The Effect of a Restraint Reduction Program on Physical Restraint Rates in Rehabilitation Settings in Hong Kong

Background. In view of the adverse effects of using restraints, studies examining the use of restraint reduction programs (RRPs) are needed. Objectives. To investigate the effect of an RRP on the reduction of physical restraint rates in rehabilitation hospitals. Methods. A prospective quasi-experimental clinical trial was conducted. Demographic data, medical and health-related information on recruited patients from two rehabilitation hospitals, as well as facility data on restraint rates were collected. Results. The increase in the restraint rate in the control site was 4.3 times greater than that in the intervention site. Changes in the restraint mode, from continuous to intermittent, and the type of restraint used were found between the pre- and postintervention periods in both the control site and the intervention site. Discussion. Compared with that in the control site, the RRP in the intervention site helped arrest any increase in the restraint rate although it had no effect on physical restraint reduction. The shift of restraint mode from continuous to intermittent in the intervention site was one of the positive outcomes of the RRP

Challenges in design and construction of deep excavation for KVMRT in Kuala Lumpur limestone formation

The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line project is the first Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project in Malaysia. The KVMRT Project when completed will cover a distance of 51km and comprises of 31 passenger stations. This paper covers the challenges in design and construction of deep excavation works for three underground stations, namely Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) station, Cochrane Station and Maluri Station, as well as one portal (South Portal) all located in Kuala Lumpur limestone formation. The Kuala Lumpur Limestone formation exhibits notorious karstic features with irregular bedrock profiles, variable weathering condition, cavities and slime zones. This paper presents the design principles of temporary earth retaining system together with vertical rock excavation to the final depth of the station in karstic limestone formation. The unique experience (design and construction) gained from this project will be a useful reference for similar excavation works, especially in karstic limestone formation

Using social networking sites for communicable disease control: innovative contact tracing or breach of confidentiality?

Social media applications such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have attained huge popularity, with more than three billion people and organizations predicted to have a social networking account by 2015. Social media offers a rapid avenue of communication with the public and has potential benefits for communicable disease control and surveillance. However, its application in everyday public health practice raises a number of important issues around confidentiality and autonomy. We report here a case from local level health protection where the friend of an individual with meningococcal septicaemia used a social networking site to notify potential contacts

Low-Energy Charge-Density Excitations in MgB2_{2}: Striking Interplay between Single-Particle and Collective Behavior for Large Momenta

A sharp feature in the charge-density excitation spectra of single-crystal MgB$_{2}$, displaying a remarkable cosine-like, periodic energy dispersion with momentum transfer ($q$) along the $c^{*}$-axis, has been observed for the first time by high-resolution non-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NIXS). Time-dependent density-functional theory calculations show that the physics underlying the NIXS data is strong coupling between single-particle and collective degrees of freedom, mediated by large crystal local-field effects. As a result, the small-$q$ collective mode residing in the single-particle excitation gap of the B $\pi$ bands reappears periodically in higher Brillouin zones. The NIXS data thus embody a novel signature of the layered electronic structure of MgB$_{2}$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Pigeons’ performance in a tracking change-signal procedure is consistent with the independent horse-race mode

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Psychological Association via the DOI in this record.In many cognitive tasks where humans are thought to rely on executive functioning, pigeons’ behavior can be explained by associative processes. A key form of executive functioning is inhibiting prepotent responses, often investigated in humans by means of “Stop-signal” or “Change-signal” procedures. In these procedures, execution of a wellpractised (“Go”) response to a stimulus is occasionally interrupted by a signal to withhold or alter the practised response. Performance in such tasks is usually described by the “independent horse horse-race model” model. This model assumes that the processes that cause the Go and inhibitory responses occur independently; the process that finishes first determines the response observed. We further tested this model by training pigeons to track the circular movement of a colored patch around a touchscreen by pecking it; the spot occasionally deviated from its normal path (the Change signal). The pigeons had to inhibit the habitual movement of their heads in order to land a peck on the spot in its unexpected position. The key predictions of the independent horse-race model were confirmed in the pigeons’ latency data. Thus, the independent race model can also successfully describe Stop-change performance of subjects that do not rely on executive control

Hydrodynamics of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky Equation in Two Dimensions

The large scale properties of spatiotemporal chaos in the 2d Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation are studied using an explicit coarse graining scheme. A set of intermediate equations are obtained. They describe interactions between the small scale (e.g., cellular) structures and the hydrodynamic degrees of freedom. Possible forms of the effective large scale hydrodynamics are constructed and examined. Although a number of different universality classes are allowed by symmetry, numerical results support the simplest scenario, that being the KPZ universality class.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure