961 research outputs found
Multidimensional collaboration; reflections on action research in a clinical context
This paper reflects on the challenges and benefits of multidimensional collaboration in an action research study to evaluate and improve preoperative education for patients awaiting colorectal surgery. Three cycles of planning, acting,observing and reflecting were designed to evaluate practice and implement change in this interactive setting, calling for specific and distinct collaborations. Data collection includes: observing educational interactions; administering patient evaluation questionnaires; interviewing healthcare staff, patients and carers; patient and carer focus groups; and examining written and audiovisual educational materials. The study revolves around and depends on multi-dimensional collaborations. Reflecting on these collaborations highlights the diversity of perspectives held by all those engaged in the study and enhances the action research lessons. Successfully maintaining the collaborations recognises the need for negotiation, inclusivity, comprehension, brokerage,and problem-solving. Managing the potential tensions is crucial to the successful implementation of changes introduced to practice and thus has important implications for patients’ well-being. This paper describes the experiences from an action research project involving new and specific collaborations, focusing on a particular healthcare setting. It exemplifies the challenges of the collaborative action research process and examines how both researchers and practitioners might reflect on the translation of theory into educational practices within a hospital colorectal department. Despite its context-specific features, the reflections on the types of challenges faced and lessons learned provide implications for action researchers in diverse healthcare settings across the world
CMB Lensing Reconstruction on the Full Sky
Gravitational lensing of the microwave background by the intervening dark
matter mainly arises from large-angle fluctuations in the projected
gravitational potential and hence offers a unique opportunity to study the
physics of the dark sector at large scales. Studies with surveys that cover
greater than a percent of the sky will require techniques that incorporate the
curvature of the sky. We lay the groundwork for these studies by deriving the
full sky minimum variance quadratic estimators of the lensing potential from
the CMB temperature and polarization fields. We also present a general
technique for constructing these estimators, with harmonic space convolutions
replaced by real space products, that is appropriate for both the full sky
limit and the flat sky approximation. This also extends previous treatments to
include estimators involving the temperature-polarization cross-correlation and
should be useful for next generation experiments in which most of the
additional information from polarization comes from this channel due to
sensitivity limitations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D; typos correcte
Large-scale Bright Fronts in the Solar Corona: A Review of "EIT waves"
``EIT waves" are large-scale coronal bright fronts (CBFs) that were first
observed in 195 \AA\ images obtained using the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope (EIT) onboard the \emph{Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)}.
Commonly called ``EIT waves", CBFs typically appear as diffuse fronts that
propagate pseudo-radially across the solar disk at velocities of 100--700 km
s with front widths of 50-100 Mm. As their speed is greater than the
quiet coronal sound speed (200 km s) and comparable to the
local Alfv\'{e}n speed (1000 km s), they were initially
interpreted as fast-mode magnetoacoustic waves ().
Their propagation is now known to be modified by regions where the magnetosonic
sound speed varies, such as active regions and coronal holes, but there is also
evidence for stationary CBFs at coronal hole boundaries. The latter has led to
the suggestion that they may be a manifestation of a processes such as Joule
heating or magnetic reconnection, rather than a wave-related phenomena. While
the general morphological and kinematic properties of CBFs and their
association with coronal mass ejections have now been well described, there are
many questions regarding their excitation and propagation. In particular, the
theoretical interpretation of these enigmatic events as magnetohydrodynamic
waves or due to changes in magnetic topology remains the topic of much debate.Comment: 34 pages, 19 figure
Coronal Shock Waves, EUV Waves, and Their Relation to CMEs. III. Shock-Associated CME/EUV Wave in an Event with a Two-Component EUV Transient
On 17 January 2010, STEREO-B observed in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and white
light a large-scale dome-shaped expanding coronal transient with perfectly
connected off-limb and on-disk signatures. Veronig et al. (2010, ApJL 716, 57)
concluded that the dome was formed by a weak shock wave. We have revealed two
EUV components, one of which corresponded to this transient. All of its
properties found from EUV, white light, and a metric type II burst match
expectations for a freely expanding coronal shock wave including correspondence
to the fast-mode speed distribution, while the transient sweeping over the
solar surface had a speed typical of EUV waves. The shock wave was presumably
excited by an abrupt filament eruption. Both a weak shock approximation and a
power-law fit match kinematics of the transient near the Sun. Moreover, the
power-law fit matches expansion of the CME leading edge up to 24 solar radii.
The second, quasi-stationary EUV component near the dimming was presumably
associated with a stretched CME structure; no indications of opening magnetic
fields have been detected far from the eruption region.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Solar Physics, published online. The final
publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co
Measurement of single electron emission in two-phase xenon
We present the first measurements of the electroluminescence response to the
emission of single electrons in a two-phase noble gas detector. Single
ionization electrons generated in liquid xenon are detected in a thin gas layer
during the 31-day background run of the ZEPLIN-II experiment, a two-phase xenon
detector for WIMP dark matter searches. Both the pressure dependence and
magnitude of the single-electron response are in agreement with previous
measurements of electroluminescence yield in xenon. We discuss different
photoionization processes as possible cause for the sample of single electrons
studied in this work. This observation may have implications for the design and
operation of future large-scale two-phase systems.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
The Race Between Stars and Quasars in Reionizing Cosmic Hydrogen
The cosmological background of ionizing radiation has been dominated by
quasars once the Universe aged by ~2 billion years. At earlier times (redshifts
z>3), the observed abundance of bright quasars declined sharply, implying that
cosmic hydrogen was reionized by stars instead. Here, we explain the physical
origin of the transition between the dominance of stars and quasars as a
generic feature of structure formation in the concordance LCDM cosmology. At
early times, the fraction of baryons in galaxies grows faster than the maximum
(Eddington-limited) growth rate possible for quasars. As a result, quasars were
not able to catch up with the rapid early growth of stellar mass in their host
galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Accepted for publication in JCA
On the Nature and Genesis of EUV Waves: A Synthesis of Observations from SOHO, STEREO, SDO, and Hinode
A major, albeit serendipitous, discovery of the SOlar and Heliospheric
Observatory mission was the observation by the Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope
(EIT) of large-scale Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) intensity fronts propagating
over a significant fraction of the Sun's surface. These so-called EIT or EUV
waves are associated with eruptive phenomena and have been studied intensely.
However, their wave nature has been challenged by non-wave (or pseudo-wave)
interpretations and the subject remains under debate. A string of recent solar
missions has provided a wealth of detailed EUV observations of these waves
bringing us closer to resolving their nature. With this review, we gather the
current state-of-art knowledge in the field and synthesize it into a picture of
an EUV wave driven by the lateral expansion of the CME. This picture can
account for both wave and pseudo-wave interpretations of the observations, thus
resolving the controversy over the nature of EUV waves to a large degree but
not completely. We close with a discussion of several remaining open questions
in the field of EUV waves research.Comment: Solar Physics, Special Issue "The Sun in 360",2012, accepted for
publicatio
Observations of Coronal Mass Ejections with the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter
The Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP) measures not only the
polarization of coronal emission, but also the full radiance profiles of
coronal emission lines. For the first time, CoMP observations provide
high-cadence image sequences of the coronal line intensity, Doppler shift and
line width simultaneously in a large field of view. By studying the Doppler
shift and line width we may explore more of the physical processes of CME
initiation and propagation. Here we identify a list of CMEs observed by CoMP
and present the first results of these observations. Our preliminary analysis
shows that CMEs are usually associated with greatly increased Doppler shift and
enhanced line width. These new observations provide not only valuable
information to constrain CME models and probe various processes during the
initial propagation of CMEs in the low corona, but also offer a possible
cost-effective and low-risk means of space weather monitoring.Comment: 6 figures. Will appear in the special issue of Coronal Magnetism,
Sol. Phy
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