Thermoanalysis of ablation materials

Thermal analysis on pyrolysis of charring ablator material

Enhancing Care Transitions for Older People through Interprofessional Simulation: A Mixed Method Evaluation

Introduction: The educational needs of the health and social care workforce for delivering effective integrated care are important. This paper reports on the development, pilot and evaluation of an interprofessional simulation course, which aimed to support integrated care models for care transitions for older people from hospital to home. Theory and methods: The course development was informed by a literature review and a scoping exercise with the health and social care workforce. The course ran six times and was attended by health and social care professionals from hospital and community (n=49). The evaluation aimed to elicit staff perceptions of their learning about care transfers of older people and to explore application of learning into practice and perceived outcomes. The study used a sequential mixed method design with questionnaires completed pre (n=44) and post (n=47) course and interviews (n=9) 2-5 months later. Results:Participants evaluated interprofessional simulation as a successful strategy. Post-course, participants identified learning points and at the interviews, similar themes with examples of application in practice were: Understanding individual needs and empathy; Communicating with patients and families; Interprofessional working; Working across settings to achieve effective care transitions. Conclusions and discussion:An interprofessional simulation course successfully brought together health and social care professionals across settings to develop integrated care skills and improve care transitions for older people with complex needs from hospital to home

Development of computer software to analyze entire LANDSAT scenes and to summarize classification results of variable-size polygons

The Forest Pest Management Division (FPMD) of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry has the responsibility for conducting annual surveys of the State's forest lands to accurately detect, map, and appraise forest insect infestations. A standardized, timely, and cost-effective method of accurately surveying forests and their condition should enhance the probability of suppressing infestations. The repetitive and synoptic coverage provided by LANDSAT (formerly ERTS) makes such satellite-derived data potentially attractive as a survey medium for monitoring forest insect damage over large areas. Forest Pest Management Division personnel have expressed keen interest in LANDSAT data and have informally cooperated with NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) since 1976 in the development of techniques to facilitate their use. The results of this work indicate that it may be feasible to use LANDSAT digital data to conduct annual surveys of insect defoliation of hardwood forests

Planetary Science Goals for the Spitzer Warm Era

The overarching goal of planetary astronomy is to deduce how the present collection of objects found in our Solar System were formed from the original material present in the proto-solar nebula. As over two hundred exo-planetary systems are now known, and multitudes more are expected, the Solar System represents the closest and best system which we can study, and the only one in which we can clearly resolve individual bodies other than planets. In this White Paper we demonstrate how to use Spitzer Space Telescope InfraRed Array Camera Channels 1 and 2 (3.6 and 4.5 µm) imaging photometry with large dedicated surveys to advance our knowledge of Solar System formation and evolution. There are a number of vital, key projects to be pursued using dedicated large programs that have not been pursued during the five years of Spitzer cold operations. We present a number of the largest and most important projects here; more will certainly be proposed once the warm era has begun, including important observations of newly discovered objects

Critical Exponent for the Density of Percolating Flux

This paper is a study of some of the critical properties of a simple model for flux. The model is motivated by gauge theory and is equivalent to the Ising model in three dimensions. The phase with condensed flux is studied. This is the ordered phase of the Ising model and the high temperature, deconfined phase of the gauge theory. The flux picture will be used in this phase. Near the transition, the density is low enough so that flux variables remain useful. There is a finite density of finite flux clusters on both sides of the phase transition. In the deconfined phase, there is also an infinite, percolating network of flux with a density that vanishes as $T \rightarrow T_{c}^{+}$. On both sides of the critical point, the nonanalyticity in the total flux density is characterized by the exponent $(1-\alpha)$. The main result of this paper is a calculation of the critical exponent for the percolating network. The exponent for the density of the percolating cluster is $\zeta = (1-\alpha) - (\varphi-1)$. The specific heat exponent $\alpha$ and the crossover exponent $\varphi$ can be computed in the $\epsilon$-expansion. Since $\zeta < (1-\alpha)$, the variation in the separate densities is much more rapid than that of the total. Flux is moving from the infinite cluster to the finite clusters much more rapidly than the total density is decreasing.Comment: 20 pages, no figures, Latex/Revtex 3, UCD-93-2

Complex-Temperature Singularities in the d=2d=2 Ising Model. III. Honeycomb Lattice

We study complex-temperature properties of the uniform and staggered susceptibilities $\chi$ and $\chi^{(a)}$ of the Ising model on the honeycomb lattice. From an analysis of low-temperature series expansions, we find evidence that $\chi$ and $\chi^{(a)}$ both have divergent singularities at the point $z=-1 \equiv z_{\ell}$ (where $z=e^{-2K}$), with exponents $\gamma_{\ell}'= \gamma_{\ell,a}'=5/2$. The critical amplitudes at this singularity are calculated. Using exact results, we extract the behaviour of the magnetisation $M$ and specific heat $C$ at complex-temperature singularities. We find that, in addition to its zero at the physical critical point, $M$ diverges at $z=-1$ with exponent $\beta_{\ell}=-1/4$, vanishes continuously at $z=\pm i$ with exponent $\beta_s=3/8$, and vanishes discontinuously elsewhere along the boundary of the complex-temperature ferromagnetic phase. $C$ diverges at $z=-1$ with exponent $\alpha_{\ell}'=2$ and at $v=\pm i/\sqrt{3}$ (where $v = \tanh K$) with exponent $\alpha_e=1$, and diverges logarithmically at $z=\pm i$. We find that the exponent relation $\alpha'+2\beta+\gamma'=2$ is violated at $z=-1$; the right-hand side is 4 rather than 2. The connections of these results with complex-temperature properties of the Ising model on the triangular lattice are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, latex, figures appended after the end of the text as a compressed, uuencoded postscript fil

The sedimentology of gravel beds in groundwater-dominated chalk streams: Implications for sediment modelling and management

Elevated fine sediment accumulation in a river system's gravel bed is known to cause detrimental ecological impacts. Current sediment targets and approaches to mitigation have failed due to the oversimplification of geomorphological processes controlling fine sediment accumulation and the lack of relevant scientific knowledge underpinning them. This is particularly apparent in chalk streams (groundwater-dominated systems) which regularly exhibit high rates of sediment accumulation despite low suspended sediment yields. A necessary first step is to better characterise their sedimentology; thus, the novelty of this study was to determine the sedimentological characteristics of chalk stream gravel beds, specifically the quantity and distribution of fine sediment with depth. We collated published and unpublished freeze-core data, encompassing 90 sites across 11 UK chalk streams. Results showed average quantities of fine sediment (75% of beds exceeding thresholds for ecological degradation. Quantities of fine sediment increased with increasing depth into the bed, with an average increase between surface and subsurface layers of 54%, and 89% of the gravel bed over-saturated with fine sediment. Regional differences were attributed to differences in stream power and local sediment sources, including surficial geology and catchment land use. Additionally, a major contrast was identified between experimental conditions in flume studies used to establish models describing interactions/mechanisms of fine sediment infiltration into immobile gravel beds and the natural conditions observed in chalk streams. As such, the use of such models as a basis to explore sediment management scenarios is unlikely to predict the outcome of such management techniques correctly in a real-world situation

Interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or increase water intake: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

A systematic review and meta-analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of interventions to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) or increase water intakes and to examine the impact of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) in consumption patterns. Randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials published after January 1990 and until December 2016 reporting daily changes in intakes of SSB or water in volumetric measurements (mL d¯¹) were included. References were retrieved through searches of electronic databases and quality appraisal followed Cochrane principles. We calculated mean differences (MD) and synthesized data with random-effects models. Forty studies with 16 505 participants were meta-analysed. Interventions significantly decreased consumption of SSB in children by 76 mL d¯¹ (95% confidence interval [CI] −105 to −46; 23 studies, P < 0.01), and in adolescents (−66 mL d¯¹, 95% CI −130 to −2; 5 studies, P = 0.04) but not in adults (−13 mL d¯¹, 95% CI −44 to 18; 12 studies, P = 0.16). Pooled estimates of water intakes were only possible for interventions in children, and results were indicative of increases in water intake (MD +67 mL d¯¹, 95% CI 6 to 128; 7 studies, P = 0.04). For children, there was evidence to suggest that modelling/demonstrating the behaviour helped to reduce SSB intake and that interventions within the home environment had greater effects than school-based interventions. In conclusion, public health interventions – mainly via nutritional education/counselling – are moderately successful at reducing intakes of SSB and increasing water intakes in children. However, on average, only small reductions in SSBs have been achieved by interventions targeting adolescents and adults. Complementary measures may be needed to achieve greater improvements in both dietary behaviours across all age groups

Exome resequencing and GWAS for growth, ecophysiology, and chemical and metabolomic composition of wood of Populus trichocarpa.

BackgroundPopulus trichocarpa is an important forest tree species for the generation of lignocellulosic ethanol. Understanding the genomic basis of biomass production and chemical composition of wood is fundamental in supporting genetic improvement programs. Considerable variation has been observed in this species for complex traits related to growth, phenology, ecophysiology and wood chemistry. Those traits are influenced by both polygenic control and environmental effects, and their genome architecture and regulation are only partially understood. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) represent an approach to advance that aim using thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Genotyping using exome capture methodologies represent an efficient approach to identify specific functional regions of genomes underlying phenotypic variation.ResultsWe identified 813 K SNPs, which were utilized for genotyping 461 P. trichocarpa clones, representing 101 provenances collected from Oregon and Washington, and established in California. A GWAS performed on 20 traits, considering single SNP-marker tests identified a variable number of significant SNPs (p-value &lt; 6.1479E-8) in association with diameter, height, leaf carbon and nitrogen contents, and δ15N. The number of significant SNPs ranged from 2 to 220 per trait. Additionally, multiple-marker analyses by sliding-windows tests detected between 6 and 192 significant windows for the analyzed traits. The significant SNPs resided within genes that encode proteins belonging to different functional classes as such protein synthesis, energy/metabolism and DNA/RNA metabolism, among others.ConclusionsSNP-markers within genes associated with traits of importance for biomass production were detected. They contribute to characterize the genomic architecture of P. trichocarpa biomass required to support the development and application of marker breeding technologies