Dismantling the signposts to public health? NHS data under the Health and Social Care Act 2012

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 will replace the administrative structure of the NHS in England, currently based on the resident populations of defined geographical areas, with one that relates instead to the shifting populations of individuals registered with specific general practices at given points in time.1 This will radically change the longstanding basis for collecting data routinely about the health needs of local populations, making it difficult to monitor the effect of new legislation on the health of the population locally or nationally.2 3 We discuss some of the implications of the act for existing routine data systems and the production of routine statistics that underpin essential NHS functions, including monitoring healthcare provision and ensuring equity of access, allocation of resources, and measurement of outcomes

Observationally-Motivated Analysis of Simulated Galaxies

The spatial and temporal relationships between stellar age, kinematics, and chemistry are a fundamental tool for uncovering the physics driving galaxy formation and evolution. Observationally, these trends are derived using carefully selected samples isolated via the application of appropriate magnitude, colour, and gravity selection functions of individual stars; conversely, the analysis of chemodynamical simulations of galaxies has traditionally been restricted to the age, metallicity, and kinematics of `composite' stellar particles comprised of open cluster-mass simple stellar populations. As we enter the Gaia era, it is crucial that this approach changes, with simulations confronting data in a manner which better mimics the methodology employed by observers. Here, we use the \textsc{SynCMD} synthetic stellar populations tool to analyse the metallicity distribution function of a Milky Way-like simulated galaxy, employing an apparent magnitude plus gravity selection function similar to that employed by the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE); we compare such an observationally-motivated approach with that traditionally adopted - i.e., spatial cuts alone - in order to illustrate the point that how one analyses a simulation can be, in some cases, just as important as the underlying sub-grid physics employed.Comment: Accepted for publication in PoS (Proceedings of Science): Nuclei in the Cosmos XIII (Debrecen, Jul 2014); 6 pages; 3 figure

On characteristic equations, trace identities and Casimir operators of simple Lie algebras

Two approaches are developed to exploit, for simple complex or compact real Lie algebras g, the information that stems from the characteristic equations of representation matrices and Casimir operators. These approaches are selected so as to be viable not only for `small' Lie algebras and suitable for treatment by computer algebra. A very large body of new results emerges in the forms, a) of identities of a tensorial nature, involving structure constants etc. of g, b) of trace identities for powers of matrices of the adjoint and defining representations of g, c) of expressions of non-primitive Casimir operators of g in terms of primitive ones. The methods are sufficiently tractable to allow not only explicit proof by hand of the non-primitive nature of the quartic Casimir of g2, f4, e6, but also e.g. of that of the tenth order Casimir of f4.Comment: 39 pages, 8 tables, late

Teaching and learning in information retrieval

A literature review of pedagogical methods for teaching and learning information retrieval is presented. From the analysis of the literature a taxonomy was built and it is used to structure the paper. Information Retrieval (IR) is presented from different points of view: technical levels, educational goals, teaching and learning methods, assessment and curricula. The review is organized around two levels of abstraction which form a taxonomy that deals with the different aspects of pedagogy as applied to information retrieval. The first level looks at the technical level of delivering information retrieval concepts, and at the educational goals as articulated by the two main subject domains where IR is delivered: computer science (CS) and library and information science (LIS). The second level focuses on pedagogical issues, such as teaching and learning methods, delivery modes (classroom, online or e-learning), use of IR systems for teaching, assessment and feedback, and curricula design. The survey, and its bibliography, provides an overview of the pedagogical research carried out in the field of IR. It also provides a guide for educators on approaches that can be applied to improving the student learning experiences

The Radiation Balance of Snow-Free Surfaces at Poste-de-la-Baleine, Québec, May 30 – June 1, 1970

On a mesuré le rayonnement solaire global et le bilan du rayonnement pour des surfaces très variées à Poste-de-la-Baleine, au Québec, du 30 mai au 1er juin 1970, pendant des périodes cycloniques et anticycloniques alternantes. À l'exception d'une surface d'eau libre dans le sud-est de la Baie de James et près des îles Belcher, la glace recouvrait la Baie d'Hudson. Les flux provenant de l'ouest et du sud-ouest s'accompagnaient de temps frais, humide et nuageux. On a trouvé une bonne corrélation linéaire entre le bilan du rayonnement et le rayonnement global, pour toutes les surfaces et pour les temps nuageux, depuis le brouillard jusqu'aux cirrus. Les résultats indiquent que, malgré la réduction du rayonnement solaire par les nuages, environ 72% de l'énergie était disponible en surface pour les processus biologiques et physiques. Il faut noter l'importance du flux de chaleur sensible et l'advection de l'air froid provenant de la Baie.Total insolation and net radiation were measured for a wide variety of surfaces at Poste-de-la-Baleine, Québec, from May 30 to June 1, 1970, during alternating cyclonic and anticyclonic situations. With the exception of open water in southeastem James Bay and in the vicinity of the Belcher Islands, the ice cover was complete over Hudson Bayand westerly and southwesterly flow were associated with cool, wet, cloudy weather. For cloudy conditions, including fog and cirrus, and damp surfaces, a close linear relationship was found to exist between net radiation and total insolation for all surfaces. The results indicated that although the insolation was much reduced by cloud cover, about 72% of the energy was available at the surface for physical and biological processes. The importance of the sensible heat flux is noted, and of the cold advection from the Bay

A randomised, controlled, double blind, non-inferiority trial of ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca block vs. spinal morphine for analgesia after primary hip arthroplasty

We performed a single centre, double blind, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority study comparing ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca block with spinal morphine for the primary outcome of 24-h postoperative morphine consumption in patients undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty under spinal anaesthesia with levobupivacaine. One hundred and eight patients were randomly allocated to receive either ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca block with 2 mg.kg−1 levobupivacaine (fascia iliaca group) or spinal morphine 100 μg plus a sham ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca block using saline (spinal morphine group). The pre-defined non-inferiority margin was a median difference between the groups of 10 mg in cumulative intravenous morphine use in the first 24 h postoperatively. Patients in the fascia iliaca group received 25 mg more intravenous morphine than patients in the spinal morphine group (95% CI 9.0–30.5 mg, p < 0.001). Ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca block was significantly worse than spinal morphine in the provision of analgesia in the first 24 h after total hip arthroplasty. No increase in side-effects was noted in the spinal morphine group but the study was not powered to investigate all secondary outcomes

Two parameter Deformed Multimode Oscillators and q-Symmetric States

Two types of the coherent states for two parameter deformed multimode oscillator system are investigated. Moreover, two parameter deformed $gl(n)$ algebra and deformed symmetric states are constructed.Comment: LaTeX v1.2, 14 pages with no figure

q-Boson approach to multiparticle correlations

An approach is proposed enabling to effectively describe, for relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the observed deviation from unity of the intercept \lambda (measured value corresponding to zero relative momentum {\bf p} of two registered identical pions or kaons) of the two-particle correlation function C(p,K). The approach uses q-deformed oscillators and the related picture of ideal gas of q-bosons. In effect, the intercept \lambda is connected with deformation parameter q. For a fixed value of q, the model predicts specific dependence of \lambda on pair mean momentum {\bf K} so that, when |{\bf K}|\gsim 500 - 600 MeV/c for pions or when |{\bf K}|\gsim 700 - 800 MeV/c for kaons, the intercept \lambda tends to a constant which is less than unity and determined by q. If q is fixed to be the same for pions and kaons, the intercepts \lambda_\pi and \lambda_K essentially differ at small mean momenta {\bf K}, but tend to be equal at {\bf K} large enough (|{\bf K}|\gsim 800MeV/c) where the effect of resonance decays can be neglected. We argue that it is of basic interest to check in the experiments on heavy ion collisions: (i) the exact shape of dependence \lambda = \lambda({\bf K}), and (ii) whether for |{\bf K}| \gsim 800 MeV/c the resulting \lambda_\pi and \lambda_K indeed coincide.Comment: 6 pages, revtex, 4 figures, to be published in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Development of a unified tensor calculus for the exceptional Lie algebras

The uniformity of the decomposition law, for a family F of Lie algebras which includes the exceptional Lie algebras, of the tensor powers ad^n of their adjoint representations ad is now well-known. This paper uses it to embark on the development of a unified tensor calculus for the exceptional Lie algebras. It deals explicitly with all the tensors that arise at the n=2 stage, obtaining a large body of systematic information about their properties and identities satisfied by them. Some results at the n=3 level are obtained, including a simple derivation of the the dimension and Casimir eigenvalue data for all the constituents of ad^3. This is vital input data for treating the set of all tensors that enter the picture at the n=3 level, following a path already known to be viable for a_1. The special way in which the Lie algebra d_4 conforms to its place in the family F alongside the exceptional Lie algebras is described.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX 2

Correlation length in cuprates deduced from the impurity-induced magnetization

We report a new multi-nuclei based NMR method which allows us to image the staggered polarization induced by nonmagnetic Li impurities in underdoped O6.6 and slightly overdoped O7 YBa2Cu3O6+y above T_C. The spatial extension of the polarization xi_imp approximately follows a Curie law, increasing up to six lattice constants at T=80K at O6.6 in the pseudogap regime. Near optimal doping, the staggered magnetization has the same shape, with xi_imp reduced by a factor 2. xi_imp is argued to reveal the intrinsic magnetic correlation length of the pure system. It is found to display a smooth evolution through the pseudogap regime.Comment: 8 latex pages + 8 figures, to appear in Physical Review B, this resubmitted version is twice longer than the previous one : we detail here our method to determine the impurity-induced magnetizatio