A rotor-mounted digital instrumentation system for helicopter blade flight research measurements

A rotor mounted flight instrumentation system developed for helicopter rotor blade research is described. The system utilizes high speed digital techniques to acquire research data from miniature pressure transducers on advanced rotor airfoils which are flight tested on an AH-1G helicopter. The system employs microelectronic pulse code modulation (PCM) multiplexer digitizer stations located remotely on the blade and in a hub mounted metal canister. As many as 25 sensors can be remotely digitized by a 2.5 mm thick electronics package mounted on the blade near the tip to reduce blade wiring. The electronics contained in the canister digitizes up to 16 sensors, formats these data with serial PCM data from the remote stations, and transmits the data from the canister which is above the plane of the rotor. Data are transmitted over an RF link to the ground for real time monitoring and to the helicopter fuselage for tape recording. The complete system is powered by batteries located in the canister and requires no slip rings on the rotor shaft

Establishing the values for patient engagement (PE) in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) research: an international, multiple-stakeholder perspective

PurposeActive patient engagement is increasingly viewed as essential to ensuring that patient-driven perspectives are considered throughout the research process. However, guidance for patient engagement (PE) in HRQoL research does not exist, the evidence-base for practice is limited, and we know relatively little about underpinning values that can impact on PE practice. This is the first study to explore the values that should underpin PE in contemporary HRQoL research to help inform future good practice guidance. MethodsA modified ‘World Café’ was hosted as a collaborative activity between patient partners, clinicians and researchers: self-nominated conference delegates participated in group discussions to explore values associated with the conduct and consequences of PE. Values were captured via post-it notes and by nominated note-takers. Data were thematically analysed: emergent themes were coded and agreement checked. Association between emergent themes, values and the Public Involvement Impact Assessment Framework were explored. ResultsEighty participants, including 12 patient partners, participated in the 90-min event. Three core values were defined: (1) building relationships; (2) improving research quality and impact; and (3) developing best practice. Participants valued the importance of building genuine, collaborative and deliberative relationships—underpinned by honesty, respect, co-learning and equity—and the impact of effective PE on research quality and relevance. Conclusions An explicit statement of values seeks to align all stakeholders on the purpose, practice and credibility of PE activities. An innovative, flexible and transparent research environment was valued as essential to developing a trustworthy evidence-base with which to underpin future guidance for good PE practice.Peer reviewe

Emerging applications in mass spectrometry imaging; enablers and roadblocks

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a powerful and versatile technique able to investigate the spatial distribution of multiple non-labelled endogenous and exogenous analytes simultaneously, within a wide range of samples. Over the last two decades, MSI has found widespread application for an extensive range of disciplines including pre-clinical drug discovery, clinical applications and human identification for forensic purposes. Technical advances in both instrumentation and software capabilities have led to a continual increase in the interest in MSI; however, there are still some limitations. In this review, we discuss the emerging applications in MSI that significantly impact three key areas of mass spectrometry (MS) research—clinical, pre-clinical and forensics—and roadblocks to the expansion of use of MSI in these areas

Space Velocities of L- and T-type Dwarfs

(Abridged) We have obtained radial velocities of a sample of 18 ultracool dwarfs (M6.5-T8) using high-resolution, near-infrared spectra obtained with NIRSPEC and the Keck II telescope. We have confirmed that the radial velocity of Gl 570 D is coincident with that of the K-type primary star Gl 570 A, thus providing additional support for their true companionship. The presence of planetary-mass companions around 2MASS J05591914-1404488 (T4.5V) has been analyzed using five NIRSPEC radial velocity measurements obtained over a period of 4.37 yr. We have computed UVW space motions for a total of 21 L and T dwarfs within 20 pc of the Sun. This population shows UVW velocities that nicely overlap the typical kinematics of solar to M-type stars within the same spatial volume. However, the mean Galactic (44.2 km/s) and tangential (36.5 km/s) velocities of the L and T dwarfs appear to be smaller than those of G to M stars. A significant fraction (~40%) of the L and T dwarfs lies near the Hyades moving group (0.4-2 Gyr), which contrasts with the 10-12% found for earlier-type stellar neighbors. Additionally, the distributions of all three UVW components (sigma_{UVW} = 30.2, 16.5, 15.8 km/s) and the distributions of the total Galactic (sigma_{v_tot} = 19.1 km/s) and tangential (sigma_{v_t} = 17.6 km/s) velocities derived for the L and T dwarf sample are narrower than those measured for nearby G, K, and M-type stars, but similar to the dispersions obtained for F stars. This suggests that, in the solar neighborhood, the L- and T-type ultracool dwarfs in our sample (including brown dwarfs) is kinematically younger than solar-type to early M stars with likely ages in the interval 0.5-4 Gyr.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Co-Occurrence and Characteristics of Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis Who Meet Criteria for Fibromyalgia : Results From a UK National Register

The British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) Biologics Register in Ankylosing Spondylitis is funded by the BSR and they have receive funds for this from Pfizer, AbbVie and UCB. These companies receive advance copies of manuscripts and can provide comments but have no input into determining the topics for analysis, publication and no input into the work involved in this analysis. This analysis is part-funded by Arthritis Research UK (Grant No: 21378)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Studying the impact of biomass burning aerosol radiative and climate effects on the Amazon rainforest productivity with an Earth system model

Diffuse light conditions can increase the efficiency of photosynthesis and carbon uptake by vegetation canopies. The diffuse fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) can be affected by either a change in the atmospheric aerosol burden and/or a change in cloudiness. During the dry season, a hotspot of biomass burning on the edges of the Amazon rainforest emits a complex mixture of aerosols and their precursors and climate-active trace gases (e.g. CO2, CH4, NOx). This creates potential for significant interactions between chemistry, aerosol, cloud, radiation and the biosphere across the Amazon region. The combined effects of biomass burning on the terrestrial carbon cycle for the present day are potentially large, yet poorly quantified. Here, we quantify such effects using the Met Office Hadley Centre Earth system model HadGEM2-ES, which provides a fully coupled framework with interactive aerosol, radiative transfer, dynamic vegetation, atmospheric chemistry and biogenic volatile organic compound emission components. Results show that for present day, defined as year 2000 climate, the overall net impact of biomass burning aerosols is to increase net primary productivity (NPP) by +80 to +105 TgC yr−1, or 1.9 % to 2.7 %, over the central Amazon Basin on annual mean. For the first time we show that this enhancement is the net result of multiple competing effects: an increase in diffuse light which stimulates photosynthetic activity in the shaded part of the canopy (+65 to +110 TgC yr−1), a reduction in the total amount of radiation (−52 to −105 TgC yr−1) which reduces photosynthesis and feedback from climate adjustments in response to the aerosol forcing which increases the efficiency of biochemical processes (+67 to +100 TgC yr−1). These results illustrate that despite a modest direct aerosol effect (the sum of the first two counteracting mechanisms), the overall net impact of biomass burning aerosols on vegetation is sizeable when indirect climate feedbacks are considered. We demonstrate that capturing the net impact of aerosols on vegetation should be assessed considering the system-wide behaviour

On the vertical distribution of smoke in the Amazonian atmosphere during the dry season

PublishedLidar observations of smoke aerosols have been analysed from six flights of the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements BAe-146 research aircraft over Brazil during the biomass burning season (September 2012). A large aerosol optical depth (AOD) was observed, typically ranging 0.4–0.9, along with a typical aerosol extinction coefficient of 100–400 Mm−1. The data highlight the persistent and widespread nature of the Amazonian haze, which had a consistent vertical structure, observed over a large distance ( ∼ 2200 km) during a period of 14 days. Aerosols were found near the surface; but the larger aerosol load was typically found in elevated layers that extended from 1–1.5 to 4–6 km. The measurements have been compared to model predictions with the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) and the ECMWF-MACC model. The MetUM generally reproduced the vertical structure of the Amazonian haze observed with the lidar. The ECMWF-MACC model was also able to reproduce the general features of smoke plumes albeit with a small overestimation of the AOD. The models did not always capture localised features such as (i) smoke plumes originating from individual fires, and (ii) aerosols in the vicinity of clouds. In both these circumstances, peak extinction coefficients of the order of 1000–1500 Mm−1 and AODs as large as 1–1.8 were encountered, but these features were either underestimated or not captured in the model predictions. Smoke injection heights derived from the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) for the region are compatible with the general height of the aerosol layers.Airborne data were obtained using the BAe-146-301 Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) flown by Directflight Ltd and managed by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM), which is a joint entity of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Met Office. SAMBBA was funded by the Met Office and NERC (grant NE/J009822/1). Patrick Chazette and the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) are kindly thanked for help fixing our lidar prior to SAMBB

Corotation: its influence on the chemical abundance pattern of the Galaxy

A simple theory for the chemical enrichment of the Galaxy which takes into account the effects of spiral arms on heavy elements output was developed. In the framework of the model with the corotation close to the position of the Sun in the Galaxy the observed abundance features are explained.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 5 jpg figures, uses aastex.sty, submitted to ApJ Let

The ATLAS SCT grounding and shielding concept and implementation

This paper presents a complete description of Virgo, the French-Italian gravitational wave detector. The detector, built at Cascina, near Pisa (Italy), is a very large Michelson interferometer, with 3 km-long arms. In this paper, following a presentation of the physics requirements, leading to the specifications for the construction of the detector, a detailed description of all its different elements is given. These include civil engineering infrastructures, a huge ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber (about 6000 cubic metres), all of the optical components, including high quality mirrors and their seismic isolating suspensions, all of the electronics required to control the interferometer and for signal detection. The expected performances of these different elements are given, leading to an overall sensitivity curve as a function of the incoming gravitational wave frequency. This description represents the detector as built and used in the first data-taking runs. Improvements in different parts have been and continue to be performed, leading to better sensitivities. These will be detailed in a forthcoming paper

An exploratory survey on the awareness and usage of clinical practice guidelines among clinical pharmacists

Background: The NHLBI has not developed clinical practice guidelines since 2007. As a result, multiple organizations have released competing guidelines. This has created confusion and debate among clinicians as to which recommendations are most applicable for practice. Objectives: To explore preliminary attitudes, awareness, and usage of clinical practice guidelines in practice and teaching for hypertension, dyslipidemia and asthma among clinical pharmacists. Methods: Clinical pharmacists across the US were surveyed electronically over a two week period in Spring 2019 regarding utilization and knowledge of practice guidelines for hypertension, dyslipidemia, and asthma. Clinical cases were included to evaluate application of guidelines. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square analysis, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were conducted. Statistical significance level was set to 0.01 to account for multiple tests conducted on the same survey participants. Results: Forty-eight, 34, and 28 pharmacists voluntarily completed hypertension, dyslipidemia, and asthma survey questions, respectively. Interactions by disease state (p \u3c 0.001) revealed more pharmacists (93%) reporting to have ≤50% patient load in managing asthma and more pharmacists (95%) had read the full summary/report of the most recent hypertension guideline. Primary reasons why the most recent guideline was not selected were also significantly different by disease state (interaction; p \u3c 0.001). For dyslipidemia and asthma, pharmacists had a higher mean rating of agreement (p \u3c0.007) in having the most confidence in the most recent as compared to older guidelines. Proportionally more clinical cases were answered correctly (interaction; p \u3c0.001) when pharmacists applied the most recent guideline for hypertension (84%), while the opposite outcome was found for asthma (27%). Conclusion: While more pharmacists selected the most recent guideline for practice and teaching, there was inconsistent application of guidelines to clinical cases. Further studies with a larger representation of pharmacists are warranted to more definitively determine factors influencing guideline preference and usage