11,699 research outputs found
Institutional Effects in a Simple Model of Educational Production
This paper presents a model of educational production that tries to make sense of recent evidence on effects of institutional arrangements on student performance. In a simple principal-agent framework, students choose their learning effort to maximize their net benefits, while the government chooses educational spending to maximize its net benefits. In the jointly determined equilibrium, schooling quality is shown to depend on several institutionally determined parameters. The impact on student performance of institutions such as central examinations, centralization versus school autonomy, teachers\u27 influence, parental influence, and competition from private schools is analyzed. Furthermore, the model can rationalize why positive resource effects may be lacking in educational production
Spectral signatures of the Luttinger liquid to charge-density-wave transition
Electron- and phonon spectral functions of the one-dimensional,
spinless-fermion Holstein model at half filling are calculated in the four
distinct regimes of the phase diagram, corresponding to an attractive or
repulsive Luttinger liquid at weak electron-phonon coupling, and a band- or
polaronic insulator at strong coupling. The results obtained by means of kernel
polynomial and systematic cluster approaches reveal substantially different
physics in these regimes and further indicate that the size of the phonon
frequency significantly affects the nature of the quantum Peierls phase
transition.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; final version, accepted for publication in
Physical Review
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Factors influencing utilisation of ‘free-standing’ and ‘alongside’ midwifery units for low-risk births in England: a mixed-methods study
Background
Midwifery-led units (MUs) are recommended for ‘low-risk’ births by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence but according to the National Audit Office were not available in one-quarter of trusts in England in 2013 and, when available, were used by only a minority of the low-risk women for whom they should be suitable. This study explores why.
Objectives
To map the provision of MUs in England and explore barriers to and facilitators of their development and use; and to ascertain stakeholder views of interventions to address these barriers and facilitators.
Design
Mixed methods – first, MU access and utilisation across England was mapped; second, local media coverage of the closure of free-standing midwifery units (FMUs) were analysed; third, case studies were undertaken in six sites to explore the barriers and facilitators that have an impact on the development of MUs; and, fourth, by convening a stakeholder workshop, interventions to address the barriers and facilitators were discussed.
Setting
English NHS maternity services.
Participants
All trusts with maternity services.
Interventions
Establishing MUs.
Main outcome measures
Numbers and types of MUs and utilisation of MUs.
Results
Births in MUs across England have nearly tripled since 2011, to 15% of all births. However, this increase has occurred almost exclusively in alongside units, numbers of which have doubled. Births in FMUs have stayed the same and these units are more susceptible to closure. One-quarter of trusts in England have no MUs; in those that do, nearly all MUs are underutilised. The study findings indicate that most trust managers, senior midwifery managers and obstetricians do not regard their MU provision as being as important as their obstetric-led unit provision and therefore it does not get embedded as an equal and parallel component in the trust’s overall maternity package of care. The analysis illuminates how provision and utilisation are influenced by a complex range of factors, including the medicalisation of childbirth, financial constraints and institutional norms protecting the status quo.
Limitations
When undertaking the case studies, we were unable to achieve representativeness across social class in the women’s focus groups and struggled to recruit finance directors for individual interviews. This may affect the transferability of our findings.
Conclusions
Although there has been an increase in the numbers and utilisation of MUs since 2011, significant obstacles remain to MUs reaching their full potential, especially FMUs. This includes the capacity and willingness of providers to address women’s information needs. If these remain unaddressed at commissioner and provider level, childbearing women’s access to MUs will continue to be restricted.
Future work
Work is needed on optimum approaches to improve decision-makers’ understanding and use of clinical and economic evidence in service design. Increasing women’s access to information about MUs requires further studies of professionals’ understanding and communication of evidence. The role of FMUs in the context of rural populations needs further evaluation to take into account user and community impact.
Funding
This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 12. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information
High-Order Coupled Cluster Method Calculations for the Ground- and Excited-State Properties of the Spin-Half XXZ Model
In this article, we present new results of high-order coupled cluster method
(CCM) calculations, based on a N\'eel model state with spins aligned in the
-direction, for both the ground- and excited-state properties of the
spin-half {\it XXZ} model on the linear chain, the square lattice, and the
simple cubic lattice. In particular, the high-order CCM formalism is extended
to treat the excited states of lattice quantum spin systems for the first time.
Completely new results for the excitation energy gap of the spin-half {\it XXZ}
model for these lattices are thus determined. These high-order calculations are
based on a localised approximation scheme called the LSUB scheme in which we
retain all -body correlations defined on all possible locales of
adjacent lattice sites (). The ``raw'' CCM LSUB results are seen to
provide very good results for the ground-state energy, sublattice
magnetisation, and the value of the lowest-lying excitation energy for each of
these systems. However, in order to obtain even better results, two types of
extrapolation scheme of the LSUB results to the limit (i.e.,
the exact solution in the thermodynamic limit) are presented. The extrapolated
results provide extremely accurate results for the ground- and excited-state
properties of these systems across a wide range of values of the anisotropy
parameter.Comment: 31 Pages, 5 Figure
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Factors influencing the utilisation of free-standing and alongside midwifery units in England: a qualitative research study
OBJECTIVE: To identify factors influencing the provision, utilisation and sustainability of midwifery units (MUs) in England.
DESIGN: Case studies, using individual interviews and focus groups, in six National Health Service (NHS) Trust maternity services in England.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: NHS maternity services in different geographical areas of England Maternity care staff and service users from six NHS Trusts: two Trusts where more than 20% of all women gave birth in MUs, two Trusts where less than 10% of all women gave birth in MUs and two Trusts without MUs. Obstetric, midwifery and neonatal clinical leaders, managers, service user representatives and commissioners were individually interviewed (n=57). Twenty-six focus groups were undertaken with midwives (n=60) and service users (n=52).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Factors influencing MU use.
FINDINGS: The study findings identify several barriers to the uptake of MUs. Within a context of a history of obstetric-led provision and lack of decision-maker awareness of the clinical and economic evidence, most Trust managers and clinicians do not regard their MU provision as being as important as their obstetric unit (OU) provision. Therefore, it does not get embedded as an equal and parallel component in the Trust's overall maternity package of care. The analysis illuminates how implementation of complex interventions in health services is influenced by a range of factors including the medicalisation of childbirth, perceived financial constraints, adequate leadership and institutional norms protecting the status quo.
CONCLUSIONS: There are significant obstacles to MUs reaching their full potential, especially free-standing midwifery units. These include the lack of commitment by providers to embed MUs as an essential service provision alongside their OUs, an absence of leadership to drive through these changes and the capacity and willingness of providers to address women's information needs. If these remain unaddressed, childbearing women's access to MUs will continue to be restricted
Measurements of Quasiparticle Tunneling Dynamics in a Bandgap-Engineered Transmon Qubit
We have engineered the bandgap profile of transmon qubits by combining
oxygen-doped Al for tunnel junction electrodes and clean Al as quasiparticle
traps to investigate energy relaxation due to quasiparticle tunneling. The
relaxation time of the qubits is shown to be insensitive to this bandgap
engineering. Operating at relatively low makes the transmon
transition frequency distinctly dependent on the charge parity, allowing us to
detect the quasiparticles tunneling across the qubit junction. Quasiparticle
kinetics have been studied by monitoring the frequency switching due to
even/odd parity change in real time. It shows the switching time is faster than
10 s, indicating quasiparticle-induced relaxation has to be reduced to
achieve much longer than 100 s.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Bondian frames to couple matter with radiation
A study is presented for the non linear evolution of a self gravitating
distribution of matter coupled to a massless scalar field. The characteristic
formulation for numerical relativity is used to follow the evolution by a
sequence of light cones open to the future. Bondian frames are used to endow
physical meaning to the matter variables and to the massless scalar field.
Asymptotic approaches to the origin and to infinity are achieved; at the
boundary surface interior and exterior solutions are matched guaranteeing the
Darmois--Lichnerowicz conditions. To show how the scheme works some numerical
models are discussed. We exemplify evolving scalar waves on the following fixed
backgrounds: A) an atmosphere between the boundary surface of an incompressible
mixtured fluid and infinity; B) a polytropic distribution matched to a
Schwarzschild exterior; C) a Schwarzschild- Schwarzschild spacetime. The
conservation of energy, the Newman--Penrose constant preservation and other
expected features are observed.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures; to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Michaelis-Menten dynamics in protein subnetworks
To understand the behaviour of complex systems it is often necessary to use
models that describe the dynamics of subnetworks. It has previously been
established using projection methods that such subnetwork dynamics generically
involves memory of the past, and that the memory functions can be calculated
explicitly for biochemical reaction networks made up of unary and binary
reactions. However, many established network models involve also
Michaelis-Menten kinetics, to describe e.g. enzymatic reactions. We show that
the projection approach to subnetwork dynamics can be extended to such
networks, thus significantly broadening its range of applicability. To derive
the extension we construct a larger network that represents enzymes and enzyme
complexes explicitly, obtain the projected equations, and finally take the
limit of fast enzyme reactions that gives back Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The
crucial point is that this limit can be taken in closed form. The outcome is a
simple procedure that allows one to obtain a description of subnetwork
dynamics, including memory functions, starting directly from any given network
of unary, binary and Michaelis-Menten reactions. Numerical tests show that this
closed form enzyme elimination gives a much more accurate description of the
subnetwork dynamics than the simpler method that represents enzymes explicitly,
and is also more efficient computationally
Polarized States and Domain Walls in Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates
We study spin-polarized states and their stability in anti-ferromagnetic
states of spinor (F=1) quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates. Using
analytical approximations and numerical methods, we find various types of
polarized states, including: patterns of the Thomas-Fermi type; structures with
a pulse-shape in one component inducing a hole in the other components; states
with holes in all three components; and domain walls. A Bogoliubov-de Gennes
analysis reveals that families of these states contain intervals of a weak
oscillatory instability, except for the domain walls, which are always stable.
The development of the instabilities is examined by means of direct numerical
simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Cavity QED in a molecular ion trap
We propose an approach for studying quantum information and performing high
resolution spectroscopy of rotational states of trapped molecular ions using an
on-chip superconducting microwave resonator. Molecular ions have several
advantages over neutral molecules. Ions can be loaded into deep (1 eV) RF traps
and are trapped independent of the electric dipole moment of their rotational
transition. Their charge protects them from motional dephasing and prevents
collisional loss, allowing 1 s coherence times when used as a quantum memory,
with detection of single molecules possible in <10 ms. An analysis of the
detection efficiency and coherence properties of the molecules is presented.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
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