Invertebrate Fauna of Devils Den, a Sandstone Cave in Northwestern Arkansas

The same invertebrate fauna of 17 species was found in Devils Den Cave, Washington County, Arkansas, in 1969 and 1979. The fauna consists of 1 trogloxene, 14 troglophiles, and 2 troglobites, a spider, Porrhomma cavernicolum, and a collembolan, Pseudosinella dubia. Devils Den Cave has a well developed cavernicolous fauna, although it is in sandstone which generally supports a poor cave adapted fauna. The troglobites probably evolved in the vicinity of northwestern Arkansas in limestone caves or in deep forest soils of the Ozark region. They then dispersed overland, perhaps as recently as the late Wisconsinan, to occupy this sandstone cave

Observation of Muon Neutrino Disappearance with the MINOS Detectors in the NuMI Neutrino Beam

This Letter reports results from the MINOS experiment based on its initial exposure to neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. The rates and energy spectra of charged current ν_μ interactions are compared in two detectors located along the beam axis at distances of 1 and 735 km. With 1.27×10^(20) 120 GeV protons incident on the NuMI target, 215 events with energies below 30 GeV are observed at the Far Detector, compared to an expectation of 336±14 events. The data are consistent with ν_μ disappearance via oscillations with Δm_(32)^2|=2.74_(-0.26)^(+0.44)×10^(-3)  eV^2 and sin^2(2θ_(23))>0.87 (68% C.L.)

Supervision in healthcare: a critical review of the role, function and capacity for training

This paper examines the notion of clinical supervision and takes a close look at what it means from the perspective of both the supervisee and the supervisor, considering how it can be of benefit to the learner, the teacher and the patient. Clinical supervision has been shown to be vital for the development and consolidation of undergraduate and postgraduate education, while having a positive impact on patient outcomes and as such is a fundamental component in healthcare education. Central to supervision is achieving the best outcomes for the supervisee, and effective supervision ensures the development of confidence, professional identity, and the consolidation of therapeutic knowledge. Clinical supervision provides a platform for extending the supervisor-supervisee relationship beyond the student-teacher model to one of mutual personal development in contemporary knowledge and skills for clinical practice. Despite the perceived importance of clinical supervision for healthcare more broadly, there is evidence to suggest that few supervisors are adequately prepared with the theory and practice of clinical supervision to adequately fulfill the expectations that the role entails. It follows therefore, that in many cases, there is an expectation that the health professionals will supervise without adequate preparation. This paper, although not a panacea, may assist those who are supervising and who seek or require some guidance and support

First observations of separated atmospheric ν_μ and ν̅ _μ events in the MINOS detector

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of ν_μ and ν̅ _μ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving R^(data)_(up/down/R^(MC)_(up/down) = 0:62^(+0.19)_(0:14)(stat.) ± 0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field ν_μ and ν̅ _μ interactions are separated. The ratio of ν̅ _μ to ν_μ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R^(data)_(ν_μ/ν̅ _μ) / R^(MC)_(ν_μ/ν̅ _μ) = 0.96^(+0:38)_(0.27)(stat.) ± 0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for ν_μ and ν̅ _μ

A Flaring Megamaser in Mrk 348

We report new observations of the H2O megamaser in the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 348. Following our initial detection in 2000 March using the Effelsberg 100 m telescope, re-analysis of previous data on this source indicates that the maser was present but only marginally detectable in late 1997. Monitoring through late 2000 shows that the maser has again decreased to its original level. The H2O line is redshifted by ~130 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity, is extremely broad, with a FWHM of 130 km/s, and has no detectable high velocity components within 1500 km/s on either side of the strong line. Followup VLBA observations show that the maser emission emanates entirely from a region >0.25 pc in extent, toward the base of the radio jet.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Cosmic Masers: from Protostars to Black Holes, IAU 206, Eds. V. Migenes et al., ASP Conference Serie

Obscuration of the Parsec Scale Jets in the Compact Symmetric Object 1946+708

We present results of VLA and VLBA observations of the 1.420 GHz neutral hydrogen absorption associated with the Compact Symmetric Object 1946+708 (z=0.101). We find significant structure in the gas on parsec scales. The peak column density in the HI (N_HI~2.2x10^23 cm^-2 (T_s/8000K)) occurs toward the center of activity of the source, as does the highest velocity dispersion (FWHM~350 \kms). In addition, we find that the continuum spectra of the various radio components associated with these jets strongly indicate free-free absorption. This effect is particularly pronounced toward the core and inner components of the receding jet, suggesting the presence of a screen local to the source, perhaps part of an obscuring torus.Comment: revised version, some text added, 1 figure changed; accepted to Astrophysical Journal, 22 page LaTeX document includes 8 postscript figure

Refractive Index of Humid Air in the Infrared: Model Fits

The theory of summation of electromagnetic line transitions is used to tabulate the Taylor expansion of the refractive index of humid air over the basic independent parameters (temperature, pressure, humidity, wavelength) in five separate infrared regions from the H to the Q band at a fixed percentage of Carbon Dioxide. These are least-squares fits to raw, highly resolved spectra for a set of temperatures from 10 to 25 C, a set of pressures from 500 to 1023 hPa, and a set of relative humidities from 5 to 60%. These choices reflect the prospective application to characterize ambient air at mountain altitudes of astronomical telescopes.Comment: Corrected exponents of c0ref, c1ref and c1p in Table

The diversity and distributions of the beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the Guadeloupe Archipelago (Grande-Terre, Basse-Terre, La Désirade, Marie-Galante, Les Saintes, and Petite-Terre), Lesser Antilles

The Guadeloupe Archipelago, the French overseas Département de Guadeloupe, is a geographically associated group of islands and a natural biogeographic unit. The islands have been available for terrestrial colonization since the late Tertiary. From the viewpoint of beetle systematics and biodiversity, this is the most important set of islands of the Lesser Antilles because more species have been described or recorded from Guadeloupe than any other island or group in the Lesser Antilles. We present a summary of the 1338 beetle species recorded in the literature from the archipelago, in 60 families, and 719 genera. The families with the largest numbers of species are Curculionidae (420), Staphylinidae (153), Chrysomelidae (75), Cerambycidae (69), Scarabaeidae (64), and Tenebrionidae (59). Four hundred eighty two species are known only from one or more islands of the Guadeloupe group and likely speciated there. Guadeloupe is the type locality for an additional 59 species. At least 61 species have been accidentally introduced by human activities. A total of 261 species are known only from the Lesser Antilles including Guadeloupe. The remaining species are naturally more widespread in the Lesser Antilles, or the West Indies, and elsewhere in the New World. The actual number of species on the Guadeloupe Archipelago is estimated to be around 1850 or more species

Melamin toxicity in pigs

Three farms in Penang, Malaysia, reported illness in grower-finisher pigs with discarded kidneys from abattoir. Affected animals were inappetant, anorexic, thin, dull, and depressed. The episode was closely related with the feed formulation changes, where soybean and fishmeal were replaced with yeast. No significant mycotoxin levels were detected in both the feed and yeasts. However, high levels of melamine were detected in yeast (30,064 ppm) and finished feed (750 to 1500 ppm), which exceeded the acceptance level set by WHO (<2.5 ppm). Nonetheless, prominent gross abnormalities were detected, except for the lesions in the kidneys during necropsy. The affected kidneys were enlarged and yellowish in colour, firm in consistency and the cortical surface was wrinkled and dimpled. Dilated cortical and medullary lesions with yellow gritty crystalline materials were also observed. A microscopic examination revealed the lesions of acute tubular nephrosis, interstitial nephritis with multiple cysts in the kidney cortex. After the removal of the yeast source in the feed, the illness and kidney lesions were in remission