Small-angle scattering from long-chain alkylimidazolium-based ionic liquids

This paper compares the structure of 1-alkyl-3-methylim ridazolium salts using SAXS and X-ray reflectivity. A range of anions have been investigated namely chloride, bromide, trifluoromethanesulfonate (OTf), bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFI) and tetrachloropalladate(II) with cation alkyl chains ranging from n = 12-20. In general, the salts show liquid crystalline behaviour whose structure is still observed on melting into an isotropic liquid.

‘Hearing Voices': Punishing women’s mental ill-health in Northern Ireland’s jails

Informed by primary interviews and observational research conducted by the authors with women prisoners in Northern Ireland, this article focuses on prison as an institutional manifestation of women’s powerlessness and vulnerability, particularly those enduring mental ill-health. It contextualises their experiences within continua of violence and ‘unsafety’. It also considers official responses to critical inspection reports and those of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission based on the authors’ research findings. Finally, the primary research demonstrates that three decades on from publication the first critical analyses of women’s imprisonment, the conditions of gendered marginalisation, medicalisation and punishment remain. This is brought into stark relief in the punitive regimes imposed on those most vulnerable through mental ill-health.

Raman satellites in optical scattering from a laser-ablated Mg plume

Raman satellites have been observed in the scattering of a Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) from a laser-ablated Mg plasma plume. We identify them as originating from transitions between the fine-structure components of the metastable 3s3p P-3(0,1,2) level of Mg. We have calculated the cross sections for Raman and Rayleigh scattering from the metastable state. Comparison of the expected ratio of the satellites to the Rayleigh peak indicates the changing population fraction of the metastable states in the plume.

Thomson scattering system at the Tokyo electron beam ion trap

A Thomson scattering system has been installed at the Tokyo electron beam ion trap for probing characteristics of the electron beam. A YVO4 green laser beam was injected antiparallel to the electron beam. The image of the Thomson scattering light from the electron beam has been observed using a charged-coupled device camera. By using a combination of interference filters, the spectral distribution of the Thomson scattering light has been measured. The Doppler shift observed for the scattered light is consistent with the beam energy. The beam radius dependence was investigated as a function of the beam energy, the beam current, and the magnetic field at the trap region. The variation of the measured beam radius against the beam current and the magnetic field were similar to those in Herrmann's prediction. The beam radius as a function of the beam energy was also similar to Herrmann's prediction but seemed to become larger at low energy. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Rising time of entanglement between scattering spins

We investigate the time evolution of entanglement in a process where a mobile particle is scattered by static spins. We show that entanglement increases monotonically during a transient and then saturates to a steady-state value. For a quasimonochromatic mobile particle, the transient time depends only on the group velocity and width of the incoming wave packet and is insensitive to the interaction strength and spin number of the scattering particles. These features do not depend on the interaction model and can be seen in various physical settings.

Evolution of elastic x-ray scattering in laser-shocked warm dense lithium

We have studied the dynamics of warm dense Li with near-elastic x-ray scattering. Li foils were heated and compressed using shock waves driven by 4-ns-long laser pulses. Separate 1-ns-long laser pulses were used to generate a bright source of 2.96 keV Cl Ly-alpha photons for x-ray scattering, and the spectrum of scattered photons was recorded at a scattering angle of 120 degrees using a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite crystal operated in the von Hamos geometry. A variable delay between the heater and backlighter laser beams measured the scattering time evolution. Comparison with radiation-hydrodynamics simulations shows that the plasma is highly coupled during the first several nanoseconds, then relaxes to a moderate coupling state at later times. Near-elastic scattering amplitudes have been successfully simulated using the screened one-component plasma model. Our main finding is that the near-elastic scattering amplitudes are quite sensitive to the mean ionization state Z and by extension to the choice of ionization model in the radiation-hydrodynamics simulations used to predict plasma properties within the shocked Li.

Outreach and Early Warning Systems (EWS) for the prevention of intensive care admission and death of critically ill adult patients on general hospital wards

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that outreach and early warning systems (EWS) are an integral part of a hospital wide systems approach to improve the early identification and management of deteriorating patients on general hospital wards, the widespread implementation of these interventions in practice is not based on robust research evidence. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective was to determine the impact of critical care outreach services on hospital mortality rates. Secondary objectives included determining the effect of outreach services on intensive care unit (ICU) admission patterns, length of hospital stay and adverse events. SEARCH STRATEGY: The review authors searched the following electronic databases: EPOC Specialised Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and other Cochrane databases (all on The Cochrane Library 2006, Issue 3), MEDLINE (1996-June week 3 2006), EMBASE (1974-week 26 2006), CINAHL (1982-July week 5 2006), First Search (1992-2005) and CAB Health (1990-July 2006); also reference lists of relevant articles, conference abstracts, and made contact with experts and critical care organisations for further information. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs) and interrupted time series designs (ITS) which measured hospital mortality, unanticipated ICU admissions, ICU readmissions, length of hospital stay and adverse events following implementation of outreach and EWS in a general hospital ward to identify deteriorating adult patients versus general hospital ward setting without outreach and EWS were included in the review. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Three review authors independently extracted data and two review authors assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. Meta-analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity. Summary statistics and descriptive summaries of primary and secondary outcomes are presented for each study. MAIN RESULTS: Two cluster-randomised control trials were included: one randomised at hospital level (23 hospitals in Australia) and one at ward level (16 wards in the UK). The primary outcome in the Australian trial (a composite score comprising incidence of unexpected cardiac arrests, unexpected deaths and unplanned ICU admissions) showed no statistical significant difference between control and medical emergency team (MET) hospitals (adjusted P value 0.640; adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.98; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83 to 1.16). The UK-based trial found that outreach reduced in-hospital mortality (adjusted OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.85) compared with the control group. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The evidence from this review highlights the diversity and poor methodological quality of most studies investigating outreach. The results of the two included studies showed either no evidence of the effectiveness of outreach or a reduction in overall mortality in patients receiving outreach. The lack of evidence on outreach requires further multi-site RCT's to determine potential effectiveness.

Small angle neutron scattering from 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquids ([C(n)mim][PF6], n=4, 6, and 8)

The presence of local anisotropy in the bulk, isotropic, and ionic liquid phases-leading to local mesoscopic inhomogeneity-with nanoscale segregation and expanding nonpolar domains on increasing the length of the cation alkyl-substituents has been proposed on the basis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. However, there has been little conclusive experimental evidence for the existence of intermediate mesoscopic structure between the first/second shell correlations shown by neutron scattering on short chain length based materials and the mesophase structure of the long chain length ionic liquid crystals. Herein, small angle neutron scattering measurements have been performed on selectively H/D-isotopically substituted 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquids with butyl, hexyl, and octyl substituents. The data show the unambiguous existence of a diffraction peak in the low-Q region for all three liquids which moves to longer distances (lower Q), sharpens, and increases in intensity with increasing length of the alkyl substituent. It is notable, however, that this peak occurs at lower values of Q (longer length scale) than predicted in any of the previously published MD simulations of ionic liquids, and that the magnitude of the scattering from this peak is comparable with that from the remainder of the amorphous ionic liquid. This strongly suggests that the peak arises from the second coordination shells of the ions along the vector of alkyl-chain substituents as a consequence of increasing the anisotropy of the cation, and that there is little or no long-range correlated nanostructure in these ionic liquids.