9,274 research outputs found
Ending Neglect of older people in the response to Humanitarian Emergencies
Older people make up a significant and growing number of those affected by humanitarian crises, yet they are often not sought out or prioritised within the humanitarian response. Humanitarian agencies, donors, and international bodies neglect older people's health and nutrition. The gaps in knowledge and research about the needs of older people in emergencies are considerable. Older people are not monitored in emergencies and they are not prioritised despite evidence of disproportionate mortality and morbidity in this group. We call for policy changes by humanitarian agencies and donors to ensure that the needs of this vulnerable group are met
Developing molecular genetic markers for grape breeding; using polymerase chain reaction procedures
Research Not
Hopf's last hope: spatiotemporal chaos in terms of unstable recurrent patterns
Spatiotemporally chaotic dynamics of a Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system is
described by means of an infinite hierarchy of its unstable spatiotemporally
periodic solutions. An intrinsic parametrization of the corresponding invariant
set serves as accurate guide to the high-dimensional dynamics, and the periodic
orbit theory yields several global averages characterizing the chaotic
dynamics.Comment: Latex, ioplppt.sty and iopl10.sty, 18 pages, 11 PS-figures,
compressed and encoded with uufiles, 170 k
Suggestion, hypnosis and hypnotherapy: a survey of use, knowledge and attitudes of anaesthetists
Publisher's copy made available with the permission of the publisher © Australian Society of AnaesthetistsClinical hypnosis is a skill of using words and gestures (frequently called suggestions) in particular ways to achieve specific outcomes. It is being increasingly recognised as a useful intervention for managing a range of symptoms, especially pain and anxiety. We surveyed all 317 South Australian Fellows and trainees registered with ANZCA to determine their use, knowledge of, and attitudes towards positive suggestion, hypnosis and hypnotherapy in their anaesthesia practice. The response rate was 218 anaesthetists (69%). The majority of respondents (63%) rated their level of knowledge on this topic as below average. Forty-eight per cent of respondents indicated that there was a role for hypnotherapy in clinical anaesthesia, particularly in areas seen as traditional targets for the modality, i.e. pain and anxiety states. Nearly half of the anaesthetists supported the use of hypnotherapy and positive suggestions within clinical anaesthesia. Those respondents who had experience of clinical hypnotherapy were more likely to support hypnosis teaching at undergraduate or postgraduate level when compared with those with no experience.http://www.aaic.net.au/Article.asp?D=200408
Amplitude Modulation and Relaxation-Oscillation of Counterpropagating Rolls within a Broken-Symmetry Laser-Induced Electroconvection Strip
We report a liquid-crystal pattern-formation experiment in which we break the
lateral (translational) symmetry of a nematic medium with a laser-induced
thermal gradient. The work is motivated by an improved measurement (reported
here) of the temperature dependence of the electroconvection threshold voltage
in planar-nematic 4-methoxybenzylidene-4-butylaniline (MBBA). In contrast with
other broken-symmetry-pattern studies that report a uniform drift, we observe a
strip of counterpropagating rolls that collide at a sink point, and a strong
temporally periodic amplitude modulation within a width of 3-4 rolls about the
sink point. The time dependence of the amplitude at a fixed position is
periodic but displays a nonsinusoidal relaxation-oscillation profile. After
reporting experimental results based on spacetime contours and wavenumber
profiles, along with a measurement of the change in the drift frequency with
applied voltage at a fixed control parameter, we propose some potential
guidelines for a theoretical model based on saddle-point solutions for
Eckhaus-unstable states and coupled complex Ginzburg-Landau equations.
Published in PRE 73, 036317 (2006).Comment: Published in Physical Review E in March 200
Genomic DNA fingerprinting of Vitis vinifera by the use of multi-loci probes
Charakterisierung genomischer DNA von Vitis vinifera mit Hilfe von ,,Multi-loci-Sonden"Durch Southern-Transfer von Restriktionsfragmenten genomischer DNA aus Vitis vinifera ließen sich Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Rebsorten aufzeigen; für die Hybridisierung wurden Sonden aus M 13-DNA und Human-33.6-Minisatelliten-DNA verwendet. Die Restriktionsenzyme Hinf I und Hae III waren für die Bestimmung sortenspezifischer DNA-Muster gleichermaßen geeignet. Die M 13-Sonde identifizierte in Verbindung mit beiden Enzymen etwa 3mal soviele Banden und zeigte viel mehr Abweichungen zwischen den Sorten auf als die Human-Minisatelliten-Sonde. Das Differenzierungsverfahren kann bei der Rebe zur Analyse der Abstammung, zur Definition von Merkmalen bei sortengeschützten Reben sowie für Züchtungsprogramme eingesetzt werden, sobald Korrelationen mit wirtschaftlich wichtigen Eigenschaften gesichert sind.
Generalized Master Equations for Non-Poisson Dynamics on Networks
The traditional way of studying temporal networks is to aggregate the
dynamics of the edges to create a static weighted network. This implicitly
assumes that the edges are governed by Poisson processes, which is not
typically the case in empirical temporal networks. Consequently, we examine the
effects of non-Poisson inter-event statistics on the dynamics of edges, and we
apply the concept of a generalized master equation to the study of
continuous-time random walks on networks. We show that the equation reduces to
the standard rate equations when the underlying process is Poisson and that the
stationary solution is determined by an effective transition matrix whose
leading eigenvector is easy to calculate. We discuss the implications of our
work for dynamical processes on temporal networks and for the construction of
network diagnostics that take into account their nontrivial stochastic nature
Can catastrophic quenching be alleviated by separating shear and alpha effect?
The small-scale magnetic helicity produced as a by-product of the large-scale
dynamo is believed to play a major role in dynamo saturation. In a mean-field
model the generation of small-scale magnetic helicity can be modelled by using
the dynamical quenching formalism. Catastrophic quenching refers to a decrease
of the saturation field strength with increasing Reynolds number. It has been
suggested that catastrophic quenching only affects the region of non-zero
helical turbulence (i.e. where the kinematic alpha operates) and that it is
possible to alleviate catastrophic quenching by separating the region of strong
shear from the alpha layer. We perform a systematic study of a simple
axisymmetric two-layer alpha-omega dynamo in a spherical shell for Reynolds
numbers in the range 1 < Rm < 10^5. In the framework of dynamical quenching we
show that this may not be the case, suggesting that magnetic helicity fluxes
would be necessary.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures (Accepted in Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid
Dynamics
Instabilities in the Envelopes and Winds of Very Massive Stars
The high luminosity of Very Massive Stars (VMS) means that radiative forces
play an important, dynamical role both in the structure and stability of their
stellar envelope, and in driving strong stellar-wind mass loss. Focusing on the
interplay of radiative flux and opacity, with emphasis on key distinctions
between continuum vs. line opacity, this chapter reviews instabilities in the
envelopes and winds of VMS. Specifically, we discuss how: 1) the iron opacity
bump can induce an extensive inflation of the stellar envelope; 2) the density
dependence of mean opacity leads to strange mode instabilities in the outer
envelope; 3) desaturation of line-opacity by acceleration of near-surface
layers initiates and sustains a line-driven stellar wind outflow; 4) an
associated line-deshadowing instability leads to extensive small-scale
structure in the outer regions of such line-driven winds; 5) a star with
super-Eddington luminosity can develop extensive atmospheric structure from
photon bubble instabilities, or from stagnation of flow that exceeds the
"photon tiring" limit; 6) the associated porosity leads to a reduction in
opacity that can regulate the extreme mass loss of such continuum-driven winds.
Two overall themes are the potential links of such instabilities to Luminous
Blue Variable (LBV) stars, and the potential role of radiation forces in
establishing the upper mass limit of VMS.Comment: 44 pages, 13 figures. Chapter to appear in the book "Very Massive
Stars in the Local Universe", Springer, J.S. Vink, e
On the compatibility of a flux transport dynamo with a fast tachocline scenario
The compatibility of the fast tachocline scenario with a flux transport
dynamo model is explored. We employ a flux transport dynamo model coupled with
simple feedback formulae relating the thickness of the tachocline to the
amplitude of the magnetic field or to the Maxwell stress. The dynamo model is
found to be robust against the nonlinearity introduced by this simplified fast
tachocline mechanism. Solar-like butterfly diagrams are found to persist and,
even without any parameter fitting, the overall thickness of the tachocline is
well within the range admitted by helioseismic constraints. In the most
realistic case of a time and latitude dependent tachocline thickness linked to
the value of the Maxwell stress, both the thickness and its latitude dependence
are in excellent agreement with seismic results. In the nonparametric models,
cycle related temporal variations in tachocline thickness are somewhat larger
than admitted by helioseismic constraints; we find, however, that introducing a
further parameter into our feedback formula readily allows further fine tuning
of the thickness variations.Comment: Accepted in Solar Physic
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