Exercise on Referral – Symposium hosted by the Physical Activity Special Interest Group of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, Durham University

THE Physical Activity Special Interest Group of the Wolfson Research Insti- tute for Health and Wellbeing (Durham University) hosted a symposium focused on exercise referral schemes (ERS), on 14 October 2016 at the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham. Exercise referral schemes typically allow health professionals, such as general practitioners, nurses and physiotherapists to refer inactive individuals with long-term health conditions to a third party leisure provider for a supervised exercise programme, with the aim of increasing physical activity levels. The symposium was lively and thought-provoking with pres- entations divided into two core themes: ‘Emerging Evidence for ERS’ and ‘Future Developments for ERS’

Transiting Disintegrating Planetary Debris around WD 1145+017

More than a decade after astronomers realized that disrupted planetary material likely pollutes the surfaces of many white dwarf stars, the discovery of transiting debris orbiting the white dwarf WD 1145+017 has opened the door to new explorations of this process. We describe the observational evidence for transiting planetary material and the current theoretical understanding (and in some cases lack thereof) of the phenomenon.Comment: Invited review chapter. Accepted March 23, 2017 and published October 7, 2017 in the Handbook of Exoplanets. 15 pages, 10 figure

Using Magnetically Responsive Tea Waste to Remove Lead in Waters under Environmentally Relevant Conditions

We report the use of a simple yet highly effective magnetite-waste tea composite to remove lead(II) (Pb[superscript 2+]) ions from water. Magnetite-waste tea composites were dispersed in four different types of water–deionized (DI), artificial rainwater, artificial groundwater and artificial freshwater–that mimic actual environmental conditions. The water samples had varying initial concentrations (0.16–5.55 ppm) of Pb[superscript 2+] ions and were mixed with the magnetite-waste tea composite for at least 24 hours to allow adsorption of the Pb[superscript 2+] ions to reach equilibrium. The magnetite-waste tea composites were stable in all the water samples for at least 3 months and could be easily removed from the aqueous media via the use of permanent magnets. We detected no significant leaching of iron (Fe) ions into the water from the magnetite-waste tea composites. The percentage of Pb adsorbed onto the magnetite-waste tea composite ranged from ~70% to 100%; the composites were as effective as activated carbon (AC) in removing the Pb[superscript 2+] ions from water, depending on the initial Pb concentration. Our prepared magnetite-waste tea composites show promise as a green, inexpensive and highly effective sorbent for removal of Pb in water under environmentally realistic conditions.SUTD-MIT International Design Center (Research Grant IDG11200105/IDD11200109)Singapore-MIT Allianc

Accretion of Planetary Material onto Host Stars

Accretion of planetary material onto host stars may occur throughout a star's life. Especially prone to accretion, extrasolar planets in short-period orbits, while relatively rare, constitute a significant fraction of the known population, and these planets are subject to dynamical and atmospheric influences that can drive significant mass loss. Theoretical models frame expectations regarding the rates and extent of this planetary accretion. For instance, tidal interactions between planets and stars may drive complete orbital decay during the main sequence. Many planets that survive their stars' main sequence lifetime will still be engulfed when the host stars become red giant stars. There is some observational evidence supporting these predictions, such as a dearth of close-in planets around fast stellar rotators, which is consistent with tidal spin-up and planet accretion. There remains no clear chemical evidence for pollution of the atmospheres of main sequence or red giant stars by planetary materials, but a wealth of evidence points to active accretion by white dwarfs. In this article, we review the current understanding of accretion of planetary material, from the pre- to the post-main sequence and beyond. The review begins with the astrophysical framework for that process and then considers accretion during various phases of a host star's life, during which the details of accretion vary, and the observational evidence for accretion during these phases.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures (with some redacted), invited revie

On the implementation of a recently proposed dosimetric formalism to a robotic radiosurgery system

The aim of this work is to implement a recently proposed dosimetric formalism for nonstandard fields to the calibration and small field output factor measurement of a robotic stereotactic radiosurgery system

One-loop spectroscopy of semiclassically quantized strings: bosonic sector

We make a further step in the analytically exact quantization of spinning string states in semiclassical approximation, by evaluating the exact one-loop partition function for a class of two-spin string solutions for which quadratic fluctuations form a non-trivial system of coupled modes. This is the case of a folded string in the SU(2) sector, in the limit described by a quantum Landau–Lifshitz model. The same applies to the full bosonic sector of fluctuations over the folded spinning string in AdS5 with an angular momentum J in S5. Fluctuations are governed by a special class of fourth-order differential operators, with coefficients being meromorphic functions on the torus, which we are able to solve exactly

“You’ve Got to Pick Your Battles”: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Physical Activity Counselling and Referral within General Practice

One in four people say they would be more active if advised by a general practitioner (GP), yet 72% of GPs do not discuss physical activity (PA) with patients and 80% of GPs are unaware of the PA guidelines. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate GP perspectives on PA counselling and referral and interpret these within the context of the socio-ecological model (SEM). Fifty-six GPs completed an online survey to investigate factors influencing PA counselling and referral. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with seven GPs to explore topics in more depth. Interview data were analysed thematically and mapped to the SEM. GPs were more likely to discuss PA with patients if they were physically active themselves (p = 0.004). Influences on PA counselling and referral were identified at the policy (provision of education, priority), organisational (feedback, e-referral), interpersonal (PA as everybody’s business, patient factors) and intrapersonal (knowledge, GP PA levels) levels of the SEM. Multi-level strategies are required to help GPs promote PA and make use of exercise referral schemes, including making PA a strategic priority, introducing systems for feedback from referrals, and involving other members of the care team in PA counselling and referral