Investigating the Effects of Finite Resolution on Observed Transverse Jet Profiles

Both the emission properties and evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) radio jets are dependent on the magnetic fields that thread them. Faraday Rotation gradients are a very important way of investigating these magnetic fields, and can provide information on the orientation and structure of the magnetic field in the immediate vicinity of the jet; for example, a toroidal or helical field component should give rise to a systematic gradient in the observed Faraday rotation across the jet, as well as characteristic intensity and polarization profiles. However, real observed radio images have finite resolution, usually expressed via convolution with a Gaussian beam whose size corresponds to the central lobe of the point source response function. This will tend to blur transverse structure in the jet profile, raising the question of how well resolved a jet must be in the transverse direction in order to reliably detect transverse structure associated with a helical jet magnetic field. We present results of simulated intensity, polarization and Faraday rotation images designed to directly and empirically investigate the effect of finite resolution on observed transverse jet structures

Zircon LA-ICPMS geochronology of the Cornubian Batholith, SW England

AcceptedArticleAvailable U-Pb age data for the Cornubian Batholith of SW England is based almost entirely on monazite and xenotime, and very little zircon U-Pb age data has been published. As a result, no zircon inheritance data is available for the batholith, by which the nature of the unexposed basement of the Rhenohercynian Zone in SW England might be constrained. Zircon LA-ICPMS data for the Cornubian Batholith provides Concordia ages (Bodmin Moor granite: 316 ± 4 Ma, Carnmenellis granite: 313 ± 3 Ma, Dartmoor granite: ~ 310 Ma, St. Austell granite: 305 ± 5 Ma, and Land's End granite: 300 ± 5 Ma) that are consistently 20–30 Ma older than previously published emplacement ages for the batholith and unrealistic in terms of geologic relative age relationships with respect to the country rock. This discrepancy is likely as a consequence of minor pre-granitic Pb inheritance. Several of the batholith's granite plutons contain a component of late-Devonian inheritance that may record rift-related, lower crustal melting or arc-related magmatism associated with subduction of the Rheic Ocean. In addition, the older granites likely contain Mesoproterozoic inheritance, although the highly discordant nature of the Mesoproterozoic ages precludes their use in assigning an affinity to the Rhenohercynian basement in SW England.This project was supported by the Department of Geological Sciences at Ohio University and by NSERC (Canada) through Discovery grants to JBM. Thanks are also extended to the faculty and staff in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, the British Geological Survey, and the Department of Earth Systems Science at Morehead State University for the use of their facilities

Mantle evolution in the Variscides of SW England: geochemical and isotopic constraints from mafic rocks

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.The geology of SW England has long been interpreted to reflect Variscan collisional processes associated with the closure of the Rhenohercynian Ocean and the formation of Pangea. The Cornish peninsula is composed largely of Early Devonian to Late Carboniferous volcanosedimentary successions that were deposited in pre- and syncollisional basins and were subsequently metamorphosed and deformed during the Variscan orogeny. Voluminous Early Permian granitic magmatism (Cornubian Batholith) is broadly coeval with the emplacement of ca. 280-295 Ma lamprophyric dykes and flows. Although these lamprophyres are well mapped and documented, the processes responsible for their genesis and their relationship with regional Variscan tectonic events are less understood. Pre- to syn-collisional basalts have intra-continental alkalic affinities, and have REE profiles consistent with derivation from the spinel-garnet lherzolite boundary. εNd values for the basalts range from +0.37 to +5.2 and TDM ages from 595 Ma to 705 Ma. The lamprophyres are extremely enriched in light rare earth elements, large iron lithophile, and depleted in heavy rare earth elements suggesting a deep, garnet lherzolite source that was previously metasomatised. They display εNd values ranging from -1.4 to +1.4, initial Sr values of ca. 0.706, and TDM ages from 671 Ma to 1031 Ma, suggesting that metasomatism occurred in the Neoproterozoic. Lamprophyres and coeval granite batholiths of similar chemistry to those in Cornwall occur in other regions of the Variscan orogen, including Iberia and Bohemia. By using new geochemical and isotopic data to constrain the evolution of the mantle beneath SW England and the processes associated with the formation of these post-collisional rocks, we may be able to gain a more complete understanding of mantle processes during the waning stages of supercontinent formation

A Synergistic Approach for Evaluating Climate Model Output for Ecological Applications

Increasing concern about the impacts of climate change on ecosystems is prompting ecologists and ecosystem managers to seek reliable projections of physical drivers of change. The use of global climate models in ecology is growing, although drawing ecologically meaningful conclusions can be problematic. The expertise required to access and interpret output from climate and earth system models is hampering progress in utilizing them most effectively to determine the wider implications of climate change. To address this issue, we present a joint approach between climate scientists and ecologists that explores key challenges and opportunities for progress. As an exemplar, our focus is the Southern Ocean, notable for significant change with global implications, and on sea ice, given its crucial role in this dynamic ecosystem. We combined perspectives to evaluate the representation of sea ice in global climate models. With an emphasis on ecologically-relevant criteria (sea ice extent and seasonality) we selected a subset of eight models that reliably reproduce extant sea ice distributions. While the model subset shows a similar mean change to the full ensemble in sea ice extent (approximately 50% decline in winter and 30% decline in summer), there is a marked reduction in the range. This improved the precision of projected future sea ice distributions by approximately one third, and means they are more amenable to ecological interpretation. We conclude that careful multidisciplinary evaluation of climate models, in conjunction with ongoing modeling advances, should form an integral part of utilizing model output

Parents’ experiences of health visiting for children with Down syndrome

© MA Healthcare Limited.Children with Down syndrome have an increased likelihoodof experiencing serious health conditions. Health visitors canhave an important role in monitoring and promoting healthand development for young children with Down syndrome.This study aimed to explore parents’ experiences of healthvisiting services for children with Down syndrome. Twentyfour parents of children with Down syndrome aged 0–5 yearscompleted a brief questionnaire about the number and natureof visits from health visitors in the previous 12 months andtheir support needs. Some parents commented that otherprofessionals met the needs of their child, whereas others saidthat they would like more advice and support from healthvisitors. A further exploration of broader health serviceprovision, including health visiting, for young children withDown syndrome is needed.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Enhanced antipneumococcal antibody electrochemiluminescence assay: validation and bridging to the WHO reference ELISA

AIM: To re-optimize the pneumococcal (Pn) electrochemiluminescence (ECL) assay and to validate and bridge the enhanced assay to the WHO ELISA, to support the Phase III clinical trial program for V114, a 15-valent Pn conjugate vaccine. MATERIALS & METHODS: The Pn ECL assay was re-optimized, validated and formally bridged to the WHO ELISA. RESULTS: The enhanced Pn ECL assay met all prespecified validation acceptance criteria and demonstrated concordance with the WHO ELISA. The corresponding threshold value remains at 0.35 μg/ml for all 15 serotypes. CONCLUSION: The enhanced Pn ECL assay has been validated for the measurement of antibodies to 15 Pn capsular polysaccharides and is concordant with the WHO ELISA, supporting its use in clinical trials

Decision for reconstructive interventions of the upper limb in individuals with tetraplegia: the effect of treatment characteristics

Objective: To determine the effect of treatment characteristics on the\ud decision for reconstructive interventions for the upper extremities (UE) in\ud subjects with tetraplegia. - \ud Setting: Seven specialized spinal cord injury centres in the Netherlands. - \ud Method: Treatment characteristics for UE reconstructive interventions were\ud determined. Conjoint analysis (CA) was used to determine the contribution\ud and the relative importance of the treatment characteristics on the decision\ud for therapy. Therefore, a number of different treatment scenarios using these\ud characteristics were established. Different pairs of scenarios were presented\ud to subjects who were asked to choose the preferred scenario of each set. - \ud Results: forty nine subjects with tetraplegia with a stable C5, C6 or C7\ud lesion were selected. All treatment characteristics significantly influenced\ud the choice for treatment. Relative importance of treatment characteristics\ud were: intervention type (surgery or surgery with FES implant) 13%, number\ud of operations 15%, in patient rehabilitation period 22%, ambulant\ud rehabilitation period 9%, complication rate 15%, improvement of elbow\ud function 10%, improvement of hand function 15%. In deciding for therapy\ud 40% of the subjects focused on one characteristic. - \ud Conclusion: CA is applicable in Spinal Cord Injury medicine to study the\ud effect of health outcomes and non-health outcomes on the decision for\ud treatment. Non-health outcomes which relate to the intensity of treatment\ud are equally important or even more important than functional outcome in the\ud decision for reconstructive UE surgery in subjects with tetraplegia

Neural Network Parameterizations of Electromagnetic Nucleon Form Factors

The electromagnetic nucleon form-factors data are studied with artificial feed forward neural networks. As a result the unbiased model-independent form-factor parametrizations are evaluated together with uncertainties. The Bayesian approach for the neural networks is adapted for chi2 error-like function and applied to the data analysis. The sequence of the feed forward neural networks with one hidden layer of units is considered. The given neural network represents a particular form-factor parametrization. The so-called evidence (the measure of how much the data favor given statistical model) is computed with the Bayesian framework and it is used to determine the best form factor parametrization.Comment: The revised version is divided into 4 sections. The discussion of the prior assumptions is added. The manuscript contains 4 new figures and 2 new tables (32 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables