An evaluation of the effectiveness of three types of study guides in producing immediate and delayed recall.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Linking families with pre-school children from healthcare services to community resources: a systematic review protocol

Background: Poor health and health inequalities persist despite increasing investment in health improvement programmes across high-income countries. Evidence suggests that to reduce health inequalities, a range of activities targeted at different levels within society and throughout the life course should be employed. There is a particular focus on addressing inequalities in early years as this may influence the experience of health in adulthood. To address the wider determinants of health at a community level, a key intervention which can be considered is supporting patients to access wider community resources. This can include processes such as signposting, referral and facilitation. There is a lack of evidence synthesis in relation to the most effective methods for linking individuals from health services to other services within communities, especially when considering interventions aimed at families with young children. Method/design: The aim of this study is to understand the way health services can best help parents, carers and families with pre-school children to engage with local services, groups and agencies to address their wider health and social needs. The review may inform future guidance to support families to address wider determinants of health. The study is a systematic review, and papers will be identified from the following electronic databases: Web of Science, Embase, MEDLINE and CINAHL. A grey literature search will be conducted using an internet search engine and specific grey literature databases (TRiP, EThOS and Open Grey). Reference lists/bibliographies of selected papers will be searched. Quality will be assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for quantitative studies and the CASP tool for qualitative studies. Data will be synthesised in a narrative form and weighted by study quality. Discussion: It is important to understand how health services can facilitate access to wider services for their patients to address the wider determinants of health. This may impact on the experience of health inequalities. This review focuses on how this can be achieved for families with pre-school children, and the evidence obtained will be useful for informing future guidance on this topic

Extending dental nurses' duties: a national survey investigating skill-mix in Scotland's child oral health improvement programme (Childsmile)

Background: Childsmile is Scotland’s national child oral health improvement programme. To support the delivery of prevention in general dental practice in keeping with clinical guidelines, Childsmile sought accreditation for extended duty training for dental nurses to deliver clinical preventive care. This approach has allowed extended duty dental nurses (EDDNs) to take on roles traditionally undertaken by general dental practitioners (GDPs). While skill-mix approaches have been found to work well in general medicine, they have not been formally evaluated in dentistry. Understanding the factors which influence nurses’ ability to fully deliver their extended roles is necessary to ensure nurses’ potential is reached and that children receive preventive care in line with clinical guidance in a cost-effective way. This paper investigates the supplementation of GDPs’ roles by EDDNs, in general dental practice across Scotland. Methods: A cross-sectional postal survey aiming to reach all EDDNs practising in general dental practice in Scotland was undertaken. The survey measured nurses’: role satisfaction, perceived utility of training, frequency, and potential behavioural mediators of, preventive delivery. Frequencies, correlations and multi-variable linear regression were used to analyse the data. Results: Seventy-three percent of practices responded with 174 eligible nurses returning questionnaires. Respondents reported a very high level of role satisfaction and the majority found their training helpful in preparing them for their extended role. While a high level of preventive delivery was reported, fluoride vanish (FV) was delivered less frequently than dietary advice (DA), or oral hygiene advice (OHA). Delivering FV more frequently was associated with higher role satisfaction (p < 0.001). Those nurses who had been practising longer reported delivering FV less frequently than those more recently qualified (p < 0.001). Perceived difficulty of delivering preventive care (skills) and motivation to do so were most strongly associated with frequency of delivery (p < 0.001 for delivery of FV, DA and OHA). Conclusions: This study has provided insight into EDDNs’ experiences and demonstrates that with appropriate training and support, EDDNs can supplement GDPs’ roles in general dental practice in Scotland. However, some barriers to delivery were identified with delivery of FV showing scope for improvement

Nonlinear optimal guidance algorithms Interim report

Nonlinear optimal guidance algorithms for space mission

The Friars of the Sack in Barcelona: financial and pastoral profile

Enthusiasm for the new Mendicant movement spread the Brothers of Penitence of Jesus Christ, or "Sack Brothers", all over Europe and specially in the realms of Crown of Aragon, from 1251 to their suppression by the Council of Lyons II in 1274. Though we can reconstruct their network of convents only from randomly surviving manuscripts, a folder of parchments at Barcelona's Arxiu Diocesà enables us to explore their Barcelona experience in some detail. This includes the content of their library, their pastoral-canonical counseling, their new church and convent, the 51 friars who passed through here, their lay money managers, their lawsuits, their large loans to King James, and their prosperous fiscal maneuvers.[fr] De 1251 jusqu'à leur suppression par le Concile de Lyon lì en 1274, les nouveaux Ordres Mendiants connurent une impulsion qui envoya les Frères de la Pénitence de Jésus-Christ, ou Frères Sachets, dans toute l'Europe et plus particulièrement dans le Royaume d'Aragon. Bien que nous ne puissions retracer le réseau de leurs couvents qu'à partir de manuscrits retrouvés ça et là, un dossier de parchemins conservé à l'archi-diocèse de Barcelone nous donne de nombreux détails concernant leur présence dans cette ville. Il y est tait état notamment du contenu de leur bibliothèque, de leur conseil pastoral canonique, de leur nouvelle église et de leur couvent, des 51 frères qui y ont séjourné, de leurs gestionnaires laïques, de leurs procès, de leurs prêts importants au roi Jacques et de leurs opérations fiscales lucratives

A Window on the Valencia of Jaume the Conqueror: A Five-Year Core Sample, 1264-1270

During the years 1265 to 1270 King Jaume I culminated his career as warrior and hero of Christendom, amid diplomatic triumphs, commercial expansion, and military glory, ending however in personal humiliation and the collapse of his plans for a Jerusalem crusade. The kingdom of Valencia, then in a period of intense post-conquest consolidation, was central to his activities. This article surveys the 500 documents in the king's registers about Valencia for that short period, organizing them around the themes of Physical Space, the Human Geography both political and economic, the Fiscal Space, the Juridical Space, the Sacret Space, the "Parallel Societies" of Jews and Mudejars, the world of women, and the Murcian Crusade in Valencian Perspective. Each of the hundreds of elements comprising this five-year panorama is accompanied by the number of a document or documents from the forthcoming third volume of the Diplomatarium of King Jaume. The structure and dynamics of his new kingdom are revealed in this abundance of anecdotes, personal glimpses and self-enclosed narratives of those remarkable documents and their obiter dicta.[fr] Pendant les années 1265 à 1270, le roi Jaume I a culminé sa carrière de guerrier et héros du monde chrétien par des succès diplomatiques, expansion commerciale et gloire militaire, terminant pourtant par l'humiliation personnelle et l'effondrement de ses plans pour une croisade contre Jérusalem. Le royaume de Valencia, à cette époque-là dans une période de consolidation intense après la conquête, occupait une place centrale dans ses activités. Cet article est un aperçu des 500 documents dans les registres du roi sur Valencia dans cette courte période-là. L'article organise les documents sous les thèmes de l'Espace physique, la Géographie humaine-économique et politique, l'Espace fiscale, l'Espace juridique, l'Espace sacrée, les "Sociétés parallèles" des juifs et mudejars, le Monde de la femme, et la champagne murcienne dans la perspective valencienne. Chaqu'un des centaines d'éléments qui composent ce panorama de cinq ans est accompagné par le numéro d'un document ou des documents de la troisième tome du Diplomatarium du roi Jaume en préparation. La structure et la dynamique de son nouveau royaume se découvrent dans les anecdotes, les commentaires brefs personnels et les narrations libres qui abondent dans ces documents remarquables et ses obiter dicta

Cluster Winds Blow along Supercluster Axes

Within Abell galaxy clusters containing wide-angle tailed radio sources, there is evidence of a ``prevailing wind'' which directs the WAT jets. We study the alignment of WAT jets and nearby clusters to test the idea that this wind may be a fossil of drainage along large-scale supercluster axes. We also test this idea with a study of the alignment of WAT jets and supercluster axes. Statistical test neighbours indicate no alignment of WAT jets towards nearest clusters, but do indicate approximately 98% confidence in alignment with the long axis of the supercluster in which the cluster lies. We find a preferred scale for such superclusters of order 25 Mpc $h^{-1}$.Comment: Latex, 5 pages, with 5 postscript figures. To be published in MNRAS. Slight revisions to coincide with journal text. Linked to color image at http://kusmos.phsx.ukans.edu/~melott/images/A2634SUW.jp

Characterization of single-crystal synthetic diamond for multi-watt continuous-wave Raman lasers

A continuous-wave diamond Raman laser is demonstrated with an output power of 5.1 W at 1217 nm. This Raman laser is intracavity pumped by a side-pumped Nd:YLF rod laser: a 43-fold brightness enhancement between the Nd:YLF and diamond Raman lasers is observed, with the M2 beam propagation factor of the diamond Raman laser measured to be <; 1.2. Although higher output powers are demonstrated in a similar configuration using KGd(WO4)2 (KGW) as the Raman laser material (6.1 W), the brightness enhancement is much lower (2.5 fold) due to the poorer beam quality of the KGW Raman laser (M2 <; 6). The Raman gain coefficient of single-crystal synthetic diamond at a pump wavelength of 1064-nm is also measured: a maximum value of 21±2 cm/GW is returned compared to 5.7±0.5 cm/GW for KGW at the same wavelength

Novel form of adaptation in mouse retinal rods speeds recovery of phototransduction

Photoreceptors of the retina adapt to ambient light in a manner that allows them to detect changes in illumination over an enormous range of intensities. We have discovered a novel form of adaptation in mouse rods that persists long after the light has been extinguished and the rod's circulating dark current has returned. Electrophysiological recordings from individual rods showed that the time that a bright flash response remained in saturation was significantly shorter if the rod had been previously exposed to bright light. This persistent adaptation did not decrease the rate of rise of the response and therefore cannot be attributed to a decrease in the gain of transduction. Instead, this adaptation was accompanied by a marked speeding of the recovery of the response, suggesting that the step that rate-limits recovery had been accelerated. Experiments on knockout rods in which the identity of the rate-limiting step is known suggest that this adaptive acceleration results from a speeding of G protein/effector deactivation