708 research outputs found
Tuning magnetic hysteresis of electrodeposited Fe 3 O 4
We demonstrate that changes in electrolyte composition and applied potential during aqueous electrodeposition can be used to tune the magnetic hysteresis response of thin-film Fe3O4 (magnetite) on polycrystalline metal substrates. X-ray diffraction data confirmed that magnetite formation in electrolytes containing KCH3COO (0.04â2.0 M) and Fe(SO4)2(NH4)2 (0.01M) required temperatures between 60 and 85 °C, and deposition potentials between â0.300 and
â0.575 V or galvanostatic current densities between 50 and 88 ÎźA/cm2. Scanning electron microscopy studies show that magnetite crystallites tend to adopt different habits depending on the electrolyte composition. Room-temperature magnetic hysteresis responses (squareness and coercivity) are dependent upon the crystal habit of deposits, implying that the electrolyteâs acetate concentration influences the magnetic domain structure of the resulting magnetite deposits. Magnetite crystallites grown from electrolytes with low acetate concentrations showed
pseudo-single-domain magnetic response, while magnetite grown from acetate-enriched electrolytes showed multidomain magnetic response
The effectiveness of manual stretching in the treatment of plantar heel pain: a systematic review
Background: Plantar heel pain is a commonly occurring foot complaint. Stretching is frequently utilised as a treatment, yet a systematic review focusing only on its effectiveness has not been published. This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of stretching on pain and function in people with plantar heel pain. Methods: Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, and The Cochrane Library were searched from inception to July 2010. Studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were independently assessed, and their quality evaluated using the modified PEDro scale. Results: Six studies including 365 symptomatic participants were included. Two compared stretching with a control, one study compared stretching to an alternative intervention, one study compared stretching to both alternative and control interventions, and two compared different stretching techniques and durations. Quality rating on the modified Pedro scale varied from two to eight out of a maximum of ten points. The methodologies and interventions varied significantly between studies, making meta-analysis inappropriate. Most participants improved over the course of the studies, but when stretching was compared to alternative or control interventions, the changes only reached statistical significance in one study that used a combination of calf muscle stretches and plantar fascia stretches in their stretching programme. Another study comparing different stretching techniques, showed a statistically significant reduction in some aspects of pain in favour of plantar fascia stretching over calf stretches in the short term. Conclusions: There were too few studies to assess whether stretching is effective compared to control or other interventions, for either pain or function. However, there is some evidence that plantar fascia stretching may be more effective than Achilles tendon stretching alone in the short-term. Appropriately powered randomised controlled trials, utilizing validated outcome measures, blinded assessors and long-term follow up are needed to assess the efficacy of stretching
Travel to school and housing markets: a case study of Sheffield, England
How children travel to school is at the centre of a complex set of interrelated issues with significant policy implications. This paper reviews the relation of patterns of travel to school to concerns about public health, school choice, urban form, and residential housing markets. The spatial relations between pupilsâ homes and the schools that they attend provides the basis of an analytical framework that links local neighbourhood characteristics, school performance, and house prices to the distance and mode of travel to school and the level of âexcess commutingâ in the urban system. A unique analysis of several integrated micro-datasets from Sheffield, UK, suggests that, while there are high levels of excess commuting, there remains a complex interrelationship between housing and neighbourhood characteristics, school performance, and commuting patterns. There are differences between the pictures for primary schools and secondary schools. Policies aimed at promoting transport efficiency and those promoting school choice are likely to remain in tension
The Importance of Time Congruity in the Organisation.
In 1991 Kaufman, Lane, and Lindquist proposed that time congruity in terms of an individual's time preferences and the time use methods of an organisation would lead to satisfactory performance and enhancement of quality of work and general life. The research reported here presents a study which uses commensurate person and job measures of time personality in an organisational setting to assess the effects of time congruity on one aspect of work life, job-related affective well-being. Results show that time personality and time congruity were found to have direct effects on well-being and the influence of time congruity was found to be mediated through time personality, thus contributing to the personâjob (PâJ) fit literature which suggests that direct effects are often more important than indirect effects. The study also provides some practical examples of ways to address some of the previously cited methodological issues in PâJ fit research
The Resilient Organization: A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Communication on Team Diversity and Team Performance
The Input-Process-Output framework is adopted to examine the impact of diversity attributes (the input) on communication (the process) and their influence on performance (the output), to understand the internal group/team working mechanisms of organizational resilience. A meta-analysis of 174 correlations from 35 empirical studies undertaken over 35 years (1982-2017) showed that members of a team who have different experiences are more likely to share information and communicate openly when they deal with a task that requires collaboration outside the team. This supports the view that organizations are more resilient by being more closely connected with the external environment. Differences in social categories tend to favor openness of communication, especially in the case of age diversity and race/ethnicity diversity. An increase in openness of communication is likely to enhance team performance, particularly for small and medium sized teams operating in manufacturing industries, while frequency of communication can be beneficial for both large and medium sized teams working in the high technology industry. The positive workings of these associations form the resilient organization
Management\u27s Perspective on Critical Success Factors Affecting Mobile Learning in Higher Education Institutions - An Empirical Study
Mobile learning (m-Learning) is considered to be one of the fastest growing learning platforms. The immense interest in m-Learning is attributed to the incredible rate of growth of mobile technology and its proliferation into every aspect of modern life. Despite this, m-Learning has not experienced a similar adoption rate in the education sector, chiefly higher education. Researchers have attempted to explain this anomaly by conducting several studies in the area. However, mostly the research in m-Learning is examined from the perspective of the students and educators. In this research, it is contended that there is a third important stakeholder group whose opinion is equally important in determining the success of m-Learning: the university management. Although diversified by nature, heads of departments, deans, and information technology system administrators are nevertheless considered members of any university management. The results of the research show that university commitment to m-Learning, university learning practices, and change management practices were the factors critical to the success of m-Learning, from the university management perspective
âIn the Beginning, It Was Little Whispers...Now, Weâre Almost a Roarâ: Conceptualizing a Model for Community and Self in LGBTQ+ Health Information Practices
Although LGBTQ+ populations experience significant health challenges, little research exists that investigates their health from an informational perspective. Our study addresses this gap by exploring the health information practices of LGBTQ+ communities in South Carolina, focusing on how sociocultural context shapes these practices. Thirty semi-structured interviews with South Carolina LGBTQ+ community leaders analyzed using open qualitative coding informed the development of a conceptual framework describing their information practices. Findings show that participants engaged in two broad types of practices â protective and defensive â as responses to risks and barriers experienced, which are in turn produced by social and structural factors. Findings advance information practices and marginalization approaches and offer ways for medical professionals to improve service to LGBTQ+ populations
Planning Technologies for Interactive Storytelling
Since AI planning was first proposed for the task of narrative generation in interactive storytelling (IS), it has emerged as the dominant approach in this field. This chapter traces the use of planning technologies in this area, considers the core issues involved in the application of planning technologies in IS, and identifies some of the remaining challenges
Silly Questions and Arguments for the Implicit, Cinematic Narrator
My chapter aims to advance the debate on a problem often raised by philosophers who are skeptical of implied narrators in movies. This is the concern that positing such elusive narrators gives rise to absurd imaginings (Gaut 2004: 242; Carroll 2006: 179-180).
Friends of the implied cinematic narrator reply that the questions critics raise about the workings of the implied cinematic narrator are "silly ones" to ask.
I examine how the "absurd imaginings" problem arises for all the central arguments for the elusive cinematic narrator and discuss why the questions critics pose about this narrator are legitimate ones to ask
Towards an approach for analysing external representations created during sensemaking using generative grammar
During sensemaking, users often create external representations to help them make sense of what they know, and what they need to know. In doing so, they necessarily adopt or construct some form of representational language using the tools at hand. By describing such languages implicit in representations we believe that we are better able to describe and differentiate what users do and better able to describe and differentiate interfaces that might support them. Drawing on approaches to the analysis of language, and in particular, Mann and Thompsonâs Rhetorical Structure Theory, we analyse the representations that users create to expose their underlying âvisual grammarâ. We do this in the context of a user study involving evidential reasoning.
Participants were asked to address an adapted version of IEEE VAST 2011 mini challenge 3 (interpret a potential terrorist plot implicit in a set of news reports). We show how our approach enables the unpacking of the heterogeneous and embedded nature of user-generated representations and allows us to show how visual grammars evolve and become more complex over time in response to evolving sensemaking needs
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