Overcoming change fatigue: lessons from Glasgow's National Health Service

Structured Abstract Purpose of this paper This paper explores the practicalities of organizational change in complex settings where much change has already occurred. It therefore offers insights into tackling and overcoming change fatigue. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a longitudinal study of change within a healthcare organization. The paper draws on interviews, focus groups and observations during a 2.5 year long action research project. Findings The paper reports findings on the speed at which change takes place, the importance of communication and the burden placed on senior officers during such communication and consultation processes, the use of appropriate external resources and expertise, the benefits of sharing best practice across sectors and the role of academic researchers in change processes. What is original/value of paper The paper offers valuable insights to those charged with effecting organizational change in change fatigued settings

'But I thought we were friends?' Life cycles and research relationships

This chapter is concerned with a relatively under-explored aspect of ‘engaged research’ – the nature of friendship relations between researchers and practitioners, and the ethical dilemmas that arise in such relationships. Attention has been paid to the relational aspects of research in the methodology literature, but this chapter focuses more closely on friendship in particular. The chapter is framed around two guiding concerns: how do friendships, formed in and around research, change over time; and in view of friendship conceived in this dynamic fashion, what ethical questions and dilemmas arise for the ‘friends’

The Fractal Dimension of Projected Clouds

The interstellar medium seems to have an underlying fractal structure which can be characterized through its fractal dimension. However, interstellar clouds are observed as projected two-dimensional images, and the projection of a tri-dimensional fractal distorts its measured properties. Here we use simulated fractal clouds to study the relationship between the tri-dimensional fractal dimension (D_f) of modeled clouds and the dimension resulting from their projected images. We analyze different fractal dimension estimators: the correlation and mass dimensions of the clouds, and the perimeter-based dimension of their boundaries (D_per). We find the functional forms relating D_f with the projected fractal dimensions, as well as the dependence on the image resolution, which allow to estimatethe "real" D_f value of a cloud from its projection. The application of these results to Orion A indicates in a self-consistent way that 2.5 < D_f < 2.7 for this molecular cloud, a value higher than the result D_per+1 = 2.3 some times assumed in literature for interstellar clouds.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Minor change

Addressing the Healthcare Needs of an Ageing Population The Need for an Integrated Solution

All stakeholders involved in healthcare are well aware of the ticking time bomb of our ageing world with demand exceeding supply even within the most affluent of countries. The Director- General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently drawn global attention to the fact that even in low income countries people are living longer; however pointedly adds that longevity is not enough. To benefit society as a whole there needs to be a refocus on how later years in life are significant to the older person; with attention to dignity and good health [1]

Genetic variability of Taenia saginata inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

Taenia saginata is an important tapeworm, infecting humans in many parts of the world. The present study was undertaken to identify inter- and intraspecific variation of T. saginata isolated from cattle in different parts of Iran using two mitochondrial CO1 and 12S rRNA genes. Up to 105 bovine specimens of T. saginata were collected from 20 slaughterhouses in three provinces of Iran. DNA were extracted from the metacestode Cysticercus bovis. After PCR amplification, sequencing of CO1 and 12S rRNA genes were carried out and two phylogenetic analyses of the sequence data were generated by Bayesian inference on CO1 and 12S rRNA sequences. Sequence analyses of CO1 and 12S rRNA genes showed 11 and 29 representative profiles respectively. The level of pairwise nucleotide variation between individual haplotypes of CO1 gene was 0.3–2.4 % while the overall nucleotide variation among all 11 haplotypes was 4.6 %. For 12S rRNA sequence data, level of pairwise nucleotide variation was 0.2–2.5 % and the overall nucleotide variation was determined as 5.8 % among 29 haplotypes of 12S rRNA gene. Considerable genetic diversity was found in both mitochondrial genes particularly in 12S rRNA gene. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Multi-directional sorting modes in deterministic lateral displacement devices

Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) devices separate micrometer-scale particles in solution based on their size using a laminar microfluidic flow in an array of obstacles. We investigate array geometries with rational row-shift fractions in DLD devices by use of a simple model including both advection and diffusion. Our model predicts novel multi-directional sorting modes that could be experimentally tested in high-throughput DLD devices containing obstacles that are much smaller than the separation between obstacles

Molecular and morphological characterization of the tapeworm Taenia hydatigena (Pallas, 1766) in sheep from Iran

Although Taenia hydatigena is one of the most prevalent taeniid species of livestock, very little molecular genetic information exists for this parasite. Up to 100 sheep isolates of T. hydatigena were collected from 19 abattoirs located in the provinces of Tehran, Alborz and Kerman. A calibrated microscope was used to measure the larval rostellar hook lengths. Following DNA extraction, fragments of cytochrome c oxidase 1 (CO1) and 12S rRNA genes were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction method and the amplicons were subjected to sequencing. The mean total length of large and small hooks was 203.4 μm and 135.9 μm, respectively. Forty CO1 and 39 12S rRNA sequence haplotypes were obtained in the study. The levels of pairwise nucleotide variation between individual haplotypes of CO1 and 12S rRNA genes were determined to be between 0.3-3.4% and 0.2-2.1%, respectively. The overall nucleotide variation among all the CO1 haplotypes was 9.7%, and for all the 12S rRNA haplotypes it was 10.1%. A significant difference was observed between rostellar hook morphometry and both CO1 and 12S rRNA sequence variability. A significantly high level of genetic variation was observed in the present study. The results showed that the 12S rRNA gene is more variable than CO1. © 2013 Cambridge University Press

Pre-Existing Superbubbles as the Sites of Gamma-Ray Bursts

According to recent models, gamma-ray bursts apparently explode in a wide variety of ambient densities ranging from ~ 10^{-3} to 30 cm^{-3}. The lowest density environments seem, at first sight, to be incompatible with bursts in or near molecular clouds or with dense stellar winds and hence with the association of gamma-ray bursts with massive stars. We argue that low ambient density regions naturally exist in areas of active star formation as the interiors of superbubbles. The evolution of the interior bubble density as a function of time for different assumptions about the evaporative or hydrodynamical mass loading of the bubble interior is discussed. We present a number of reasons why there should exist a large range of inferred afterglow ambient densities whether gamma-ray bursts arise in massive stars or some version of compact star coalescence. We predict that many gamma-ray bursts will be identified with X-ray bright regions of galaxies, corresponding to superbubbles, rather than with blue localized regions of star formation. Massive star progenitors are expected to have their own circumstellar winds. The lack of evidence for individual stellar winds associated with the progenitor stars for the cases with afterglows in especially low density environments may imply low wind densities and hence low mass loss rates combined with high velocities. If gamma-ray bursts are associated with massive stars, this combination might be expected for compact progenitors with atmospheres dominated by carbon, oxygen or heavier elements, that is, progenitors resembling Type Ic supernovae.Comment: 14 pages, no figures, submitted to The Astrophysical Journa