Aerosol studies in mid-latitude coastal environments in Australia

The results of the evaluation of several inversion procedures that were used to select one which provides the most accurate atmospheric extinction profiles for small aerosol extinction coefficients (that often predominate in the maritime airmass) are presented. Height profiles of atmospheric extinction calculated by a two component atmospheric solution to the LIDAR equation will be compared with corresponding in-situ extinction profiles based on the size distribution profiles obtained in Western Australia. Values of the aerosol backscatter to extinction ratio obtained from multi-angle LIDAR measurements will be used in this solution

Magnetic-Island Contraction and Particle Acceleration in Simulated Eruptive Solar Flares

The mechanism that accelerates particles to the energies required to produce the observed high-energy impulsive emission in solar flares is not well understood. Drake et al. (2006) proposed a mechanism for accelerating electrons in contracting magnetic islands formed by kinetic reconnection in multi-layered current sheets. We apply these ideas to sunward-moving flux ropes (2.5D magnetic islands) formed during fast reconnection in a simulated eruptive flare. A simple analytic model is used to calculate the energy gain of particles orbiting the field lines of the contracting magnetic islands in our ultrahigh-resolution 2.5D numerical simulation. We find that the estimated energy gains in a single island range up to a factor of five. This is higher than that found by Drake et al. for islands in the terrestrial magnetosphere and at the heliopause, due to strong plasma compression that occurs at the flare current sheet. In order to increase their energy by two orders of magnitude and plausibly account for the observed high-energy flare emission, the electrons must visit multiple contracting islands. This mechanism should produce sporadic emission because island formation is intermittent. Moreover, a large number of particles could be accelerated in each magnetohydrodynamic-scale island, which may explain the inferred rates of energetic-electron production in flares. We conclude that island contraction in the flare current sheet is a promising candidate for electron acceleration in solar eruptions.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (2016

Optical properties (0.1-25 eV) of Nb-Mo and other Nb-based alloys

The dielectric functions of NbxMo1−x alloys (x=0.2,0.5,0.8) and of Nb with 10-at.% Zr, with 20-at.% V, and with 20-at.% Ta were determined in the 0.1-25 eV energy range. Some of the interband region below 3 eV can be interpreted on the basis of the rigid-band model for Nb-Mo while the large structure at 4-4.5 eV cannot be so interpreted in any of the alloys using existing bands. An examination of all the alloys shows that there probably are distortions of the bands due to strain and potential differences. The transitions beginning at about 9 eV, from the Fermi level to a flat band above, are seen to have delocalized final states. All the alloys show two volume and two surface plasmons like those of Nb and Mo

Hairy Leukoplakia

Oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) is a disease of the mucosa first described in 1984. This pathology is associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and occurs mostly in people with HIV infection, both immunocompromised and immunocompetent, and can affect patients who are HIV negative. [1, 2] The first case in an HIV-negative patient was reported in 1999 in a 56-year-old patient with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Later, many cases were reported in heart, kidney, and bone marrow transplant recipients and patients with hematological malignancies. [3, 4

Neutron spectroscopic factors of Ni isotopes from transfer reactions

177 neutron spectroscopic factors for nickel isotopes have been extracted by performing a systematic analysis of the angular distributions measured from (d,p) transfer reactions. A subset of the extracted spectroscopic factors are compared to predictions of large-basis shell models in the full pf model space using the GXPF1A effective interaction, and the (f5/2, p3/2, p1/2, g9/2) model space using the JJ4PNA interaction. For ground states, the predicted spectroscopic factors using the GXPF1A effective interaction in the full pf model space agree very well with the experimental values, while predictions based on several other effective interactions and model spaces are about 30% higher than the experimental values. For low-energy excited states (<3.5 MeV), the agreement between the extracted spectroscopic factors and shell model calculations is not better than a factor of two.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. accepted for publication in PR

The Statistical Multifragmentation Model with Skyrme Effective Interactions

The Statistical Multifragmentation Model is modified to incorporate the Helmholtz free energies calculated in the finite temperature Thomas-Fermi approximation using Skyrme effective interactions. In this formulation, the density of the fragments at the freeze-out configuration corresponds to the equilibrium value obtained in the Thomas-Fermi approximation at the given temperature. The behavior of the nuclear caloric curve at constant volume is investigated in the micro-canonical ensemble and a plateau is observed for excitation energies between 8 and 10 MeV per nucleon. A kink in the caloric curve is found at the onset of this gas transition, indicating the existence of a small excitation energy region with negative heat capacity. In contrast to previous statistical calculations, this situation takes place even in this case in which the system is constrained to fixed volume. The observed phase transition takes place at approximately constant entropy. The charge distribution and other observables also turn out to be sensitive to the treatment employed in the calculation of the free energies and the fragments' volumes at finite temperature, specially at high excitation energies. The isotopic distribution is also affected by this treatment, which suggests that this prescription may help to obtain information on the nuclear equation of state

Education-only versus a multifaceted intervention for improving assessment of rehabilitation needs after stroke: a cluster randomised trial

In 2011, more than half of the patients with stroke in Australian hospitals were not assessed for the need for rehabilitation. Further, there were no recommended criteria to guide rehabilitation assessment decisions. Subsequently, a decision-making tool called the Assessment for Rehabilitation Tool (ART) was developed. The ART was designed to assist Australian hospital clinicians to identify the rehabilitation needs of patients with stroke using evidence-based criteria. The ART was released and made freely available for use in 2012. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an education-only intervention (1 onsite education session and distribution of the ART) and a multifaceted intervention (2 or more onsite education sessions, distribution of the ART, audit and feedback, barrier identification, site-specific strategy development, promotion of interdisciplinary teamwork, opinion leaders and reminders) for improving assessments of rehabilitation needs after stroke. Ten hospitals in 2 states of Australia were randomly assigned to an education-only or a multifaceted intervention. Medical records were audited by assessors blinded to group allocation before and after the implementation period. Difference in the proportion of patients assessed for rehabilitation before and after the intervention was analysed using mixed-effects logistic regression analysis, with time period as the dependent variable, an interaction between intervention type and time included to test for differences between the interventions, and hospital included as the random effect to account for patient clustering. Data from 586 patients (284 pre-intervention; 302 post-intervention; age 76 years, 59 % male) showed that the multifaceted intervention was not more effective than education-only in improving the proportion of patients whose rehabilitation needs were assessed (reference category education-only; odds ratio 1.29, 95 % confidence interval 0.63-2.67, p = 0.483). Post-intervention, the odds of a patient's rehabilitation needs being assessed was 3.69 times greater than pre-intervention (95 % confidence interval 2.57-5.30, p < 0.001). Evidence-based criteria were not consistently used when patients were deemed to have no rehabilitation needs. A multifaceted intervention was not more effective than education-only in improving the assessment of rehabilitation needs of patients with stroke. Further interventions are required to ensure that all patients are assessed for the need for rehabilitation using evidence-based criteria. ANZCTR (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry), ACTRN12616000340437.Elizabeth A. Lynch, Dominique A. Cadilhac, Julie A. Luker and Susan L. Hillie

Direct Determination of Sizes of Excitations from Optical Measurements on Ion-Implanted GaAs

Using a simple model that describes the decrease of the amplitudes of optical structures in ion-implanted crystals, projected areas of several valence and core excitons in GaAs are determined. The last remnant of crystal-related optical structure vanishes for crystallite areas less than (16Å)2

Codesigned Shared Decision-Making Diabetes Management Plan Tool for Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Their Parents: Prototype Development and Pilot Test

Background: Adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus have difficulty achieving optimal glycemic control, partly due to competing priorities that interfere with diabetes self-care. Often, significant diabetes-related family conflict occurs, and adolescents’ thoughts and feelings about diabetes management may be disregarded. Patient-centered diabetes outcomes may be better when adolescents feel engaged in the decision-making process. Objective: The objective of our study was to codesign a clinic intervention using shared decision making for addressing diabetes self-care with an adolescent patient and parent advisory board. Methods: The patient and parent advisory board consisted of 6 adolescents (teens) between the ages 12 and 18 years with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their parents recruited through our institution’s Pediatric Diabetes Program. Teens and parents provided informed consent and participated in 1 or both of 2 patient and parent advisory board sessions, lasting 3 to 4 hours each. Session 1 topics were (1) patient-centered outcomes related to quality of life, parent-teen shared diabetes management, and shared family experiences; and (2) implementation and acceptability of a patient-centered diabetes care plan intervention where shared decision making was used. We analyzed audio recordings, notes, and other materials to identify and extract ideas relevant to the development of a patient-centered diabetes management plan. These data were visually coded into similar themes. We used the information to develop a prototype for a diabetes management plan tool that we pilot tested during session 2. Results: Session 1 identified 6 principal patient-centered quality-of-life measurement domains: stress, fear and worry, mealtime struggles, assumptions and judgments, feeling abnormal, and conflict. We determined 2 objectives to be principally important for a diabetes management plan intervention: (1) focusing the intervention on diabetes distress and conflict resolution strategies, and (2) working toward a verbalized common goal. In session 2, we created the diabetes management plan tool according to these findings and will use it in a clinical trial with the aim of assisting with patient-centered goal setting. Conclusions: Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus can be effectively engaged and involved in patient-centered research design. Teens with type 1 diabetes mellitus prioritize reducing family conflict and fitting into their social milieu over health outcomes at this time in their lives. It is important to acknowledge this when designing interventions to improve health outcomes in teens with type 1 diabetes mellitus