1,531 research outputs found
The Hanle and Zeeman Effects in Solar Spicules: A Novel Diagnostic Window on Chromospheric Magnetism
An attractive diagnostic tool for investigating the magnetism of the solar
chromosphere is the observation and theoretical modeling of the Hanle and
Zeeman effects in spicules, as shown in this letter for the first time. Here we
report on spectropolarimetric observations of solar chromospheric spicules in
the He I 10830 \AA multiplet and on their theoretical modeling accounting for
radiative transfer effects. We find that the magnetic field in the observed
(quiet Sun) spicular material at a height of about 2000 km above the visible
solar surface has a strength of the order of 10 G and is inclined by
approximately with respect to the local vertical direction. Our
empirical finding based on full Stokes-vector spectropolarimetry should be
taken into account in future magnetohydrodynamical simulations of spicules.Comment: 12 pages and 2 figure
Barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe
The Eurobarometer Survey of the <i>EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe</i> is part of a programme of work to produce comprehensive information on the provision of palliative care across Europe.
Aim: To identify barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe.
Method: A qualitative survey was undertaken amongst boards of national associations, eliciting opinions on opportunities for, and barriers to, palliative care development. By July 2006, 44/52 (85%) European countries had responded to the survey; we report here on the results from 22/25 (88%) countries in Western Europe.
Analysis: Data from the Eurobarometer survey were analysed thematically by geographical region and by the degree of development of palliative care in each country.
Results: From the data contained within the Eurobarometer, we identified six significant barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe: (i) Lack of palliative care education and training programmes (ii) Lack of awareness and recognition of palliative care (iii) Limited availability of/knowledge about opioid analgesics (iv) Limited funding (v) Lack of coordination amongst services (vi) Uneven palliative care coverage.
Conclusion: Findings from the EAPC Eurobarometer survey suggest that barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe may differ substantially from each other in both their scope and context and that some may be considered to be of greater significance than others. A number of common barriers to the development of the discipline do exist and much work still remains to be done in the identified areas. This paper provides a road map of which barriers need to be addressed
Wave Propagation and Jet Formation in the Chromosphere
We present the results of numerical simulations of wave propagation and jet
formation in solar atmosphere models with different magnetic field
configurations. The presence in the chromosphere of waves with periods longer
than the acoustic cutoff period has been ascribed to either strong inclined
magnetic fields, or changes in the radiative relaxation time. Our simulations
include a sophisticated treatment of radiative losses, as well as fields with
different strengths and inclinations. Using Fourier and wavelet analysis
techniques, we investigate the periodicity of the waves that travel through the
chromosphere. We find that the velocity signal is dominated by waves with
periods around 5 minutes in regions of strong, inclined field, including at the
edges of strong flux tubes where the field expands, whereas 3-minute waves
dominate in regions of weak or vertically oriented fields. Our results show
that the field inclination is very important for long-period wave propagation,
whereas variations in the radiative relaxation time have little effect.
Furthermore, we find that atmospheric conditions can vary significantly on
timescales of a few minutes, meaning that a Fourier analysis of wave
propagation can be misleading. Wavelet techniques take variations with time
into account and are more suitable analysis tools. Finally, we investigate the
properties of jets formed by the propagating waves once they reach the
transition region, and find systematic differences between the jets in inclined
field regions and those in vertical field regions, in agreement with
observations of dynamic fibrils.Comment: 27 pages, 29 figures; accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journa
Features of spatial distribution of oscillations in faculae regions
We found that oscillations of LOS velocity in H-alpha are different for
various parts of faculae regions. Power spectra show that the contribution of
low-frequency modes (1.2 - 2 mHz) increase at the network boundaries. Three and
five- minute periods dominate inside cells. The spectra of photosphere and
chromosphere LOS velocity oscillations differ for most faculae. On the other
hand, we detected several cases where propagating oscillations in faculae were
manifest with a five-minute period. Their initiation point on spatial-temporal
diagrams coincided with the local maximum of the longitudinal magnetic field.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
On the magnetic structure of the solar transition region
We examine the hypothesis that ``cool loops'' dominate emission from solar
transition region plasma below temperatures of K. We compare
published VAULT images of H L, a lower transition region line, with
near-contemporaneous magnetograms from Kitt Peak, obtained during the second
flight (VAULT-2) on 14 June 2002. The measured surface fields and potential
extrapolations suggest that there are too few short loops, and that L
emission is associated with the base regions of longer, coronal loops. VAULT-2
data of network boundaries have an asymmetry on scales larger than
supergranules, also indicating an association with long loops. We complement
the Kitt Peak data with very sensitive vector polarimetric data from the
Spectro-Polarimeter on board Hinode, to determine the influence of very small
magnetic concentrations on our analysis. From these data two classes of
behavior are found: within the cores of strong magnetic flux concentrations ( Mx) associated with active network and plage, small-scale mixed
fields are absent and any short loops can connect just the peripheries of the
flux to cell interiors. Core fields return to the surface via longer, most
likely coronal, loops. In weaker concentrations, short loops can connect
between concentrations and produce mixed fields within network boundaries as
suggested by Dowdy and colleagues. The VAULT-2 data which we examined are
associated with strong concentrations. We conclude that the cool loop model
applies only to a small fraction of the VAULT-2 emission, but we cannot
discount a significant role for cool loops in quieter regions. We suggest a
physical picture for how network L emission may occur through the
cross-field diffusion of neutral atoms from chromospheric into coronal plasma.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 9 May 200
Mapping Epileptic Networks Using Simultaneous Intracranial EEG-fMRI
Background: Potentially curative epilepsy surgery can be offered if a single, discrete epileptogenic zone (EZ) can be identified. For individuals in whom there is no clear concordance between clinical localization, scalp EEG, and imaging data, intracranial EEG (icEEG) may be needed to confirm a predefined hypothesis regarding irritative zone (IZ), seizure onset zone (SOZ), and EZ prior to surgery. However, icEEG has limited spatial sampling and may fail to reveal the full extent of epileptogenic network if predefined hypothesis is not correct. Simultaneous icEEG-fMRI has been safely acquired in humans and allows exploration of neuronal activity at the whole-brain level related to interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) captured intracranially. Methods: We report icEEG-fMRI in eight patients with refractory focal epilepsy who had resective surgery and good postsurgical outcome. Surgical resection volume in seizure-free patients post-surgically reflects confirmed identification of the EZ. IEDs on icEEG were classified according to their topographic distribution and localization (Focal, Regional, Widespread, and Non-contiguous). We also divided IEDs by their location within the surgical resection volume [primary IZ (IZ1) IED] or outside [secondary IZ (IZ2) IED]. The distribution of fMRI blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) changes associated with individual IED classes were assessed over the whole brain using a general linear model. The concordance of resulting BOLD map was evaluated by comparing localization of BOLD clusters with surgical resection volume. Additionally, we compared the concordance of BOLD maps and presence of BOLD clusters in remote brain areas: precuneus, cuneus, cingulate, medial frontal, and thalamus for different IED classes. Results: A total of 38 different topographic IED classes were identified across the 8 patients: Focal (22) and non-focal (16, Regional = 9, Widespread = 2, Non-contiguous = 5). Twenty-nine IEDs originated from IZ1 and 9 from IZ2. All IED classes were associated with BOLD changes. BOLD maps were concordant with the surgical resection volume for 27/38 (71%) IED classes, showing statistical global maximum BOLD cluster or another cluster in the surgical resection volume. The concordance of BOLD maps with surgical resection volume was greater (p < 0.05) for non-focal (87.5%, 14/16) as compared to Focal (59%, 13/22) IED classes. Additionally, BOLD clusters in remote cortical and deep brain areas were present in 84% (32/38) of BOLD maps, more commonly (15/16; 93%) for non-focal IED-related BOLD maps. Conclusions: Simultaneous icEEG-fMRI can reveal BOLD changes at the whole-brain level for a wide range of IEDs on icEEG. BOLD clusters within surgical resection volume and remote brain areas were more commonly seen for non-focal IED classes, suggesting that a wider hemodynamic network is at play
Emergence of small-scale magnetic loops through the quiet solar atmosphere
We investigate the emergence of magnetic flux in the quiet Sun at very small
spatial scales, focusing on the magnetic connection between the photosphere and
chromosphere. The observational data consist of spectropolarimetric
measurements and filtergrams taken with the Hinode satellite and the Dutch Open
Telescope. We find that a significant fraction of the magnetic flux present in
internetwork regions appears in the form of Omega-shaped loops. The emergence
rate is 0.02 loops per hour and arcsec^{-2}, which brings 1.1 x 10^12 Mx s^{-1}
arcsec^{-2} of new flux to the solar surface. Initially, the loops are observed
as small patches of linear polarization above a granular cell. Shortly
afterwards, two footpoints of opposite polarity become visible in circular
polarization within or at the edges of the granule and start to move toward the
adjacent intergranular space. The orientation of the footpoints does not seem
to obey Hale's polarity rules. The loops are continuously buffeted by
convective motions, but they always retain a high degree of coherence.
Interestingly, 23% of the loops that emerge in the photosphere reach the
chromosphere (16 cases out of 69). They are first detected in Fe I 630 nm
magnetograms and 5 minutes later in Mg I b 517.3 nm magnetograms. After about 8
minutes, some of them are also observed in Ca II H line-core images, where the
footpoints produce small brightness enhancements.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Preferential oxidation of CO over Au/CuOx-CeO2 catalyst in microstructured reactors studied through CFD simulations
A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation study of the preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PROX) in microstructured reactors consisting in square and semicircular microchannels coated with anAu/CuOx¿CeO2catalyst is presented. The CO content of the feed stream was set at 1 vol.%. A parametricsensitivity analysis has been performed under isothermal conditions revealing that an optimal reactiontemperature exists that leads to a minimum CO content at the microreactor exit. The influence of thespace velocity, CO2concentration and oxygen-to-CO molar ratio in the feed stream (), catalyst loading,and microchannel characteristic dimension (d) on the microreactor performance has been investigated.Under suitable conditions, the CO concentration can be reduced below 10 ppm at relatively low tem-peratures within the 155¿175¿C range. A negative effect of the increase of d from 0.35 mm to 2.8 mmon the CO removal efficiency has been found and attributed to a more detrimental effect of the masstransport limitations on the oxidation of CO than that of H2. Non-isothermal CFD simulations have beenperformed to investigate the cooling of the CO-PROX reactor with air or a fuel cell anode off gas surrogatein parallel microchannels. Due to the very rapid heat transfer allowed by the microreactor and the stronginfluence of the reaction temperature on the exit CO concentration, a careful control of the coolant flowrate and inlet temperature is required for proper reactor operation. The microreactor behavior is virtuallyisothermal.Peer Reviewe
Manipulation of photon statistics of highly degenerate chaotic radiation
Highly degenerate chaotic radiation has a Gaussian density matrix and a large
occupation number of modes . If it is passed through a weakly transmitting
barrier, its counting statistics is close to Poissonian. We show that a second
identical barrier, in series with the first, drastically modifies the
statistics. The variance of the photocount is increased above the mean by a
factor times a numerical coefficient. The photocount distribution reaches a
limiting form with a Gaussian body and highly asymmetric tails. These are
general consequences of the combination of weak transmission and multiple
scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Sexualidade das flores do Pinhão manso adubado com farelo de mamona e irrigado com água residuária.
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