A variable star survey of the open cluster M37

A CCD photometric study of the dense galactic open cluster M37 is presented and discussed. The majority of the analysed data are time-series measurements obtained through an R_C filter. The observations were carried out on seven nights between December 1999 and February 2000, and have led to the discovery of 7 new variable stars in the field. Three of them have been unambiguously identified as W UMa-type eclipsing binaries, while two more are monoperiodic pulsating stars, most probably high-amplitude delta Scuti-type variables. The remaining two stars seem to be long-period eclipsing binaries without firm period determination. Johnson B and V frames have been used to construct a new colour-magnitude (CM) diagram of the cluster, and to find the locations of the new variable stars. The pulsating variables are most likely background objects. The CM diagram is fitted with recent isochrones yielding the main parameters of the cluster.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Pollution impacts on the aquatic ecosystems of the Kruger National Park, South Africa

The Kruger National Park (KNP) is a savanna ecosystem situated in the middle reaches of five large, dynamic and biologically diverse transboundary river systems. The KNP has been at the forefront of applied river ecosystems research for over 30 years. Meanwhile each of its rivers has a unique set of challenges from both a river flow and water quality manage- ment perspective. These have often arisen from anthropogenic changes in the catchments of the park. The resultant challenges give rise to an array of effects that bear upon the parks’ ability to maintain the viability of aquatic ecosystems in a large and bio-diverse landscape. This paper sets the scene through a synopsis of the investments made by the KNP to improve river management practices and the present status-quo of these aquatic systems. Moreover, it details through particular case studies where emergent impacts of diffuse pol- lution sources have affected the aquatic biotic processes within the park and downstream. Issues are framed within a conservation management context with respect to broad ecosystem health and species of conservation concern. Comparisons are also made to other aquatic ecosystems within the KNP where the impacts of diffuse pollution effects are as yet unapparent.The Land-Use and Water Quality Task Group of the International Water Association is acknowledged for constructive inputs to the development of this manuscript and providing sponsorship to present it at the 3rd Regional Conference on Diffuse Pollution, Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 2018.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/sciafam2019Paraclinical Science

Interprofessional Education for Freshman Nursing and Pharmacy Students: An Application of Ethics

Purpose: The purpose is to encourage students in the health care professions to work interprofessionally to better enable them to enter the workplace as a member of the collaborative practice team. Background: In 2009, six national education associations of schools of the health professions formed a collaborative to promote and encourage constituent efforts that would advance substantive interprofessional learning experiences (IPE) to help prepare future health professionals for enhanced team-based care of patients and improved population health outcomes. By 2016, this initiative has grown significantly, even being mandated by some professions. Description of Intervention/Program: IPE activities were developed through a committee consisting of faculty and students from nursing and pharmacy programs at the institution. An activity for freshman students (N=152) was developed, focusing on each profession’s code of ethics and application to ethical situations. Students completed a pre/post survey evaluating their readiness and perceptions of IPE, as well as evaluating the activities’ effectiveness in effective collaboration using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Results: The data was evaluated by the IPE committee to determine future iterations of the activity. Conclusion: Based on both quantitative and qualitative feedback from the students, the freshman IPE activity assisted both pharmacy and nursing students to become a more effective member of the health care team, bringing students from different health care programs together to problem-solve while applying a collaboratively devised code of ethics with an application-based activity to produce a robust experience. Relevance to IPE or Practice: The study conveys two key points that would be helpful for others integrating IPE activities into their curriculum. First, the authors illustrated an IPE activity that can be implemented with lower level professional students. Second, the authors outlined a plan for continuous improvement of IPE activity, looking beyond implementation to assessment and optimization of these initiatives. Seminar Outline/Timeframe of Presentation and Interactive Discussion: Opening discussion on IPE and its integration into the university curriculum (10 minutes) Freshman activity initial ideas, design, and feedback: the value of interprofessional ethics in healthcare (10 minutes) Modifications to the freshman activity and student feedback ( 10 minutes) Interprofessional groupwork (5-6 group members made up of participants from different disciplines) to develop a shared code of ethics (10 minutes) Interprofessional groupwork (same group members) using the shared code of ethics to solve a practical, real-world problem (10 minutes) Large group discussion on the overall activity, components of the shared code of ethics, and application of the code to the problem-solving activity, and considerations for the future for this activity (10 minutes) Two to three measureable learning objectives relevant to conference goals: To create a coordinated effort across the nursing and pharmacy health profession curricula to embed essential interprofessional experience and content. To guide professional and institutional curricular development of learning approaches and assessment strategies to achieve productive outcomes for nursing and pharmacy students. To demonstrate a newly developed ethics activity for freshman students in nursing and pharmacy programs to exhibit interprofessional problem-solving

3.0 T cardiovascular magnetic resonance in patients treated with coronary stenting for myocardial infarction: evaluation of short term safety and image quality

Purpose To evaluate safety and image quality of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) at 3.0 T in patients with coronary stents after myocardial infarction (MI), in comparison to the clinical standard at 1.5 T. Methods Twenty-five patients (21 men; 55 ± 9 years) with first MI treated with primary stenting, underwent 18 scans at 3.0 T and 18 scans at 1.5 T. Twenty-four scans were performed 4 ± 2 days and 12 scans 125 ± 23 days after MI. Cine (steady-state free precession) and late gadolinium-enhanced (LGE, segmented inversion-recovery gradient echo) images were acquired. Patient safety and image artifacts were evaluated, and in 16 patients stent position was assessed during repeat catheterization. Additionally, image quality was scored from 1 (poor quality) to 4 (excellent quality). Results There were no clinical events within 30 days of CMR at 3.0 T or 1.5 T, and no stent migration occurred. At 3.0 T, image quality of cine studies was clinically useful in all, but not sufficient for quantitative analysis in 44% of the scans, due to stent (6/18 scans), flow (7/18 scans) and/or dark band artifacts (8/18 scans). Image quality of LGE images at 3.0 T was not sufficient for quantitative analysis in 53%, and not clinically useful in 12%. At 1.5 T, all cine and LGE images were quantitatively analyzable. Conclusion 3.0 T is safe in the acute and chronic phase after MI treated with primary stenting. Although cine imaging at 3.0 T is suitable for clinical use, quantitative analysis and LGE imaging is less reliable than at 1.5 T. Further optimization of pulse sequences at 3.0 T is essential

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

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