1,862 research outputs found
Conditioning of pulses from aerosol-particle detectors
Pulse-conditioner translates pulses generated by aerosol-particle detectors to a form acceptable by commercially available pulse height analyzers designed for nuclear-energy spectroscopy
Lack of self-averaging in neutral evolution of proteins
We simulate neutral evolution of proteins imposing conservation of the
thermodynamic stability of the native state in the framework of an effective
model of folding thermodynamics. This procedure generates evolutionary
trajectories in sequence space which share two universal features for all of
the examined proteins. First, the number of neutral mutations fluctuates
broadly from one sequence to another, leading to a non-Poissonian substitution
process. Second, the number of neutral mutations displays strong correlations
along the trajectory, thus causing the breakdown of self-averaging of the
resulting evolutionary substitution process.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Cognitive Information Processing
Contains reports on six research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM14940-04)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM15006-03)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E
Cognitive Information Processing
Contains reports on seven research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 P01 GM14940-03)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 P01 GM15006-02)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 TOl GM-01555-02
Patient safety in dentistry: development of a candidate 'never event' list for primary care
Introduction The 'never event' concept is often used in secondary care and refers to an agreed list of patient safety incidents that 'should not happen if the necessary preventative measures are in place'. Such an intervention may raise awareness of patient safety issues and inform team learning and system improvements in primary care dentistry.
Objective To identify and develop a candidate never event list for primary care dentistry.
Methods A literature review, eight workshops with dental practitioners and a modified Delphi with 'expert' groups were used to identify and agree candidate never events.
Results Two-hundred and fifty dental practitioners suggested 507 never events, reduced to 27 distinct possibilities grouped across seven themes. Most frequently occurring themes were: 'checking medical history and prescribing' (119, 23.5%) and 'infection control and decontamination' (71, 14%). 'Experts' endorsed nine candidate never event statements with one graded as 'extreme risk' (failure to check past medical history) and four as 'high risk' (for example, extracting wrong tooth).
Conclusion Consensus on a preliminary list of never events was developed. This is the first known attempt to develop this approach and an important step in determining its value to patient safety. Further work is necessary to develop the utility of this method
Elasticity Theory Connection Rules for Epitaxial Interfaces
Elasticity theory provides an accurate description of the long-wavelength
vibrational dynamics of homogeneous crystalline solids, and with supplemental
boundary conditions on the displacement field can also be applied to abrupt
heterojunctions and interfaces. The conventional interface boundary conditions,
or connection rules, require that the displacement field and its associated
stress field be continuous through the interface. We argue, however, that these
boundary conditions are generally incorrect for epitaxial interfaces, and we
give the general procedure for deriving the correct conditions, which depend
essentially on the detailed microscopic structure of the interface. As a simple
application of our theory we analyze in detail a one-dimensional model of an
inhomogeneous crystal, a chain of harmonic oscillators with an abrupt change in
mass and spring stiffness parameters. Our results have implications for phonon
dynamics in nanostructures such as superlattices and nanoparticles, as well as
for the thermal boundary resistance at epitaxial interfaces.Comment: 7 pages, Revte
What really matters about teacher education at Cathedrals Group Universities: volume 2 the case studies
The case studies show insight into the extent that there is a shared understanding between schools, students and staff members in some of England’s oldest providers of teacher education in England. Is there something particular about that provision? Could it be described as distinctively, implicitly or explicitly Christian? Is there a sense of shared thinking about the answers to these questions in the provision of teacher education and the students, university tutors and school staff members who partner with these universities to educate the next generation of teachers?
This document provides five answers to those questions. The answers are snapshots of the perception of teacher education at these universities, at a time when teacher education has become a major purpose of schools, and universities have found themselves being questioned and challenged about their role in the development of new teachers
Protein design in a lattice model of hydrophobic and polar amino acids
A general strategy is described for finding which amino acid sequences have
native states in a desired conformation (inverse design). The approach is used
to design sequences of 48 hydrophobic and polar aminoacids on three-dimensional
lattice structures. Previous studies employing a sequence-space Monte-Carlo
technique resulted in the successful design of one sequence in ten attempts.
The present work also entails the exploration of conformations that compete
significantly with the target structure for being its ground state. The design
procedure is successful in all the ten cases.Comment: RevTeX, 12 pages, 1 figur
Efficacy of Online Training for Improving Camp Staff Competency
Preparing competent staff is a critical issue within the camp community. This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of an online course for improving staff competency in camp healthcare practices among college-aged camp staff and a comparison group (N = 55). We hypothesized that working in camp would increase competency test scores due to opportunities for staff to experientially apply knowledge learned online. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyse the cross-level effects of a between-individuals factor (assignment to experimental or comparison group) and within-individual effects of time (pre-test, post-test #1, and post-test #2) on online course test scores. At post-test #2, the difference in average test scores between groups was ~30 points, with the treatment group scoring lower on average than the comparison group. Factors that may have influenced these findings are explored, including fatigue and the limited durability of online learning. Recommendations for research and practice are discussed
Evaluation of a new type of direct digital radiography machine
Objective. To evaluate a recently developed low-dose, largefield, direct digital X-ray scanning system for medical use.Method. Radiation dose, image quality, diagnostic capability and clinical utility of the unit were compared with those of conventional radiography.Results. Radiation doses ranged from 3% to 5% of conventional radiographic values, and a mean of 1 line-pair per millimetre could be detected. Ease of use, anatomical coverage and tolerance to patient motion were advantages. However, image quality was inferior to that of conventional radiographs, with limited fine detail visibility and penetration. Only 67 of 156 (42.9%) pathological features seen on conventional radiographs were detected, including 13 of 41 fractures (31.7%) and 11 of 18 pneumothoraces (61.1%).Conclusion. Although image quality and diagnostic performance were not ideal, potential roles in triage, foreign body detection and possibly screening were promising. Radiographic factors may have affected sensitivity. This machine demonstrated useful attributes that may, with improvement, be beneficial in the imaging of trauma and other patients
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