Magnetization and EPR studies of the single molecule magnet Ni4_4 with integrated sensors

Integrated magnetic sensors that allow simultaneous EPR and magnetization measurements have been developed to study single molecule magnets. A high frequency microstrip resonator has been integrated with a micro-Hall effect magnetometer. EPR spectroscopy is used to determine the energy splitting between the low lying spin-states of a Ni$_4$ single crystal, with an S=4 ground state, as a function of applied fields, both longitudinal and transverse to the easy axis at 0.4 K. Concurrent magnetization measurements show changes in spin-population associated with microwave absorption. Such studies enable determination of the energy relaxation time of the spin system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication (Proceedings of the 10th Joint MMM/Intermag Conference, which will be published as special issues of the Journal of Applied Physics

Physical education at preschools: practitioners’ and children’s engagements with physical activity and health discourses

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in British Journal of Sociology of Education on December 2013, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01425692.2013.848780This paper focuses on one aspect of a qualitative study concerned with investigating the place and meaning of ‘physical education’ to practitioners and children at three preschools in Scotland. We examine the ways in which the participants engaged with discourses related to physical activity and health in order to construct their subjectivities. Fourteen practitioners and 70 children participated. Research methods employed were observations, interviews with adults, a group drawing and discussion activity with children, and interviews with children. Both the adults’ and children’s talk illustrated the dominance of neoliberal, healthism meanings which position individuals as responsible for their own health. While the children’s talk primarily centred on health as a corporeal notion, the practitioners tended to talk about physical activity and health in both corporeal terms and in relation to the self more holistically. The practitioners also talked about physical activity as a means of regulating children’s behaviour

Induction and migration of cryptic/defective Salmonella enterica prophages as a consequence of infection with lytic phages is an additional factor in stability of a coevolutionary vector

The influence of infection of natural isolates of Salmonella enterica with lytic (nonlysogenic) phages on the expression of resident cryptic or defective prophages in host bacteria was studied. The induction of defective/cryptic phages after infection with nonlysogenic phages and packaging of bacterial chromosomal fragments in capsids of defective phages is demonstrated. This may lead to migration and wide distribution of both the genomes of defective phages per se and various fragments of the bacterial chromosome (including pathogenic islands) in new bacterial strains with concomitant change of their properties, the acquired new features of pathogenicity among them.This work was supported by EC PhageVet-P (contract no. FOOD-CT-2005-007224) and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 08-04-00162-a). We gratefully acknowledge the support of organizations presenting the grants.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Political boundary spanning:politicians at the interface between collaborative governance and representative democracy

Research finds that productive interfaces between collaborative and bureaucratic forms of governance hinges on the extent t

Enterprise Education Competitions: A Theoretically Flawed Intervention?

The demand for including enterprise in the education system, at all levels and for all pupils is now a global phenomenon. Within this context, the use of competitions and competitive learning activities is presented as a popular and effective vehicle for learning. The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how a realist method of enquiry – which utilises theory as the unit of analysis – can shed new light on the assumed and unintended outcomes of enterprise education competitions. The case developed here is that there are inherent flaws in assuming that competitions will ‘work’ in the ways set out in policy and guidance. Some of the most prevalent stated outcomes – that competitions will motivate and reward young people, that they will enable the development of entrepreneurial skills, and that learners will be inspired by their peers – are challenged by theory from psychology and education. The issue at stake is that the expansion of enterprise education policy into primary and secondary education increases the likelihood that more learners will be sheep dipped in competitions, and competitive activities, without a clear recognition of the potential unintended effects. In this chapter, we employ a realist-informed approach to critically evaluate the theoretical basis that underpins the use of competitions and competitive learning activities in school-based enterprise education. We believe that our findings and subsequent recommendations will provide those who promote and practice the use of competitions with a richer, more sophisticated picture of the potential flaws within such activities.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Detecting Endometrial Cancer by Blood Spectroscopy: A Diagnostic Cross-Sectional Study

Endometrial cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women, with a rising incidence worldwide. Current approaches for the diagnosis and screening of endometrial cancer are invasive, expensive or of moderate diagnostic accuracy, limiting their clinical utility. There is a need for cost-effective and minimally invasive approaches to facilitate the early detection and timely management of endometrial cancer. We analysed blood plasma samples in a cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study of women with endometrial cancer (n = 342), its precursor lesion atypical hyperplasia (n = 68) and healthy controls (n = 242, total n = 652) using attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and machine learning algorithms. We show that blood-based infrared spectroscopy has the potential to detect endometrial cancer with 87% sensitivity and 78% specificity. Its accuracy is highest for Type I endometrial cancer, the most common subtype, and for atypical hyperplasia, with sensitivities of 91% and 100%, and specificities of 81% and 88%, respectively. Our large-cohort study shows that a simple blood test could enable the early detection of endometrial cancer of all stages in symptomatic women and provide the basis of a screening tool in high-risk groups. Such a test has the potential not only to differentially diagnose endometrial cancer but also to detect its precursor lesion atypical hyperplasia—the early recognition of which may allow fertility sparing management and cancer prevention

Stereotactically guided breast biopsy: a review

The aims of this review are to compare and contrast the available stereotactic equipment, and to describe the variety of needle types used and their affect on pathological results and subsequent patient management. Initial stereotactic devices were “added-on” to analogue mammography units and have been replaced by prone or ducubitus equipment using digital image acquisition. Biopsies use either 14-G core biopsy (CB) needles or vacuum-assisted biopsies (VAB). Vacuum-assisted biopsy systems consistently out-perform 14-G CB with reduced need for diagnostic or multi-treatment surgery. The false-negative rate is 8% for 14-G CB compared with 0.7% for VAB. There is a risk of underestimating the disease present for lesions of uncertain malignant potential (Cat B3) and suspicious of malignancy (Cat B4) results with 25% of patients with a B3 biopsy found to have cancer at subsequent surgery and 66% of those with a B4 biopsy. A CB diagnosis of in situ malignancy is upgraded to invasive disease at surgery in 15-36% of patients undergoing CB and of the order of 10% with VAB. A high degree of diagnostic accuracy and hence safe patient care can only be achieved by meticulous attention to technique and multi-disciplinary cooperation

A dimensioning and tolerancing methodology for concurrent engineering applications I: problem representation

This paper is the first of two which present a methodology for determining the dimensional specifications of all the component parts and sub-assemblies of a product according to their dimensional requirements. To achieve this goal, two major steps are followed, each of which is described in a paper. In the first paper, all relationships necessary for finding the values of dimensions and tolerances are represented in a matrix form, known as a Dimensional Requirements/Dimensions (DR/D) matrix. In the second paper, the values of individual dimensions and tolerances are determined by applying a comprehensive solution strategy to satisfy all the relationships represented in the DR/D matrix. The methodology is interactive and suitable for use in a concurrent engineering (CE) environment. The graphical tool presented in this paper will assist a CE team in visualizing the overall D&T problem and foreseeing the ramifications of decisions regarding the selection of dimensions and tolerances. This will assist the CE team to systematically determine all the controllable variables, such as dimensions, tolerances, and manufacturing processes