A Dragon Eyes the Top of the World: Arctic Policy Debate and Discussion in China

The Chinese are increasingly interested in the effects of global climate change and the melting of the Arctic ice cap, especially as they pertain to emergent sea routes, natural resources, and geopolitical advantage. China seems to see the overall effect of Arctic climate change as more of a beckoning economic opportunity than a looming environmental crisis. Even though it is not an Arctic country, China wants to be among the first states to exploit the region’s natural resource wealth and to ply ships through its sea routes, especially the Northwest Passage.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cmsi-red-books/1007/thumbnail.jp

The four or more medicines (FOMM) support service:results from an evaluation of a new community pharmacy service aimed at over-65s

Background: 57% of all prescriptions dispensed in the UK in 2003 were for people aged ≥60, where ≥20% of them were prescribed ≥ five medicines. Inappropriate prescribing and non-adherence have a significant impact on hospital admissions and patient quality of life. The English government has identified that community pharmacy could make a significant contribution to reducing non-adherence and improving the quality of prescribing, reducing both hospital admissions and medicines wastage. Objective: To evaluate a community pharmacy service aimed at patients over the age of 65 years prescribed four or more medicines. Method: Patients were invited to participate in the service by the community pharmacy team. The pharmacist held regular consultations with the patient and discussed risk of falls, pain management, adherence and general health. They also reviewed the patient’s medication using STOPP/START criteria. Data wereas analysed for the first six months of participation in the service. Key findings: 620 patients were recruited with 441 (71.1%) completing the six month study period. Pharmacists made 142 recommendations to prescribers in 110 patients largely centred on potentially inappropriate prescribing of NSAIDs, PPIs or duplication of therapy. At follow-up there was a significant decrease in the total number of falls (mean -0.116 (-0.217 - -0.014)) experienced and a significant increase in medicines adherence (mean difference in MMAS-8: 0.513 (0.337 – 0.689)) and quality of life. Cost per QALY estimates ranged from £11,885 to £32,466 depending on the assumptions made. Conclusion: By focussing on patients over the age of 65 years with four or more medicines, community pharmacists can improve medicines adherence and patient quality of life

KELT-11b: A Highly Inflated Sub-Saturn Exoplanet Transiting the V=8 Subgiant HD 93396

We report the discovery of a transiting exoplanet, KELT-11b, orbiting the bright ($V=8.0$) subgiant HD 93396. A global analysis of the system shows that the host star is an evolved subgiant star with $T_{\rm eff} = 5370\pm51$ K, $M_{*} = 1.438_{-0.052}^{+0.061} M_{\odot}$, $R_{*} = 2.72_{-0.17}^{+0.21} R_{\odot}$, log $g_*= 3.727_{-0.046}^{+0.040}$, and [Fe/H]$= 0.180\pm0.075$. The planet is a low-mass gas giant in a $P = 4.736529\pm0.00006$ day orbit, with $M_{P} = 0.195\pm0.018 M_J$, $R_{P}= 1.37_{-0.12}^{+0.15} R_J$, $\rho_{P} = 0.093_{-0.024}^{+0.028}$ g cm$^{-3}$, surface gravity log ${g_{P}} = 2.407_{-0.086}^{+0.080}$, and equilibrium temperature $T_{eq} = 1712_{-46}^{+51}$ K. KELT-11 is the brightest known transiting exoplanet host in the southern hemisphere by more than a magnitude, and is the 6th brightest transit host to date. The planet is one of the most inflated planets known, with an exceptionally large atmospheric scale height (2763 km), and an associated size of the expected atmospheric transmission signal of 5.6%. These attributes make the KELT-11 system a valuable target for follow-up and atmospheric characterization, and it promises to become one of the benchmark systems for the study of inflated exoplanets.Comment: 15 pages, Submitted to AAS Journal

Demonstration of integrated microscale optics in surface-electrode ion traps

In ion trap quantum information processing, efficient fluorescence collection is critical for fast, high-fidelity qubit detection and ion-photon entanglement. The expected size of future many-ion processors require scalable light collection systems. We report on the development and testing of a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap with an integrated high numerical aperture (NA) micromirror for fluorescence collection. When coupled to a low NA lens, the optical system is inherently scalable to large arrays of mirrors in a single device. We demonstrate stable trapping and transport of 40Ca+ ions over a 0.63 NA micromirror and observe a factor of 1.9 enhancement in photon collection compared to the planar region of the trap.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure