146 research outputs found

    2MASSJ035523.51+113337.4: A Young, Dusty, Nearby, Isolated Brown Dwarf Resembling A Giant Exoplanet

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    We present parallax and proper motion measurements, near-infrared spectra, and WISE photometry for the low surface gravity L5gamma dwarf 2MASSJ035523.37+113343.7 (2M0355). We use these data to evaluate photometric, spectral, and kinematic signatures of youth as 2M0355 is the reddest isolated L dwarf yet classified. We confirm its low-gravity spectral morphology and find a strong resemblance to the sharp triangular shaped HH-band spectrum of the 10 Myr planetary-mass object 2M1207b. We find that 2M0355 is underluminous compared to a normal field L5 dwarf in the optical and MKO J,H, and K bands and transitions to being overluminous from 3-12 microns, indicating that enhanced photospheric dust shifts flux to longer wavelengths for young, low-gravity objects, creating a red spectral energy distribution. Investigating the near-infrared color magnitude diagram for brown dwarfs confirms that 2M0355 is redder and underluminous compared to the known brown dwarf population, similar to the peculiarities of directly imaged exoplanets 2M1207b and HR8799bcd. We calculate UVW space velocities and find that the motion of 2M0355 is consistent with young disk objects (< 2-3 Gyr) and it shows a high likelihood of membership in the AB Doradus association.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 5 Tables, Submitted to AJ 13 May 201

    The quintessence of Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion

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    To provide a historical perspective, this thesis traces religious censorship on the English Stage from 1737 to 1913 showing how the format and theme of Androcles and the Lion was affected. It discusses Darwinism and its effect on the intellectual community at the time, claiming that Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean was based on Lamarkian theory. It suggests that Shaw's religious concept of Creative Evolution sprang forth from Ibsen's theme "the third empire" formulated in Emperor and Galilean. Between 1911-13, Shaw re-read all of Ibsen's work in preparation for a substantially altered new edition of The Quintessence of lbsenism. In the same period, Shaw wrote Androcles and the Lion. This thesis examines how Shaw perceived Ibsen and how that perception influenced the theme and form of Androcles. The inter-relationship of William Barrett's The Sign of the Cross, Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean and A Doll's House, and Shaw's Androcles and the Lion is explored. This thesis claims Shaw wrote Androcles and the Lion as a religious tract based on his tenets as defined in the Preface, but to avoid censorship, Androcles was disguised as a Christmas pantomime. Actually, Androcles and the Lion is an Ibsenesque discussion play bookended by a fable which ridicules the religious melodrama (notably The Sign of the Cross) and various schisms within Christian theology. At its central core is the Ibsenist concept that the ideals of Greek and Christian theology, while useful in their day, are no longer relevant. Ibsen and Shaw look forward to "the third empire" where neither the body nor the spirit is denied, and man's fullest potential is achieved. Shaw, additionally, through the use of the "tum-the-other-cheek" motif, criticized the Christian leaders of the day for not following what he saw as the tenets of Christianity, but instead, supporting the Roman God Mars as they advocated war from their pulpits. In the conclusion section, the reactions of the English press, English theologians, and English audiences are examined showing that the British reacted violently to the religious message rather than the comic medium---and chose to stay away. However, this play is very relevant to today's world where war is still waged in the name of religion, religious prosecution is being revived, and prophets of the stage are still attacked for proposing novel ideas.California State University, Northridge. Department of English.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-59

    A multi-decade record of high quality fCO2 data in version 3 of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT)

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    The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is a synthesis of quality-controlled fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) values for the global surface oceans and coastal seas with regular updates. Version 3 of SOCAT has 14.7 million fCO2 values from 3646 data sets covering the years 1957 to 2014. This latest version has an additional 4.6 million fCO2 values relative to version 2 and extends the record from 2011 to 2014. Version 3 also significantly increases the data availability for 2005 to 2013. SOCAT has an average of approximately 1.2 million surface water fCO2 values per year for the years 2006 to 2012. Quality and documentation of the data has improved. A new feature is the data set quality control (QC) flag of E for data from alternative sensors and platforms. The accuracy of surface water fCO2 has been defined for all data set QC flags. Automated range checking has been carried out for all data sets during their upload into SOCAT. The upgrade of the interactive Data Set Viewer (previously known as the Cruise Data Viewer) allows better interrogation of the SOCAT data collection and rapid creation of high-quality figures for scientific presentations. Automated data upload has been launched for version 4 and will enable more frequent SOCAT releases in the future. High-profile scientific applications of SOCAT include quantification of the ocean sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and its long-term variation, detection of ocean acidification, as well as evaluation of coupled-climate and ocean-only biogeochemical models. Users of SOCAT data products are urged to acknowledge the contribution of data providers, as stated in the SOCAT Fair Data Use Statement. This ESSD (Earth System Science Data) “living data” publication documents the methods and data sets used for the assembly of this new version of the SOCAT data collection and compares these with those used for earlier versions of the data collection (Pfeil et al., 2013; Sabine et al., 2013; Bakker et al., 2014). Individual data set files, included in the synthesis product, can be downloaded here: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.849770. The gridded products are available here: doi:10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.SOCAT_V3_GRID

    Mechanisms affecting the implementation of a national antimicrobial stewardship programme; multi-professional perspectives explained using normalisation process theory.

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    Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) describes activities concerned with safe-guarding antibiotics for the future, reducing drivers for the major global public health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), whereby antibiotics are less effective in preventing and treating infections. Appropriate antibiotic prescribing is central to AMS. Whilst previous studies have explored the effectiveness of specific AMS interventions, largely from uni-professional perspectives, our literature search could not find any existing evidence evaluating the processes of implementing an integrated national AMS programme from multi-professional perspectives. Methods: This study sought to explain mechanisms affecting the implementation of a national antimicrobial stewardship programme, from multi-professional perspectives. Data collection involved in-depth qualitative telephone interviews with 27 implementation lead clinicians from 14/15 Scottish Health Boards and 15 focus groups with doctors, nurses and clinical pharmacists (n = 72) from five Health Boards, purposively selected for reported prescribing variation. Data was first thematically analysed, barriers and enablers were then categorised, and Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) was used as an interpretive lens to explain mechanisms affecting the implementation process. Analysis addressed the NPT questions 'which group of actors have which problems, in which domains, and what sort of problems impact on the normalisation of AMS into everyday hospital practice'. Results: Results indicated that major barriers relate to organisational context and resource availability. AMS had coherence for implementation leads and prescribing doctors; less so for consultants and nurses who may not access training. Conflicting priorities made obtaining buy-in from some consultants difficult; limited role perceptions meant few nurses or clinical pharmacists engaged with AMS. Collective individual and team action to implement AMS could be constrained by lack of medical continuity and hierarchical relationships. Reflexive monitoring based on audit results was limited by the capacity of AMS Leads to provide direct feedback to practitioners. Conclusions: This study provides original evidence of barriers and enablers to the implementation of a national AMS programme, from multi-professional, multi-organisational perspectives. The use of a robust theoretical framework (NPT) added methodological rigour to the findings. Our results are of international significance to healthcare policy makers and practitioners seeking to strengthen the sustainable implementation of hospital AMS programmes in comparable contexts

    Tools for the identification of bioactives impacting the metabolic syndrome: Screening of a botanical extract library using subcutaneous and visceral human adipose-derived stem cell-based assays

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    Plant extracts continue to represent an untapped source of renewable therapeutic compounds for the treatment and prevention of illnesses including chronic metabolic disorders. With the increase in worldwide obesity and its related morbidities, the need for identifying safe and effective treatments is also rising. As such, use of primary human adipose-derived stem cells represents a physiologically relevant cell system to screen for bioactive agents in the prevention and treatment of obesity and its related complications. By using these cells in a primary screen, the risk and cost of identifying artifacts due to interspecies variation and immortalized cell lines is eliminated. We demonstrate that these cells can be formatted into 384-well high throughput screens to rapidly identify botanical extracts that affect lipogenesis and lipolysis. Additionally, counterscreening with human primary stem cells from distinct adipose depots can be routinely performed to identify tissue specific responses. In our study, over 500 botanical extracts were screened and 16 (2.7%) were found to affect lipogenesis and 4 (0.7%) affected lipolysis. © 2012 Elsevier Inc

    The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the antimicrobial stewardship workforce in Scottish acute care hospitals-a qualitative study.

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    BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes seek to reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance by minimizing inappropriate antimicrobial use. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was characterized by initial widespread use of antimicrobials in patients with COVID-19, with potential negative effects on AMS efforts. OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of the pandemic on the AMS workforce in Scottish acute care hospitals. METHOD: Individual, semi-structured online interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of clinical staff who had an AMS focused role in Scottish Health Boards. Interviews explored staff experiences of facilitating AMS during the pandemic. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: Thirteen staff from seven of 15 Scotland Health Boards participated. The data revealed negative (including staff redeployment and shortages) and positive effects (including improved working relationships and use of technology) on the AMS workforce. Notably, greater appreciation of the work of the AMS team was a positive outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The robust qualitative methods applied in this original study have generated greater understanding of factors that impeded AMS services in Scotland during the pandemic. These findings may resonate internationally. Adaptation to technology and investment in the workforce are recommended to improve the resilience of AMS services in future crises

    Advancing women in healthcare leadership : a systematic review and meta-synthesis of multi-sector evidence on organisational interventions

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    Women are underrepresented in healthcare leadership, yet evidence on impactful organisational strategies, practices and policies that advance women's careers are limited. We aimed to explore these across sectors to gain insight into measurably advancing women in leadership in healthcare. A systematic review was performed across Medline via OVID; Medline in-process and other non-indexed citations via OVID; PsycINFO and SCOPUS from January 2000 to March 2021. Methods are outlined in a published protocol registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020162115). Eligible studies reported on organisational interventions for advancing women in leadership with at least one measurable outcome. Studies were assessed independently by two reviewers. Identified interventions were organised into categories and meta-synthesis was completed following the 'ENhancing Transparency in REporting the synthesis of Qualitative research' (ENTREQ) statement. There were 91 eligible studies from 6 continents with 40 quantitative, 38 qualitative and 13 mixed methods studies. These spanned academia, health, government, sports, hospitality, finance and information technology sectors, with around half of studies in health and academia. Sample size, career stage and outcomes ranged broadly. Potentially effective interventions consistently reported that organisational leadership, commitment and accountability were key drivers of organisational change. Organisational intervention categories included i) organisational processes; ii) awareness and engagement; iii) mentoring and networking; iv) leadership development; and v) support tools. A descriptive meta-synthesis of detailed strategies, policies and practices within these categories was completed. This review provides an evidence base on organisational interventions for advancing women in leadership across diverse settings, with lessons for healthcare. It transcends the focus on the individual to target organisational change, capturing measurable change across intervention categories. This work directly informs a national initiative with international links, to enable women to achieve their career goals in healthcare and moves beyond the focus on barriers to solutions

    Recommendations for determining HPV status in patients with oropharyngeal cancers under TNM8 guidelines : a two-tier approach

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    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The funders had no role in study design, collection, data analysis or interpretation of the data. This work received funding from the Medical Research Council (D.Mc.C. and J.J.), the Health and Social Care Research and Development Division of the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency (D.M.c.C., J.J., M.Mo.), the Wellcome Trust through the Wellcome-FDS Research Training Fellowship, the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (A.G.S.) and GlaxoSmithKline Ltd (T.J.). The Northern Ireland OPSCC TMAs used in this research were received from the Northern Ireland Biobank which has received funds from Health and Social Care Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland and the Friends of the Cancer Centre. The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry who receives funding from the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency carried out collection of clinical data for the Northern Ireland OPSCC patients. The Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Liverpool Bio-innovation Hub Biobank carried out collection of clinical data for the Liverpool OPSCC patients.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

    The Keck-HGCA Pilot Survey II: Direct Imaging Discovery of HD 63754 B, a ~20 au Massive Companion Near the Hydrogen Burning Limit

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    We present the joint astrometric and direct imaging discovery, mass measurement, and orbital analysis of HD 63754 B (HIP 38216 B), a companion near the stellar-substellar boundary orbiting ~20 AU from its Sun-like host. HD 63754 was observed in our ongoing high-contrast imaging survey targeting stars with significant proper-motion accelerations between Hipparcos and Gaia consistent with wide-separation substellar companions. We utilized archival HIRES and HARPS radial velocity (RV) data, together with the host star's astrometric acceleration extracted from the Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations (HGCA), to predict the location of the candidate companion around HD 63754 A. We subsequently imaged HD 63754 B at its predicted location using the Near Infrared Camera 2 (NIRC2) in the LL' band at the W. M. Keck Observatory. We then jointly modeled the orbit of HD 63754 B with RVs, Hipparcos-Gaia accelerations, and our new relative astrometry, measuring a dynamical mass of 81.95.8+6.4Mjup{81.9}_{-5.8}^{+6.4} M_{jup}, an eccentricity of 0.2600.059+0.065{0.260}_{-0.059}^{+0.065}, and a nearly face-on inclination of 174.810.50+0.48174.81_{-0.50}^{+0.48} degrees. For HD 63754 B, we obtain an L' band absolute magnitude of L=11.39±0.06L' = 11.39\pm0.06 mag, from which we infer a bolometric luminosity of log(Lbol/L)=4.55±0.08log(L_{bol}/L_{\odot})= -4.55 \pm0.08 dex using a comparison sample of L and T dwarfs with measured luminosities. Although uncertainties linger in age and dynamical mass estimates, our analysis points toward HD 63754 B's identity as a brown dwarf on the L/T transition rather than a low-mass star, indicated by its inferred bolometric luminosity and model-estimated effective temperature. Future RV, spectroscopic, and astrometric data such as those from JWST and Gaia DR4 will clarify HD 63754 B's mass, and enable spectral typing and atmospheric characterization

    Surveying Nearby Brown Dwarfs with HGCA: Direct Imaging Discovery of a Faint, High-Mass Brown Dwarf Orbiting HD 176535 A

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    Brown dwarfs with well-measured masses, ages and luminosities provide direct benchmark tests of substellar formation and evolutionary models. We report the first results from a direct imaging survey aiming to find and characterize substellar companions to nearby accelerating stars with the assistance of the Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations (HGCA). In this paper, we present a joint high-contrast imaging and astrometric discovery of a substellar companion to HD 176535 A, a K3.5V main-sequence star aged approximately 3.591.15+0.873.59_{-1.15}^{+0.87} Gyrs at a distance of 36.99±0.0336.99 \pm 0.03 pc. In advance of our high-contrast imaging observations, we combined precision HARPS RVs and HGCA astrometry to predict the potential companion's location and mass. We thereafter acquired two nights of KeckAO/NIRC2 direct imaging observations in the LL' band, which revealed a companion with a contrast of ΔLp=9.20±0.06\Delta L'_p = 9.20\pm0.06 mag at a projected separation of \approx0. ⁣ ⁣35\!\!''35 (\approx13 AU) from the host star. We revise our orbital fit by incorporating our dual-epoch relative astrometry using the open-source MCMC orbit fitting code orvara\tt orvara. HD 176535 B is a new benchmark dwarf useful for constraining the evolutionary and atmospheric models of high-mass brown dwarfs. We found a luminosity of log(Lbol/L)=5.26±0.06\rm log(L_{bol}/L_{\odot}) = -5.26\pm0.06 and a model-dependent effective temperature of 980±35980 \pm 35 K for HD 176535 B. Our dynamical mass suggests that some substellar evolutionary models may be underestimating luminosity for high-mass T dwarfs. Given its angular separation and luminosity, HD 176535 B would make a promising candidate for Aperture Masking Interferometry with JWST and GRAVITY/KPIC, and further spectroscopic characterization with instruments like the CHARIS/SCExAO/Subaru integral field spectrograph
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