FK Comae Berenices, King of Spin: The COCOA-PUFS Project

COCOA-PUFS is an energy-diverse, time-domain study of the ultra-fast spinning, heavily spotted, yellow giant FK Com (HD117555; G4 III). This single star is thought to be a recent binary merger, and is exceptionally active by measure of its intense ultraviolet and X-ray emissions, and proclivity to flare. COCOA-PUFS was carried out with Hubble Space Telescope in the UV (120-300 nm), using mainly its high-performance Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, but also high-precision Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph; Chandra X-ray Observatory in the soft X-rays (0.5-10 keV), utilizing its High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer; together with supporting photometry and spectropolarimetry in the visible from the ground. This is an introductory report on the project. FK Com displayed variability on a wide range of time scales, over all wavelengths, during the week-long main campaign, including a large X-ray flare; "super-rotational broadening" of the far-ultraviolet "hot-lines" (e.g., Si IV 139 nm (T~80,000 K) together with chromospheric Mg II 280 nm and C II 133 nm (10,000-30,000 K); large Doppler swings suggestive of bright regions alternately on advancing and retreating limbs of the star; and substantial redshifts of the epoch-average emission profiles. These behaviors paint a picture of a highly extended, dynamic, hot (10 MK) coronal magnetosphere around the star, threaded by cooler structures perhaps analogous to solar prominences, and replenished continually by surface activity and flares. Suppression of angular momentum loss by the confining magnetosphere could temporarily postpone the inevitable stellar spindown, thereby lengthening this highly volatile stage of coronal evolution.Comment: to be published in ApJ

Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM14940-03)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL 22-009-304

Co-producing research with academics and industry to create a more resilient UK water sector

This is the final version. Available on open access from UCL Press via the DOI in this recordSocietal, economic and environmental impact generated by academic research is a key focus of publicly funded research in the UK. Drawing on experiences from the Safe & SuRe project, a five-year research project that was co-produced with industry, this paper explores the challenges, learnings and benefits of co-producing research with academics and practitioners to create a more resilient UK water sector. Three aspects of the project are explored in detail: the use of a steering group, co-developing research intensively with a water company, and co-dissemination industry-facing events. Emerging themes include: (1) benefits of the industry steering group to develop working relationships and trust among the group; (2) increased dialogue and sharing of information between industry and academics going beyond the one-way communication more commonly reported by STEM academics; and (3) the value of co-disseminating research to maintain and engage new connections and spark new research questions.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Supernova 2007bi as a pair-instability explosion

Stars with initial masses 10 M_{solar} < M_{initial} < 100 M_{solar} fuse progressively heavier elements in their centres, up to inert iron. The core then gravitationally collapses to a neutron star or a black hole, leading to an explosion -- an iron-core-collapse supernova (SN). In contrast, extremely massive stars (M_{initial} > 140 M_{solar}), if such exist, have oxygen cores which exceed M_{core} = 50 M_{solar}. There, high temperatures are reached at relatively low densities. Conversion of energetic, pressure-supporting photons into electron-positron pairs occurs prior to oxygen ignition, and leads to a violent contraction that triggers a catastrophic nuclear explosion. Tremendous energies (>~ 10^{52} erg) are released, completely unbinding the star in a pair-instability SN (PISN), with no compact remnant. Transitional objects with 100 M_{solar} < M_{initial} < 140 M_{solar}, which end up as iron-core-collapse supernovae following violent mass ejections, perhaps due to short instances of the pair instability, may have been identified. However, genuine PISNe, perhaps common in the early Universe, have not been observed to date. Here, we present our discovery of SN 2007bi, a luminous, slowly evolving supernova located within a dwarf galaxy (~1% the size of the Milky Way). We measure the exploding core mass to be likely ~100 M_{solar}, in which case theory unambiguously predicts a PISN outcome. We show that >3 M_{solar} of radioactive 56Ni were synthesized, and that our observations are well fit by PISN models. A PISN explosion in the local Universe indicates that nearby dwarf galaxies probably host extremely massive stars, above the apparent Galactic limit, perhaps resulting from star formation processes similar to those that created the first stars in the Universe.Comment: Accepted version of the paper appearing in Nature, 462, 624 (2009), including all supplementary informatio

From 'River Cottage' to 'Chicken Run': Hugh Fearnley-Whttingstall and the class politics of ethical consumption

Lifestyle television provides a key site through which to explore the dilemmas of ethical consumption, as the genre shifts to consider the ethics of different consumption practices and taste cultures. UK television cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's TV programmes offer fertile ground not only for thinking about television personalities as lifestyle experts and moral entrepreneurs, but also for thinking about how the meanings and uses of their television image are inflected by genre. In this article we explore how the shift from the lifestyled downshifting narrative of the River Cottage series to the 'campaigning culinary documentary' Hugh's Chicken Run exposes issues of celebrity, class and ethics. While both series are concerned with ethical consumption, they work in different ways to reveal a distinction between 'ethical' and 'unethical' consumption practices and positions - positions that are inevitably classed

The Hubble PanCET Program:Emission Spectrum of Hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b

We present the most complete emission spectrum for inflated hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b combining new HST WFC/G141 spectrum from the Hubble Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasury (PanCET) program with archival Spitzer eclipse observations. We found a near blackbody-like emission spectrum which is best fitted with an isothermal temperature-pressure (TP) profile that agrees well with the dayside heat redistribution scenario assuming zero Bond albedo. The non-inverted TP profile is consistent with the non-detection of NUV/optical absorbers in the transit spectra. We do not find any evidence for significant H$^-$ opacity nor a metal-rich atmosphere. HAT-P-41b is an ideal target that sits in the transitioning parameter space between hot and ultra-hot Jupiters, and future JWST observations will help us to better constrain the thermal structure and chemical composition.Comment: Accepted for publication in A

Structured on-the-job training to improve retention of newborn resuscitation skills: a national cohort Helping Babies Breathe study in Tanzania

Background: Newborn resuscitation is a life-saving intervention for birth asphyxia, a leading cause of neonatal mortality. Improving provider newborn resuscitation skills is critical for delivering quality care, but the retention of these skills has been a challenge. Tanzania implemented a national newborn resuscitation using the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) training program to help address this problem. Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of two training approaches to newborn resuscitation skills retention implemented across 16 regions of Tanzania. Methods: An initial training approach implemented included verbal instructions for participating providers to replicate the training back at their service delivery site to others who were not trained. After a noted drop in skills, the program developed structured on-the-job training guidance and included this in the training. The approaches were implemented sequentially in 8 regions each with nurses/ midwives, other clinicians and medical attendants who had not received HBB training before. Newborn resuscitation skills were assessed immediately after training and 4–6 weeks after training using a validated objective structured clinical examination, and retention, measured through degree of skills drop, was compared between the two training approaches. Results: Eight thousand, three hundred and ninety-one providers were trained and assessed: 3592 underwent the initial training approach and 4799 underwent the modified approach. Immediately post-training, average skills scores were similar between initial and modified training groups: 80.5 and 81.3%, respectively (p-value 0.07). Both groups experienced statistically significant drops in newborn resuscitation skills over time. However, the modified training approach was associated with significantly higher skills scores 4–6 weeks post training: 77.6% among the modified training approach versus 70.7% among the initial training approach (p-value \u3c 0.0001). Medical attendant cadre showed the greatest skills retention. Conclusions: A modified training approach consisting of structured OJT, guidance and tools improved newborn resuscitation skills retention among health care providers. The study results give evidence for including on-site training as part of efforts to improve provider performance and strengthen quality of care