Surface nanobubbles on the rare earth fluorcarbonate mineral synchysite

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordData availability: Original data from this publication is available via open access at the British Geological Survey National Geoscience Data Centre, United Kingdom (NGDC)Surface nanobubbles have been identified to play an important role in a range of industries from mineral processing to food science. The formation of surface nanobubbles is of importance for mineral processing in the extraction of complex ores, such as those containing rare earth elements. This is due to the way minerals are extracted utilising froth flotation. In this study, surface nanobubbles were imaged using non-contact atomic force microscopy on a polished cross section containing rare earth minerals. Nanobubbles were found on synchysite under reagent conditions expected to induce hydrophobicity in rare earth minerals, which is required for efficient processing. Synchysite –(Ce)is a rare earth fluorcarbonate mineral containing over 30% rare earth elements. Relatively little research has been conducted on synchysite, with only a few papers on its surface behaviour and flotation. The resulting nanobubbles were analysed and showed an average contact angle of 24° ± 8. These are in line with contact angles found on dolomite and galena by previous studies.Mkango Resources Ltd

Radiographic Capabilities of the MERCURY Monte Carlo Code

MERCURY is a modern, parallel, general-purpose Monte Carlo code being developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Recently, a radiographic capability has been added. MERCURY can create a source of diagnostic, virtual particles that are aimed at pixels in an image tally. This new feature is compared to the radiography code, HADES, for verification and timing. Comparisons for accuracy were made using the French Test Object and for timing were made by tracking through an unstructured mesh. In addition, self consistency tests were run in MERCURY for the British Test Object and scattering test problem. MERCURY and HADES were found to agree to the precision of the input data. HADES appears to run around eight times faster than the MERCURY in the timing study. Profiling the MERCURY code has turned up several differences in the algorithms which account for this. These differences will be addressed in a future release of MERCURY

HADES, A Radiographic Simulation Code

We describe features of the HADES radiographic simulation code. We begin with a discussion of why it is useful to simulate transmission radiography. The capabilities of HADES are described, followed by an application of HADES to a dynamic experiment recently performed at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. We describe quantitative comparisons between experimental data and HADES simulations using a copper step wedge. We conclude with a short discussion of future work planned for HADES

Psychosocial primary care – what patients expect from their General Practitioners A cross-sectional trial

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial Primary Care (PPC) is a model of service delivery for patients with mental disorders and psychosocial problems which was established in Germany in 1987. This study was performed as part of the evaluation of a PPC training program. We investigated patients' expectations of the psychosocial treatment offered by GPs trained in PPC. METHODS: Ten general practitioners trained in PPC were randomly selected. Two hundred and twenty patients were surveyed in the waiting room regarding their expectations concerning psychological treatment. RESULTS: Eighty-five per cent of patients could envisage making use of psychosocial treatments. Counselling by the GP was considered most important (65%). Fifty-four per cent of patients indicated that there was sufficient counselling, but further distinctions revealed dissatisfaction with both the extent and content of the counselling. Lack of time was the most frequent reason (53%) cited for insufficient counselling. A willingness to discuss the psychological aspects of illness was exhibited by between 55% (current illness) and 79% of patients. Two-thirds of patients believed that discussing psychological aspects and counselling by the doctor could exert a healing effect or contribute to symptomatic improvement in physical illnesses. Younger patients and patients with experience in psychotherapy expected referral to mental health services. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care patients desire and accept psychological treatment from their GP. Training in psychosocial competence in primary care should be offered more frequently

Source description and sampling techniques in PEREGRINE Monte Carlo calculations of dose distributions for radiation oncology

We outline the techniques used within PEREGRINE, a 3D Monte Carlo code calculation system, to model the photon output from medical accelerators. We discuss the methods used to reduce the phase-space data to a form that is accurately and efficiently sampled