Formation of Orion fingers

‘Orion fingers’ are a system of dozens of bow shocks, with the wings of shocks pointing to a common system of origin, which is centred on a dynamically disintegrating system of several massive stars. The shock heads propagate with velocities of up to 300–400 km s−1, but the formation and physical properties of the ‘bullets’ leading the shocks are not known. Here, we summarize two possible scenarios for the formation of the ‘bullets’ and the resulting bow shocks (‘fingers’). In the first scenario, bullets are self-gravitating, Jupiter-mass objects that were formed rapidly and then ejected during the strong dynamical interactions of massive stars and their discs. This scenario naturally explains the similar time-scales for the outflow of bullets and for the dynamical interaction of the massive stars, but has some difficulty explaining the observed high velocities of the bullets. In the second scenario, bullets are formed via hydrodynamic instabilities in a massive, infrared-driven wind, naturally explaining the high velocities and the morphology of outflow, but the bullets are not required to be self-gravitating. The processes that created the Orion fingers are likely not unique to this particular star-forming region and may result in free-floating, high-velocity, core-less planets

Reasons for and consequences of missed appointments in general practice in the UK: questionnaire survey and prospective review of medical records

Background Missed appointments are a common occurrence in primary care in the UK, yet little is known about the reasons for them, or the consequences of missing an appointment. This paper aims to determine the reasons for missed appointments and whether patients who miss an appointment subsequently consult their general practitioner (GP). Secondary aims are to compare psychological morbidity, and the previous appointments with GPs between subjects and a comparison group. Methods Postal questionnaire survey and prospective medical notes review of adult patients missing an appointment and the comparison group who attended appointments over a three week period in seven general practices in West Yorkshire. Results Of the 386 who missed appointments 122 (32%) responded. Of the 386 in the comparison group 223 (58%) responded, resulting in 23 case-control matched pairs with complete data collection. Over 40% of individuals who missed an appointment and participated said that they forgot the appointment and a quarter said that they tried very hard to cancel the appointment or that it was at an inconvenient time. A fifth reported family commitments or being too ill to attend. Over 90% of the patients who missed an appointment subsequently consulted within three months and of these nearly 60% consulted for the stated problem that was going to be presented in the missed consultation. The odds of missing an appointment decreased with increasing age and were greater among those who had missed at least one appointment in the previous 12 months. However, estimates for comparisons between those who missed appointments and the comparison group were imprecise due to the low response rate. Conclusion Patients who miss appointments tend to cite practice factors and their own forgetfulness as the main reasons for doing so, and most attend within three months of a missed appointment. This study highlights a number of implications for future research. More work needs to be done to engage people who miss appointments into research in a meaningful way

Detecting Awareness in the Vegetative State: Electroencephalographic Evidence for Attempted Movements to Command

Patients in the Vegetative State (VS) do not produce overt motor behavior to command and are therefore considered to be unaware of themselves and of their environments. However, we recently showed that high-density electroencephalography (EEG) can be used to detect covert command-following in some VS patients. Due to its portability and inexpensiveness, EEG assessments of awareness have the potential to contribute to a standard clinical protocol, thus improving diagnostic accuracy. However, this technique requires refinement and optimization if it is to be used widely as a clinical tool. We asked a patient who had been repeatedly diagnosed as VS for 12-years to try to move his left and right hands, between periods of rest, while EEG was recorded from four scalp electrodes. We identified appropriate and statistically reliable modulations of sensorimotor beta rhythms following commands to try to move, which could be significantly classified at a single-trial level. These reliable effects indicate that the patient attempted to follow the commands, and was therefore aware, but was unable to execute an overtly discernable action. The cognitive demands of this novel task are lower than those used previously and, crucially, allow for awareness to be determined on the basis of a 20-minute EEG recording made with only four electrodes. This approach makes EEG assessments of awareness clinically viable, and therefore has potential for inclusion in a standard assessment of awareness in the VS

The Effect of a School-Based Intervention on Physical Activity and Well-Being: a Non-Randomised Controlled Trial with Children of Low Socio-Economic Status

Abstract Background Self-determination theory (SDT) has been used to predict children’s physical activity and well-being. However, few school-based SDT intervention studies have been conducted, and no research exists with children of low socio-economic status (SES). Therefore, SDT-derived needs-supportive teaching techniques informed the design and analyses of the Healthy Choices Programme (HCP). The aim was to determine if the HCP could enhance moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and well-being among children of low SES through increasing autonomy-support, needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. Method A mixed factorial two (group) × two (time) wait-list controlled trial was conducted and reported using the TREND guidelines. A total of 155 children (56% females; intervention n = 84, control n = 71) took part and completed measures at baseline (week 0) and post-intervention (week 11). The effect of the intervention on MVPA (model 1) and well-being (model 2) was tested through serial mediation models with three mediators (i.e. autonomy-support, needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation). Results In comparison to the control group, the intervention was related to increases in MVPA (β = .45) and autonomy-support (β = .17). In model 1, analyses revealed partial mediation of the MVPA change through autonomy-support (β = .14), intrinsic motivation (β = .51) and all three SDT mediators in sequence (total r 2  = .34). In model 2, well-being was indirectly enhanced through autonomy-support (β = .38) and autonomy-support and needs satisfaction in sequence (total r 2  = .21). Conclusions The HCP enhanced MVPA and well-being by engendering a needs-supportive physical activity environment. The scientific and practical contribution of this study was the application of SDT in all aspects of the HCP intervention’s design and analyses. Practitioners may consider integrating SDT principles, as implemented in the HCP, for health promotion. Trial Registration This study is registered on Research Registry (number researchregistry2852)

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reported. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were recorded in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1 to 4.8 fb-1. Higgs boson decays into oppositely-charged muon or τ lepton pairs are considered for final states requiring either the presence or absence of b-jets. No statistically significant excess over the expected background is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived. The exclusion limits are for the production cross-section of a generic neutral Higgs boson, φ, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for h/A/H production in the MSSM as a function of the parameters mA and tan β in the mhmax scenario for mA in the range of 90GeV to 500 GeV. Copyright CERN

Search for R-parity-violating supersymmetry in events with four or more leptons in sqrt(s) =7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for new phenomena in final states with four or more leptons (electrons or muons) is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of $\sqrt{s}=7\;\mathrm{TeV}$ proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in two signal regions: one that requires moderate values of missing transverse momentum and another that requires large effective mass. The results are interpreted in a simplified model of R-parity-violating supersymmetry in which a 95% CL exclusion region is set for charged wino masses up to 540 GeV. In an R-parity-violating MSUGRA/CMSSM model, values of m 1/2 up to 820 GeV are excluded for 10 < tan β < 40

Search for high-mass resonances decaying to dilepton final states in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used to search for high-mass resonances decaying to an electron-positron pair or a muon-antimuon pair. The search is sensitive to heavy neutral Z′ gauge bosons, Randall-Sundrum gravitons, Z * bosons, techni-mesons, Kaluza-Klein Z/γ bosons, and bosons predicted by Torsion models. Results are presented based on an analysis of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb−1 in the e + e − channel and 5.0 fb−1 in the μ + μ −channel. A Z ′ boson with Standard Model-like couplings is excluded at 95 % confidence level for masses below 2.22 TeV. A Randall-Sundrum graviton with coupling k/MPl=0.1 is excluded at 95 % confidence level for masses below 2.16 TeV. Limits on the other models are also presented, including Technicolor and Minimal Z′ Models

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV