci6n (x = 177 m, ES = 113) por un promedio de 24 dias (ES = 6.3) y luego se dispersaron una media de 2,189 m (ES = 342). Antes de la dispersi6n los juveniles prefirieron habitat no-ribereiio mixto de bosque y pino (P \u3c 0.05) con moderada cobertura del dosel (P \u3c 0.05). No encontramo

WOOD THRUSH MOVEMENTS AND HABITAT USE: EFFECTS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT FOR RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS

We monitored adult and juvenile breeding-season movements and habitat use of radio-tagged Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) at the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, central Georgia, USA. We investigated the effects that management for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis), thinning and burning \u3e30 year old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) habitat, had on Wood Thrushes, a ground-foraging and midstory-nesting species. Adult Wood Thrush pairs regularly moved long distances between nesting attempts (range 1 to 17,388 m). The only experimental effect we found on adult movements was a decrease in weekly emigration rates (AP) from thinned and burned compartments after silvicultural management. Adult males preferred riparian hardwoods with sparse to moderate cover and those preferences increased following management. Juveniles remained near their nest site (x = 177 m, SE = 113) for an average 24 days (SE = 6.3), and then dispersed a mean 2,189 m (SE = 342). Before dispersal, juveniles preferred upland hardwood-pine mixed habitat (P \u3c 0.05) with moderate overstory cover (P \u3c 0.05). We found no management effects on dispersal distances or predispersal habitat use. However, juveniles from thinned and burned compartments dispersed to hardwood habitats with dense cover, whereas birds from control compartments dispersed to pine-dominated habitats with sparse cover. All juveniles dispersed to areas with habitat similar to what they used before dispersal. Small-scale thinning and burning for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers may have had little effect on Wood Thrush habitat use and movements because typical movements were often larger than the scale (stand or compartment) targeted for management. Monitoreamos con radio-telemetria los movimientos y el uso de habitat durante la 6poca reproductiva de adultos y juveniles de Hylocichla mustelina en el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Piedmont, en Georgia central, EEUU. Investigamos los efectos que tiene el manejo del bosque (entresaca y quema de hibitat de Pinus taeda con mas de 30 anios de edad) orientado a la conservaci6n de Picoides borealis sobre H. mustelina, una especie que se alimenta en el suelo y que nidifica a media altura del bosque. Las parejas adultas de H. mustelina por lo general se movieron largas distancias entre los intentos de nidificaci6n (rango 1 a 17,388 m). El uanico efecto experimental que encontramos en los movimientos de adultos fue una disminuci6n en las tasas semanales de emigraci6n (T) desde los sectores entresacados y quemados luego del manejo silvicultural. Los machos adultos prefirieron los bosques riberefios con poca a moderada cobertura, y estas preferencias incrementaron luego del manejo. Los juveniles permanecieron cercanos al sitio de nidificaci6n (x = 177 m, ES = 113) por un promedio de 24 dias (ES = 6.3) y luego se dispersaron una media de 2,189 m (ES = 342). Antes de la dispersi6n los juveniles prefirieron habitat no-ribereiio mixto de bosque y pino (P \u3c 0.05) con moderada cobertura del dosel (P \u3c 0.05). No encontramo

NIR Imaging Spectroscopy of the Inner Few Arcseconds of NGC 4151 with OSIRIS at Keck

We present H- and K-band data from the inner arcsecond of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151 obtained with the adaptive optics assisted near-infrared imaging field spectrograph OSIRIS at the Keck Observatory. The angular resolution is about a few parsecs on-site and thus competes easily with optical images taken previously with the Hubble Space Telescope. We present the morphology and dynamics of most species detected but focus on the morphology and dynamics of the narrow line region (as traced by emission of [FeII]1.644 m), the interplay between plasma ejected from the nucleus (as traced by 21 cm continuum radio data) and hot H2 gas and characterize the detected nuclear HeI2.058 m absorption feature as a narrow absorption line (NAL) phenomenon. Emission from the narrow line region (NLR) as traced by [FeII] reveals a biconical morphology and we compare the measured dynamics in the [FeII] emission line with models proposing acceleration of gas in the NLR and simple ejection of gas into the NLR. In the inner 2.5 arcseconds the acceleration model reveals a better fit to our data than the ejection model.We also see evidence that the jet very locally enhances emission in [FeII] at certain positions in our field-of-view such that we were able to distinct the kinematics of these clouds from clouds generally accelerated in the NLR. Further, the radio jet is aligned with the bicone surface rather than the bicone axis such that we assume that the jet is not the dominant mechanism responsible for driving the kinematics of clouds in the NLR. The hot H2 gas is thermal with a temperature of about 1700 K. We observe a remarkable correlation between individual H2 clouds at systemic velocity with the 21 cm continuum radio jet. We propose that the radio jet is at least partially embedded in the galactic disk of NGC 4151 such that deviations from a linear radio structure are invoked by interactions of jet plasma with H2 clouds that are moving into the path of the jet because of rotation of the galactic disk of NGC 4151. Additionally, we observe a correlation of the jet as traced by the radio data, with gas as traced in Br and H2, at velocities between systemic and +/- 200 km/s at several locations along the path of the jet. The HeI2.058 m line in NGC 4151 appears in emission with a blueshifted absorption component from an outflow. The emission (absorption) component has a velocity offset of 10 km/s (-280 km/s) with a Gaussian (Lorentzian) full-width (half-width) at half maximum of 160 km/s (440 km/s). The absorption component remains spatially unresolved and its kinematic measures differ from that of UV resonance absorption lines. From the amount of absorption we derive a lower limit of the HeI 2S column density of 1 10(exp 14) cm2 with a covering factor along the line-of-sight of C(sub los) approximately equal to 0.1

Realist evaluation of the use of patient experience data to improve the quality of inpatient mental health care (EURIPIDES) in England : study protocol

Introduction Inpatient mental healthcare continues to be an area of high risk and where patients report negative experiences. To ensure the patient voice is heard, National Health Service (NHS) Trusts are required to collect feedback from patients routinely. We do not know what kinds of feedback are most important or what management processes are needed to translate this into effective action plans. Further, we do not know if this makes any difference to the patients themselves. This study seeks to explore which of the many different approaches to collecting and using patient experience data are the most useful for supporting improvements in inpatient mental healthcare. The overarching aim of the study is to arrive at recommendations for best practice in the collection and use of patient experience data in NHS England adult inpatient mental health settings. We present the protocol for Realist Evaluation of the Use of Patient Experience Data to Improve the Quality of Inpatient Mental Health Care study (EURIPIDES). Methods and analysis The study is composed of five work packages (WPs), including a systematic review of patient experiences (WP1); a telephone survey to assist the selection of case sites (WP2); six in depth case studies involving interviews with service users, carers and staff to enable a realist evaluation of the use of patient experience to improve quality in adult inpatient mental health services (WP3); an economic evaluation of patient experience feedback activity (WP5); and a consensus conference (WP4). We discuss the methodological rationale for the five WPs. Ethics and dissemination This study has received approval from West Midlands/South Birmingham NHS Research Ethics Committee. The outcome of the consensus conference meeting (WP4) will form the basis of the outputs to be disseminated to NHS providers. Dissemination will also take place through publications and presentations at relevant conferences

Evidence that acetyl phosphate functions as a global signal during biofilm development

We used DNA macroarray analysis to identify genes that respond to the status of the intracellular acetyl phosphate (acP) pool. Genes whose expression correlated negatively with the ability to synthesize acP (i.e. negatively regulated genes) function primarily in flagella biosynthesis, a result consistent with observations that we published previously (Prüß and Wolfe, 1994, Mol Microbiol 12: 973-984). In contrast, genes whose expression correlated positively with the ability to synthesize acP (i.e. positively regulated genes) include those for type 1 pilus assembly, colanic acid (capsule) biosynthesis and certain stress effectors. To our knowledge, this constitutes the first report that these genes may respond to the status of the intracellular acP pool. Previously, other researchers have implicated flagella, type 1 pili, capsule and diverse stress effectors in the formation of biofilms. We therefore tested whether cells altered in their ability to metabolize acP could construct normal biofilms, and found that they could not. Cells defective for the production of acP and cells defective for the degradation of acP could both form biofilms, but these biofilms exhibited characteristics substantially different from each other and from biofilms formed by their wild-type parent. We confirmed the role of individual cell surface structures, the expression of which appears to correlate with acP levels, in fim or fli mutants that cannot assemble type 1 pili or flagella respectively. Thus, the information gained by expression profiling of cells with altered acP metabolism indicates that acP may help to co-ordinate the expression of surface structures and cellular processes involved in the initial stages of wild-type biofilm development

Using patient experience data to support improvements in inpatient mental health care: the EURIPIDES multimethod study

Background All NHS providers collect data on patient experience, although there is limited evidence about what to measure or how to collect and use data to improve services. We studied inpatient mental health services, as these are important, costly and often unpopular services within which serious incidents occur. Aims To identify which approaches to collecting and using patient experience data are most useful for supporting improvements in inpatient mental health care. Design The study comprised five work packages: a systematic review to identify evidence-based patient experience themes relevant to inpatient mental health care (work package 1); a survey of patient experience leads in NHS mental health trusts in England to describe current approaches to collecting and using patient experience data in inpatient mental health services, and to populate the sampling frame for work package 3 (work package 2); in-depth case studies at sites selected using the work package 2 findings, analysed using a realist approach (work package 3); a consensus conference to agree on recommendations about best practice (work package 4); and health economic modelling to estimate resource requirements and potential benefits arising from the adoption of best practice (work package 5). Using a realist methodology, we analysed and presented our findings using a framework based on four stages of the patient experience data pathway, for which we coined the term CRAICh (collecting and giving, receiving and listening, analysing, and quality improvement and change). The project was supported by a patient and public involvement team that contributed to work package 1 and the development of programme theories (work package 3). Two employed survivor researchers worked on work packages 2, 3 and 4. Setting The study was conducted in 57 NHS providers of inpatient mental health care in England. Participants In work package 2, 47 NHS patient experience leads took part and, in work package 3, 62 service users, 19 carers and 101 NHS staff participated, across six trusts. Forty-four individuals attended the work package 4 consensus conference. Results The patient experience feedback cycle was rarely completed and, even when improvements were implemented, these tended to be environmental rather than cultural. There were few examples of triangulation with patient safety or outcomes data. We identified 18 rules for best practice in collecting and using inpatient mental health experience data, and 154 realist context–mechanism–outcome configurations that underpin and explain these. Limitations The study was cross-sectional in design and we relied on examples of historical service improvement. Our health economic models (in work package 5) were therefore limited in the estimation and modelling of prospective benefits associated with the collection and use of patient experience data. Conclusions Patient experience work is insufficiently embedded in most mental health trusts. More attention to analysis and interpretation of patient experience data is needed, particularly to ways of triangulating these with outcomes and safety data. Future work Further evaluative research is needed to develop and evaluate a locally adapted intervention based on the 18 rules for best practice. Study registration The systematic review (work package 1) is registered as PROSPERO CRD42016033556