Low-Altitude Reconnection Inflow-Outflow Observations during a 2010 November 3 Solar Eruption

For a solar flare occurring on 2010 November 3, we present observations using several SDO/AIA extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) passbands of an erupting flux rope followed by inflows sweeping into a current sheet region. The inflows are soon followed by outflows appearing to originate from near the termination point of the inflowing motion - an observation in line with standard magnetic reconnection models. We measure average inflow plane-of-sky speeds to range from ~150-690 km/s with the initial, high-temperature inflows being the fastest. Using the inflow speeds and a range of Alfven speeds, we estimate the Alfvenic Mach number which appears to decrease with time. We also provide inflow and outflow times with respect to RHESSI count rates and find that the fast, high-temperature inflows occur simultaneously with a peak in the RHESSI thermal lightcurve. Five candidate inflow-outflow pairs are identified with no more than a minute delay between detections. The inflow speeds of these pairs are measured to be 10^2 km/s with outflow speeds ranging from 10^2-10^3 km/s - indicating acceleration during the reconnection process. The fastest of these outflows are in the form of apparently traveling density enhancements along the legs of the loops rather than the loop apexes themselves. These flows could either be accelerated plasma, shocks, or waves prompted by reconnection. The measurements presented here show an order of magnitude difference between the retraction speeds of the loops and the speed of the density enhancements within the loops - presumably exiting the reconnection site.Comment: 31 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, Accepted to ApJ (expected publication ~July 2012

Semantic effects in sentence recall: The contribution of immediate vs delayed recall in language assessment

Sentence recall is increasingly used to assess language. It is widely debated what the task is actually testing, but one rarely explored aspect is the contribution of semantics to sentence recall. The few studies that have examined the role of semantics in sentence recall have employed an 'intrusion paradigm', following Potter and Lombardi (1990), and their paradigm relies on interference errors with conclusions based on an analysis of error patterns. We have instead manipulated the semantic plausibility of whole sentences to investigate the effects of semantics on immediate and delayed sentence recall. In Study 1, adults recalled semantically plausible and implausible sentences either immediately or after distracter tasks varying in lexical retrieval demands (backward counting and picture naming). Results revealed significant effects of plausibility, delay, and a significant interaction indicating increasing reliance on semantics as the demands of the distracter tasks increased. Study 2, conducted with 6-year-old children, employed delay conditions that were modified to avoid floor effects (delay with silence and forward counting) and a similar pattern of results emerged. This novel methodology provided robust evidence showing the effectiveness of delayed recall in the assessment of semantics and the effectiveness of immediate recall in the assessment of morphosyntax. The findings from our study clarify the linguistic mechanisms involved in immediate and delayed sentence recall, with implications for the use of recall tasks in language assessment. Learning outcomes: The reader will be able to: (i) understand the difference between immediate and delayed sentence recall and different types of distractors, (ii) understand the utility of immediate and delayed recall sentence recall in language assessment, (iii) discuss suitability of delayed recall for the assessment of semantics

Transport criticality of the first-order Mott transition in a quasi-two-dimensional organic conductor, κ\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2_{2}Cu[N(CN)2_{2}]Cl

An organic Mott insulator, $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu[N(CN)$_{2}$]Cl, was investigated by resistance measurements under continuously controllable He gas pressure. The first-order Mott transition was demonstrated by observation of clear jump in the resistance variation against pressure. Its critical endpoint at 38 K is featured by vanishing of the resistive jump and critical divergence in pressure derivative of resistance, $|\frac{1}{R}\frac{\partial R}{\partial P}|$, which are consistent with the prediction of the dynamical mean field theory and have phenomenological correspondence with the liquid-gas transition. The present results provide the experimental basis for physics of the Mott transition criticality.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Think Pink! a Pink Sticker Alert System for Women with Psychological Distress or Vulnerability During Pregnancy

The importance of good clinical communication to women during pregnancy and birth is clear. Poor communication in labour is associated with general dissatisfaction, more complaints and a range of perinatal mental health problems including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and postnatal depression. To communicate effectively, maternity staff needs information about which women are vulnerable and require extra support. To address this, we implemented and evaluated a pink sticker communication system to alert midwifery and obstetric staff to potential psychological difficulties experienced by some women. Evaluation showed this system was viewed positively by women and midwifery staff. Audit of referrals to the perinatal psychology service during this period suggests no woman with a pink sticker developed birth trauma as a direct result of perceived poor care. In addition, the proportion of referrals to perinatal psychology for birth trauma significantly reduced during this period

A meta-analysis of ethnic differences in pathways to care at the first episode of psychosis

Objective: We sought to systematically review the literature on ethnic differences in the likelihood of general practitioner (GP) involvement, police involvement, and involuntary admission on the pathway to care of patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP). Method: We searched electronic databases and conducted forward and backward tracking to identify relevant studies. We calculated pooled odds ratios (OR) to examine the variation between aggregated ethnic groups in the indicators of the pathway to care. Results: We identified seven studies from Canada and England that looked at ethnic differences in GP involvement (n = 7), police involvement (n = 7), or involuntary admission (n = 5). Aggregated ethnic groups were most often compared. The pooled ORs suggest that Black patients have a decreased likelihood of GP involvement (OR = 0.70, 0.57-0.86) and an increased likelihood of police involvement (OR = 2.11, 1.67-2.66), relative to White patients. The pooled ORs were not statistically significant for patients with Asian backgrounds (GP involvement OR = 1.23, 0.87-1.75; police involvement OR = 0.86, 0.57-1.30). There is also evidence to suggest that there may be ethnic differences in the likelihood of involuntary admission; however, effect modification by several sociodemographic factors precluded a pooling of these data. Conclusion: Ethnic differences in pathways to care are present at the first episode of psychosis

Ion-Acoustic Solitons in Bi-Ion Dusty Plasma

The propagation of ion-acoustic solitons in a warm dusty plasma containing two ion species is investigated theoretically. Using an approach based on the Korteveg-de-Vries equation, it is shown that the critical value of the negative ion density that separates the domains of existence of compressi- on and rarefaction solitons depends continuously on the dust density. A modified Korteveg-de Vries equation for the critical density is derived in the higher order of the expansion in the small parameter. It is found that the nonlinear coefficient of this equation is positive for any values of the dust density and the masses of positive and negative ions. For the case where the negative ion density is close to its critical value, a soliton solution is found that takes into account both the quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. The propagation of a solitary wave of arbitrary amplitude is investigated by the quasi-potential method. It is shown that the range of the dust densities around the critical value within which solitary waves with positive and negative potentials can exist simultaneously is relatively wide.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Phase diagram of the one-dimensional Holstein model of spinless fermions

The one-dimensional Holstein model of spinless fermions interacting with dispersionless phonons is studied using a new variant of the density matrix renormalisation group. By examining various low-energy excitations of finite chains, the metal-insulator phase boundary is determined precisely and agrees with the predictions of strong coupling theory in the anti-adiabatic regime and is consistent with renormalisation group arguments in the adiabatic regime. The Luttinger liquid parameters, determined by finite-size scaling, are consistent with a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.Comment: Minor changes. 4 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Physical Review Letters 80 (1998) 560

Quantity and Quality Benefits of in-Service Invasive Cleaning of Trunk Mains

Trunk mains are high risk critical infrastructure where poor performance can impact on large numbers of customers. Both quantity (e.g. hydraulic capacity) and quality (e.g. discolouration) of trunk main performance are affected by asset deterioration in the form of particle accumulation at the pipe wall. Trunk main cleaning techniques are therefore desirable to remove such material. However, little is quantified regarding the efficacy of different maintenance interventions or longer-term changes following such cleaning. This paper presents an assessment of quantity and quality performance of a trunk main system pre, post and for 12 months following cleaning using pigging with ice slurry. Hydraulic calibration showed a 7 times roughness height reduction after ice slurry pigging, evidencing substantially improved hydraulic capacity and reduced headloss. Turbidity response due to carefully imposed shear stress increase remained significant after the cleaning intervention, showing that relatively loose material had not been fully removed from the pipe wall. Overall the results demonstrate that cleaning by pigging with ice slurry can be beneficial for quantity performance, but care and further assessment may be necessary to realise the full quality benefits