1,863 research outputs found

    Social media adoption framework for aged care service providers in Australia

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    © 2017 IEEE. The aged care sector has been a late adopter of social media platforms for communicating, collaborating, marketing and creating brand awareness. There is little research that examines the adoption of social media by aged care service providers for these purposes. This paper reviews the status of social media adoption in the Australian aged care industry, to understand in what ways social media can serve older people's needs, and to develop recommendations for aged-care service providers to adopt social media applications to empower older people. Through a review of the literature and interviews with Australian experts, this paper suggests aged care providers use a three-phase framework when adopting social media in the aged care sector. The first phase is to adopt a popular public social media platform such as Facebook followed by Instagram and Twitter. The second phase supports interaction by encouraging posts and feedback by locally hosted member forums. The third phase is the adoption of specialised social applications for closed groups and specific functions. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the framework and proposes directions for future research

    Optical matrix elements in tight-binding models with overlap

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    We investigate the effect of orbital overlap on optical matrix elements in empirical tight-binding models. Empirical tight-binding models assume an orthogonal basis of (atomiclike) states and a diagonal coordinate operator which neglects the intra-atomic part. It is shown that, starting with an atomic basis which is not orthogonal, the orthogonalization process induces intra-atomic matrix elements of the coordinate operator and extends the range of the effective Hamiltonian. We analyze simple tight-binding models and show that non-orthogonality plays an important role in optical matrix elements. In addition, the procedure gives formal justification to the nearest-neighbor spin-orbit interaction introduced by Boykin [Phys. Rev \textbf{B} 57, 1620 (1998)] in order to describe the Dresselahaus term which is neglected in empirical tight-binding models.Comment: 16 pages 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

    Transport and the Order Parameter of Superconducting UPt3

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    We calculate the ultrasonic absorption and the thermal conductivity in the superconducting state of UPt3_{3} as functions of temperature and direction of propagation and polarization. Two leading candidates for the superconducting order parameter are considered: the E1gE_{1g} and E2uE_{2u} representations. Both can fit the data except for the ultrasonic absorption in the AA phase. To do that, it is necessary to suppose that the system has only a single domain, and that must be chosen as the most favorable one. However, the E2uE_{2u} theory requires fine-tuning of parameters to fit the low temperature thermal conductivity. Thus, transport data favor the E1gE_{1g} theory. Measurements of the thermal conductivity as a function of pressure at low temperature could help to further distinguish the two theories.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

    Honest sexual signalling mediated by parasite and testosterone effects on oxidative balance

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    Extravagant ornaments evolved to advertise their bearers' quality, the honesty of the signal being ensured by the cost paid to produce or maintain it. The oxidation handicap hypothesis (OHH) proposes that a main cost of testosterone-dependent ornamentation is oxidative stress, a condition whereby the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) overwhelms the capacity of antioxidant defences. ROS/RNS are unstable, very reactive by-products of normal metabolic processes that can cause extensive damage to key biomolecules (cellular proteins, lipids and DNA). Oxidative stress has been implicated in the aetiology of many diseases and could link ornamentation and genetic variation in fitness-related traits. We tested the OHH in a free-living bird, the red grouse. We show that elevated testosterone enhanced ornamentation and increased circulating antioxidant levels, but caused oxidative damage. Males with smaller ornaments suffered more oxidative damage than those with larger ornaments when forced to increase testosterone levels, consistent with a handicap mechanism. Parasites depleted antioxidant defences, caused oxidative damage and reduced ornament expression. Oxidative damage extent and the ability of males to increase antioxidant defences also explained the impacts of testosterone and parasites on ornamentation within treatment groups. Because oxidative stress is intimately linked to immune function, parasite resistance and fitness, it provides a reliable currency in the trade-off between individual health and ornamentation. The costs induced by oxidative stress can apply to a wide range of signals, which are testosterone-dependent or coloured by pigments with antioxidant properties

    Breeding Small Grains as a Forage, Silage and Cover Crop for the Southern Coastal Plain (USA) in a Changing Climatic Environment

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    Forage breeding of small grains in the southern Coastal Plains region of the U.S. mimic many other countries experiencing climate changes and breeding strategies should be similar for improving small grains grown for forage, silage or as cover crops. Significant focus on improvements in stress-adaptation has encouraged members of the SunGrains cooperative to cross, evaluate and develop experimental lines with inherent adaptation to climatic conditions including heat stress, drought tolerance, short-day and long-day forage production periods, and flooded conditions for events with storm-related, short-term durations. Many new cultivars, grown throughout the southeastern U.S. have resulted from breeding selection under abiotic and biotic stresses, adapted to climate change and related concerns, such as disease and insect pests

    Theory of Ferromagnetic Superconductivity

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    It is argued that the pairing symmetry realized in a ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2_2 must be a non-unitary triplet pairing. This particular state is free from the Pauli limitation and can survive under a huge internal molecular filed. To check our identification we examine its basic properties and several experiments are proposed. In particular, the external field is used to raise TcT_c by controlling the internal spontaneous dipole field.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

    Tilting instability and other anomalies in the flux-lattice in some magnetic superconductors

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    The flux-line lattice in the compound ErNi2B2CErNi_2B_2C, which has a tendency to ferromagnetic order in the a-b plane is studied with external magnetic field direction close to the c-axis. We show the existence of an instability where the direction of flux-lines spontaneously tilts away from that of the applied field near the onset of ferromagnetic order. The enhanced fluctuations in the flux lattice and the square flux lattice recently observed are explained and further experiments suggested.Comment: 12 pages, Latex file, no figur

    E1gE_{1g} model of superconducting UPt3_3

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    The phase diagram of superconducting UPt3_3 is explained in a Ginzburg-Landau theory starting from the hypothesis that the order parameter is a pseudo-spin singlet which transforms according to the E1gE_{1g} representation of the D6hD_{6h} point group. We show how to compute the positions of the phase boundaries both when the applied field is in the basal plane and when it is along the c-axis. The experimental phase diagrams as determined by longitudinal sound velocity data can be fit using a single set of parameters. In particular the crossing of the upper critical field curves for the two field directions and the apparent isotropy of the phase diagram are reproduced. The former is a result of the magnetic properties of UPt3_3 and their contribution to the free energy in the superconducting state. The latter is a consequence of an approximate particle-hole symmetry. Finally we extend the theory to finite pressure and show that, in contrast to other models, the E1gE_{1g} model explains the observed pressure dependence of the phase boundaries.Comment: RevTex, 29 pages, 18 PostScript figures in a uuencoded, gzipped tar file. PostScript version of paper, tar file of PostScript figures and individual PostScript figures are also available via anonymous ftp at ftp://nym.physics.wisc.edu/anonymou/papers/upt3
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