1,672 research outputs found
Collisions Between Gravity-Dominated Bodies: 1. Outcome Regimes and Scaling Laws
Collisions are the core agent of planet formation. In this work, we derive an
analytic description of the dynamical outcome for any collision between
gravity-dominated bodies. We conduct high-resolution simulations of collisions
between planetesimals; the results are used to isolate the effects of different
impact parameters on collision outcome. During growth from planetesimals to
planets, collision outcomes span multiple regimes: cratering, merging,
disruption, super-catastrophic disruption, and hit-and-run events. We derive
equations (scaling laws) to demarcate the transition between collision regimes
and to describe the size and velocity distributions of the post-collision
bodies. The scaling laws are used to calculate maps of collision outcomes as a
function of mass ratio, impact angle, and impact velocity, and we discuss the
implications of the probability of each collision regime during planet
formation.
The analytic collision model presented in this work will significantly
improve the physics of collisions in numerical simulations of planet formation
and collisional evolution. (abstract abridged)Comment: Version 3, accepted to ApJ in Nov. 2011 published online Dec. 2011.
Abstract abridge
Erosive Hit-and-Run Impact Events: Debris Unbound
Erosive collisions among planetary embryos in the inner solar system can lead
to multiple remnant bodies, varied in mass, composition and residual velocity.
Some of the smaller, unbound debris may become available to seed the main
asteroid belt. The makeup of these collisionally produced bodies is different
from the canonical chondritic composition, in terms of rock/iron ratio and may
contain further shock-processed material. Having some of the material in the
asteroid belt owe its origin from collisions of larger planetary bodies may
help in explaining some of the diversity and oddities in composition of
different asteroid groups.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Collisional stripping of planetary crusts
Geochemical studies of planetary accretion and evolution have invoked various
degrees of collisional erosion to explain differences in bulk composition
between planets and chondrites. Here we undertake a full, dynamical evaluation
of 'crustal stripping' during accretion and its key geochemical consequences.
We present smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of collisions between
differentiated rocky planetesimals and planetary embryos. We find that the
crust is preferentially lost relative to the mantle during impacts, and we have
developed a scaling law that approximates the mass of crust that remains in the
largest remnant. Using this scaling law and a recent set of N-body simulations,
we have estimated the maximum effect of crustal stripping on incompatible
element abundances during the accretion of planetary embryos. We find that on
average one third of the initial crust is stripped from embryos as they
accrete, which leads to a reduction of ~20% in the budgets of the heat
producing elements if the stripped crust does not reaccrete. Erosion of crusts
can lead to non-chondritic ratios of incompatible elements, but the magnitude
of this effect depends sensitively on the details of the crust-forming melting
process. The Lu/Hf system is fractionated for a wide range of crustal formation
scenarios. Using eucrites (the products of planetesimal silicate melting,
thought to represent the crust of Vesta) as a guide to the Lu/Hf of
planetesimal crust partially lost during accretion, we predict the Earth could
evolve to a superchondritic 176-Hf/177-Hf (3-5 parts per ten thousand) at
present day. Such values are in keeping with compositional estimates of the
bulk Earth. Stripping of planetary crusts during accretion can lead to
detectable changes in bulk composition of lithophile elements, but the
fractionation is relatively subtle, and sensitive to the efficiency of
reaccretion.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in EPSL. Abstract
shortened. Accompanying animations can be found at
http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/pcarter/crust_strip
Major health-related behaviours and mental well-being in the general population : the health survey for England
Background: Major behavioural risk factors are known to adversely affect health outcomes and be strongly associated with mental illness. However, little is known about the association of these risk factors with mental well-being in the general population. We sought to examine behavioural correlates of high and low mental well-being in the Health Survey for England.
Methods: Participants were 13 983 adults, aged 16 years and older (56% females), with valid responses for the combined 2010 and 2011 surveys. Mental well-being was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). ORs of low and high mental well-being, compared to the middle-range category, were estimated for body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking habits, and fruit and vegetable intake.
Results: ORs for low mental well-being were increased in obese individuals (up to 1.72, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.36 in BMI 40+ kg/m2). They increased in a linear fashion with increasing smoking (up to 1.98, 95% CI 1.55 to 2.53, >20 cigarettes/day) and with decreasing fruit and vegetable intake (up to 1.53, 95% CI 1.24 to 1.90, <1 portion/day); whereas ORs were reduced for sensible alcohol intake (0.78, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.91, ≤4 units/day in men, ≤3 units/day in women). ORs for high mental well-being were not correlated with categories of BMI or alcohol intake. ORs were reduced among ex-smokers (0.81, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.92), as well as with lower fruit and vegetable intake (up to 0.79, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.92, 1 to <3 portions/day).
Conclusions; Along with smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption was the health-related behaviour most consistently associated with mental well-being in both sexes. Alcohol intake and obesity were associated with low, but not high mental well-being
The Formation of the Collisional Family around the Dwarf Planet Haumea
Haumea, a rapidly rotating elongated dwarf planet (~ 1500 km in diameter),
has two satellites and is associated with a "family" of several smaller Kuiper
Belt objects (KBOs) in similar orbits. All members of the Haumea system share a
water ice spectral feature that is distinct from all other KBOs. The relative
velocities between the Haumea family members are too small to have formed by
catastrophic disruption of a large precursor body, which is the process that
formed families around much smaller asteroids in the Main Belt. Here we show
that all of the unusual characteristics of the Haumea system are explained by a
novel type of giant collision: a graze-and-merge impact between two comparably
sized bodies. The grazing encounter imparted the high angular momentum that
spun off fragments from the icy crust of the elongated merged body. The
fragments became satellites and family members. Giant collision outcomes are
extremely sensitive to the impact parameters. Compared to the Main Belt, the
largest bodies in the Kuiper Belt are more massive and experience slower
velocity collisions; hence, outcomes of giant collisions are dramatically
different between the inner and outer solar system. The dwarf planets in the
Kuiper Belt record an unexpectedly large number of giant collisions, requiring
a special dynamical event at the end of solar system formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables
Feasibility trial evaluation of a physical activity and screen-viewing course for parents of 6 to 8 year-old children : Teamplay
Background:
Many children spend too much time screen-viewing (watching TV, surfing the internet and playing video games) and do not meet physical activity (PA) guidelines. Parents are important influences on children’s PA and screen-viewing (SV). There is a shortage of parent-focused interventions to change children’s PA and SV.
Methods:
Teamplay was a two arm individualized randomized controlled feasibility trial. Participants were parents of 6–8 year old children. Intervention participants were invited to attend an eight week parenting program with each session lasting 2 hours. Children and parents wore an accelerometer for seven days and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) were derived. Parents were also asked to report the average number of hours per day that both they and the target child spent watching TV. Measures were assessed at baseline (time 0) at the end of the intervention (week 8) and 2 months after the intervention had ended (week 16).
Results:
There were 75 participants who provided consent and were randomized but 27 participants withdrew post-randomization. Children in the intervention group engaged in 2.6 fewer minutes of weekday MVPA at Time 1 but engaged in 11 more minutes of weekend MVPA. At Time 1 the intervention parents engaged in 9 more minutes of weekday MVPA and 13 more minutes of weekend MVPA. The proportion of children in the intervention group watching ≥ 2 hours per day of TV on weekend days decreased after the intervention (time 0 = 76%, time 1 = 39%, time 2 = 50%), while the control group proportion increased slightly (79%, 86% and 87%). Parental weekday TV watching decreased in both groups. In post-study interviews many mothers reported problems associated with wearing the accelerometers. In terms of a future full-scale trial, a sample of between 80 and 340 families would be needed to detect a mean difference of 10-minutes of weekend MVPA.
Conclusions:
Teamplay is a promising parenting program in an under-researched area. The intervention was acceptable to parents, and all elements of the study protocol were successfully completed. Simple changes to the trial protocol could result in more complete data collection and study engagement
Parental modelling, media equipment and screen-viewing among young children : cross-sectional study
Objective: To examine whether parental screenviewing,
parental attitudes or access to media
equipment were associated with the screen-viewing of
6-year-old to 8-year-old children.
Design: Cross-sectional survey.
Setting: Online survey.
Main outcome: Parental report of the number of
hours per weekday that they and, separately, their 6-
year-old to 8-year-old child spent watching TV, using a
games console, a smart-phone and multiscreen
viewing. Parental screen-viewing, parental attitudes and
pieces of media equipment were exposures.
Results: Over 75% of the parents and 62% of the
children spent more than 2 h/weekday watching TV.
Over two-thirds of the parents and almost 40% of the
children spent more than an hour per day multiscreen
viewing. The mean number of pieces of media
equipment in the home was 5.9 items, with 1.3 items
in the child’s bedroom. Children who had parents who
spent more than 2 h/day watching TV were over 7.8
times more likely to exceed the 2 h threshold. Girls and
boys who had a parent who spent an hour or more
multiscreen viewing were 34 times more likely to also
spend more than an hour per day multiscreen viewing.
Media equipment in the child’s bedroom was
associated with higher TV viewing, computer time and
multiscreen viewing. Each increment in the parental
agreement that watching TV was relaxing for their child
was associated with a 49% increase in the likelihood
that the child spent more than 2 h/day watching TV.
Conclusions: Children who have parents who engage
in high levels of screen-viewing are more likely to
engage in high levels of screen-viewing. Access to
media equipment, particularly in the child’s bedroom,
was associated with higher levels of screen-viewing.
Family-based strategies to reduce screen-viewing and
limit media equipment access may be important ways
to reduce child screen-viewing
Process evaluation of the Teamplay parenting intervention pilot : implications for recruitment, retention and course refinement
Background
Parenting programs could provide effective routes to increasing children’s physical activity and reducing screen-viewing. Many studies have reported difficulties in recruiting and retaining families in group parenting interventions. This paper uses qualitative data from the Teamplay feasibility trial to examine parents’ views on recruitment, attendance and course refinement.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 intervention and 10 control group parents of 6–8 year old children. Topics discussed with the intervention group included parents’ views on the recruitment, structure, content and delivery of the course. Topics discussed with the control group included recruitment and randomization. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed.
Results
Many parents in both the intervention and control group reported that they joined the study because they had been thinking about ways to improve their parenting skills, getting ideas on how to change behavior, or had been actively looking for a parenting course but with little success in enrolling on one. Both intervention and control group parents reported that the initial promotional materials and indicative course topics resonated with their experiences and represented a possible solution to parenting challenges. Participants reported that the course leaders played an important role in helping them to feel comfortable during the first session, engaging anxious parents and putting parents at ease. The most commonly reported reason for parents returning to the course after an absence was because they wanted to learn new information. The majority of parents reported that they formed good relationships with the other parents in the group. An empathetic interaction style in which leaders accommodated parent’s busy lives appeared to impact positively on course attendance.
Conclusions
The data presented indicate that a face-to-face recruitment campaign which built trust and emphasized how the program was relevant to families positively affected recruitment in Teamplay. Parents found the parenting component of the intervention attractive and, once recruited, attendance was facilitated by enjoyable sessions, empathetic leaders and support from fellow participants. Overall, data suggest that the Teamplay recruitment and retention approaches were successful and with small refinements could be effectively used in a larger trial
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