The response of the magnetosphere to the passage of a coronal mass ejection on March 20-21 1990

International audienceThe geomagnetic response to the passage of a coronal mass ejection (CME) is studied. The passage of the CME resulted in a storm sudden commencement (SSC) at 2243 UT on March 20 1990 with disturbed magnetic activity during the following 24 h. The auroral, sub-auroral and equatorial magnetic response to the southward turning at 1314 (±5) UT on March 21 and the equatorial response to the southward turning associated with the SSC on 20 March are discussed in terms of existing models. It is found that the auroral and sub-auroral response to the southward turning associated with the SSC is a factor 2 or more quicker than normal due to the shock in the solar wind dynamic pressure. The low-latitude response time to the southward turning, characterised by Dst and the magnetopause current corrected Dst*, is unaffected by the shock. Dst and Dst*, characteristic of the equatorial magnetic field, responded to the 1314 (±5) UT southward turning prior to the first observed substorm expansion phase onset, suggesting that a dayside loading process was responsible for the initial enhancement in the ring current rather than nightside particle injection. The response time of the auroral and sub-auroral magnetic field to the southward turning at 1314 (±5) UT on March 21 is measured at a variety of longitudes and latitudes. The azimuthal propagation velocity of the response to the southward turning varied considerably with latitude, ranging from ~8 km s?1 at 67°N to ~4 km s?1 at 55°N. The southward velocity of the equatorward boundary of the northern polar convection pattern has been measured. This velocity was ~1.2 km s?1 at 1600 MLT, although there was evidence that this may vary at different local times

The Queensland Health Rural Generalist Pathway: providing a medical workforce for the bush

Introduction: Queensland Health's Rural Generalist Pathway is a supported career pathway for junior doctors to train in rural and remote medicine. The pathway joins evidence with policy to achieve professional recognition, credentialing, and industrial recognition. Methods: This article describes the principles underpinning the notion of rural generalism, the background to the establishment of the Rural Generalist Pathway in Queensland, Australia, how the pathway has been developed to meet the needs of Queensland's rural and remote communities, the implementation of the pathway, and the implications for other jurisdictions. Results: In 2007, 30 trainees commenced on the pathway, with total enrolment now of 182 in 2012. Trainees commence at the start of internship, completing their prevocational training component in postgraduate years 1 to 2. After prevocational certification they undertake advanced specialised training in a range of specialties, and then complete vocational training in a rural location, usually in their 4th to 5th postgraduate years. Trainees complete their general practice training through a Regional Training Provider, and achieve vocational registration by completion of appropriate fellowship assessment requirements. The pathway is managed by a geographically dispersed team of educators, clinicians and managers. The Rural Generalist team provide training and career advice, advocate for trainees and assist with negotiating posts. They map progress of trainees through the Vocational Indicative Planning process and arrange other educational activities including Rural Generalist workshops. Applications are often oversubscribed, with the intake growing to 41 in 2012, located at 10 intern training hospitals. In total 90 trainees have completed advanced specialised training as at the end of 2012. Conclusion: The Rural Generalist Pathway includes a challenging prevocational start to the career, the opportunity to specialise in a procedural skill or skills of interest and obtain general practice vocational training in a rural setting and appears to be proving an attractive choice for medical graduates seeking a challenging and varied career. Early evidence suggests that by recognizing and rewarding the worth of rural and remote practice, this strategy is creating its own supply line. From its initial roll-out in Queensland, rural generalist training continues to generate increased interest and enthusiasm across all Australian states and territories wishing to join this new wave of generalist practice. This new generation of health professionals for a new generation of services has the potential to provide the rural medical workforce the bush needs

Maximum-entropy theory of steady-state quantum transport

We develop a theoretical framework for describing steady-state quantum transport phenomena, based on the general maximum-entropy principle of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. The general form of the many-body density matrix is derived, which contains the invariant part of the current operator that guarantees the nonequilibrium and steady-state character of the ensemble. Several examples of the theory are given, demonstrating the relationship of the present treatment to the widely used scattering-state occupation schemes at the level of the self-consistent single-particle approximation. The latter schemes are shown not to maximize the entropy, except in certain limits

Impact of Salmonid alphavirus infection in diploid and triploid Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) fry

With increasing interest in the use of triploid salmon in commercial aquaculture, gaining an understanding of how economically important pathogens affect triploid stocks is important. To compare the susceptibility of diploid and triploid Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) to viral pathogens, fry were experimentally infected with Salmonid alphavirus sub-type 1 (SAV1), the aetiological agent of pancreas disease (PD) affecting Atlantic salmon aquaculture in Europe. Three groups of fry were exposed to the virus via different routes of infection: intraperitoneal injection (IP), bath immersion, or cohabitation (co-hab) and untreated fry were used as a control group. Mortalities commenced in the co-hab challenged diploid and triploid fish from 11 days post infection (dpi), and the experiment was terminated at 17 dpi. Both diploid and triploid IP challenged groups had similar levels of cumulative mortality at the end of the experimental period (41.1 % and 38.9 % respectively), and these were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than for the other challenge routes. A TaqMan-based quantitative PCR was used to assess SAV load in the heart, a main target organ of the virus, and also liver, which does not normally display any pathological changes during clinical infections, but exhibited severe degenerative lesions in the present study. The median viral RNA copy number was higher in diploid fish compared to triploid fish in both the heart and the liver of all three challenged groups. However, a significant statistical difference (p < 0.05) was only apparent in the liver of the co-hab groups. Diploid fry also displayed significantly higher levels of pancreatic and myocardial degeneration than triploids. This study showed that both diploid and triploid fry are susceptible to experimental SAV1 infection. The lower virus load seen in the triploids compared to the diploids may possibly be related to differences in cell metabolism between the two groups, however, further investigation is necessary to confirm this and also to assess the outcome of PD outbreaks in other developmental stages of the fish when maintained in commercial production systems

Cocreation of a digital patient health hub to enhance education and person-centred integrated care post hip fracture: a mixed-methods study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Older people with hip fractures often require long-term care and a crucial aspect is the provision of quality health information to patients and their carers to support continuity of care. If patients are well informed about their health condition and caring needs, particularly posthospital discharge into the community setting, this may support recovery and improve quality of life. As internet and mobile access reach every household, it is possible to deliver a new model of service using a digital education platform as a personal health hub where both patients and their providers of care can establish a more efficient information integration and exchange process. This protocol details proposed research, which aims to develop a 'model of care' by using a digital health solution that will allow delivery of high quality and patient-centred information, integrated into the existing process delivered within the community setting. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This phase of the study uses a pragmatic mixed-methods design and a participatory approach through engagement of patients, their carers and healthcare providers from multiple disciplines to inform the development of a digital health platform. Quantitative methods will explore health literacy and e-health literacy among older people with hip fractures admitted to the two public tertiary care hospitals in Adelaide, South Australia. Qualitative methods will provide an understanding of aspects of content and context required for the digital health platform to be developed in order to deliver quality health information. The study will use appropriate theoretical frameworks and constructs to guide the design, analysis and overall conduct of the research study. The scope of the study intends to ultimately empower patients and their carers to improve self-management and to better use coordinated services at the community level. This could prevent further falls including associated injuries or new fractures; reduce new hospital admissions and improve confidence and engagement by limiting the psychologically restrictive 'fear of falls'. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, South Australia (SA) Health, Government of South Australia and the University of Adelaide Human Research Ethics Committee. Findings from the study will be published in suitable peer-reviewed journals and disseminated through workshops or conferences.Lalit Yadav, Tiffany K Gill, Anita Taylor, Unyime Jasper, Jen De Young, Renuka Visvanathan, Mellick J Chehad

Theory of Current and Shot Noise Spectroscopy in Single-Molecular Quantum Dots with Phonon Mode

Using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function technique, we study the current and shot noise spectroscopy of a single molecular quantum dot coupled to a local phonon mode. It is found that in the presence of electron-phonon coupling, in addition to the resonant peak associated with the single level of the dot, satellite peaks with the separation set by the frequency of phonon mode appear in the differential conductance. In the ``single level'' resonant tunneling region, the differential shot noise power exhibit two split peaks. However, only single peaks show up in the ``phonon assisted'' resonant-tunneling region. An experimental setup to test these predictions is also proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figures embedde

Cosmic-ray strangelets in the Earth's atmosphere

If strange quark matter is stable in small lumps, we expect to find such lumps, called ``strangelets'', on Earth due to a steady flux in cosmic rays. Following recent astrophysical models, we predict the strangelet flux at the top of the atmosphere, and trace the strangelets' behavior in atmospheric chemistry and circulation. We show that several strangelet species may have large abundances in the atmosphere; that they should respond favorably to laboratory-scale preconcentration techniques; and that they present promising targets for mass spectroscopy experiments.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, revtex

Can a CPT Violating Ether Solve ALL Electron (Anti)Neutrino Puzzles?

Assuming that CPT is violated in the neutrino sector seems to be a viable alternative to sterile neutrinos when it comes to reconciling the LSND anomaly with the remainder of the neutrino data. There are different (distinguishable) ways of incorporating CPT violation into the standard model, including postulating m different from \bar{m}. Here, I investigate the possibility of introducing CPT violation via Lorentz-invariance violating effective operators (``Ether'' potentials) which modify neutrino oscillation patterns like ordinary matter effects. I argue that, within a simplified two-flavor like oscillation analysis, one cannot solve the solar neutrino puzzle and LSND anomaly while still respecting constraints imposed by other neutrino experiments, and comment on whether significant improvements should be expected from a three-flavor analysis. If one turns the picture upside down, some of the most severe constrains on such CPT violating terms can already be obtained from the current neutrino data, while much more severe constraints can arise from future neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 1 eps figure; version to appear in PRD. Comment added, mistake corrected, results and conclusions unchange

The GOBLET training portal: A global repository of bioinformatics training materials, courses and trainers

Summary: Rapid technological advances have led to an explosion of biomedical data in recent years. The pace of change has inspired new collaborative approaches for sharing materials and resources to help train life scientists both in the use of cutting-edge bioinformatics tools and databases and in how to analyse and interpret large datasets. A prototype platform for sharing such training resources was recently created by the Bioinformatics Training Network (BTN). Building on this work, we have created a centralized portal for sharing training materials and courses, including a catalogue of trainers and course organizers, and an announcement service for training events. For course organizers, the portal provides opportunities to promote their training events; for trainers, the portal offers an environment for sharing materials, for gaining visibility for their work and promoting their skills; for trainees, it offers a convenient one-stop shop for finding suitable training resources and identifying relevant training events and activities locally and worldwide

Palaeoenvironmental control on distribution of crinoids in the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of England and France

Bulk sampling of a number of different marine and marginal marine lithofacies in the British Bathonian has allowed us to assess the palaeoenvironmental distribution of crinoids for the first time. Although remains are largely fragmentary, many species have been identified by comparison with articulated specimens from elsewhere, whilst the large and unbiased sample sizes allowed assessment of relative proportions of different taxa. Results indicate that distribution of crinoids well corresponds to particular facies. Ossicles of Chariocrinus and Balanocrinus dominate in deeper-water and lower-energy facies,with the former extending further into shallower-water facies than the latter. Isocrinus dominates in shallower water carbonate facies, accompanied by rarer comatulids, and was also present in the more marine parts of lagoons. Pentacrinites remains are abundant in very high-energy oolite shoal lithofacies. The presence of millericrinids within one, partly allochthonous lithofacies suggests the presence of an otherwise unknown hard substrate from which they have been transported. These results are compared to crinoid assemblages from other Mesozoic localities, and it is evident that the same morphological ad-aptations are present within crinoids from similar lithofacies throughout the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous