Right Place, Right Time Commission: Call to Action

Report of the NHS Providers Commission on delayed transfers of care. The report examines the evidence for best practice in transfers of care across physical and mental health

Accounting and governance in the final years of the Papal States: Dual roles in the papacy of Pius IX (1846–1870)

The Papal States represent a unique and long period in Italian government and in the government of the Roman Catholic Church prior to Italy's unification in 1870. The 25-year period prior to unification was a particularly tumultuous period when the Papal States struggled for survival, faced military and popular challenges and became increasingly indebted. Accounting could become an important tool to assist decision-making and enhance the Papal States' sustainability, as shown by the governance reforms promulgated by Pope Pius IX in this period. Nevertheless, accountants chose what to make visible and emphasised secular, rather than the sacred aspects of the Papal States. Despite reforms, there was a disconnection between the leaders and the accountants. This research therefore examines the role of accounting in such an institution, and extends the concept of a sacred-secular divide to a state government beset by resource constraints and challenged to fulfil its spiritual aims

Formation of runoff at the hillslope scale during intense precipitation

On 60 m² hillslope plots, at 18 mainly grassland locations in Switzerland rain was applied at rates of 50–100 mm/h for between 3 and 6 h. The generated flows were measured, including overland flow, near surface and subsurface flow 0.5–1.3 m below the surface. At some locations less than 2% of the rain flowed down the slope either on or below the surface, whereas at some others more than 90% of the rain ran off. At the majority of sites most runoff was overland flow, though at a few sites subsurface flow, usually via macropores was dominant. Data collected during each of 48 high intensity sprinkling experiments were used to distinguish, which processes were dominant in each experiment. Which dominant and subsidiary processes occurred depended on interactions between infiltration rate, change in soil water storage and drainage of the soil water. These attributes were often not directly linked to parameters usually considered important like vegetation, slope, soil clay content and antecedent soil moisture. Considering the structure of the soil in combination with these attributes, process determination was in many cases fairly straightforward, indicating the possibility of reliably predicting runoff processes at a site. However, at some sites, effects occurred that were not easily recognizable and led to surprising results

Household transmission of invasive group A Streptococcus infections in England: a population-based study, 2009, 2011 to 13

Invasive group A s treptococcal infection has a 15% case fatality rate and a risk of secondary transmission. This retrospective study us ed two national data sources from England ; enhanced surveillance ( 2009) and a case management system ( 2011 - 13) to identify clusters of sever e group A streptococcal disease . 2 4 household pairs were identified. The median onset interval between cases was 2 days (range 0 - 28) with simultaneous onset in 8 pairs . The attack rate during the 30 days after first exposure to a primary case was 4 52 0 per 100000 person - years at risk (95% CI 2 900 - 673 0 ) a 19 40 ( 12 40 - 28 80 ) fold elevation over the background incidence . The theoretical number needed to treat ( NNT ) to prevent one secondary case using antibiotic prophylaxis was 2 71 ( 194 - 454 ) overall, 50 for mother - neonate pairs ( 2 7 - 3 93 ) and 8 2 for couples aged 75 years and over ( 46 - 417 ). Whilst a dramatic increased risk of infection was noted in all household contacts, increased ris k was greatest for mother - neonate pairs and couples aged 75 and over , suggesting targeted prophylaxis c ould be considered. Offering prophylaxis is challenging due to the short time interval between cases emphasising the importance of immediate notification and assessment of contacts

Domain Growth in a 1-D Driven Diffusive System

The low-temperature coarsening dynamics of a one-dimensional Ising model, with conserved magnetisation and subject to a small external driving force, is studied analytically in the limit where the volume fraction \mu of the minority phase is small, and numerically for general \mu. The mean domain size L(t) grows as t^{1/2} in all cases, and the domain-size distribution for domains of one sign is very well described by the form P_l(l) \propto (l/L^3)\exp[-\lambda(\mu)(l^2/L^2)], which is exact for small \mu (and possibly for all \mu). The persistence exponent for the minority phase has the value 3/2 for \mu \to 0.Comment: 8 pages, REVTeX, 7 Postscript figures, uses multicol.sty and epsf.sty. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Anomalous self-diffusion in the ferromagnetic Ising chain with Kawasaki dynamics

We investigate the motion of a tagged spin in a ferromagnetic Ising chain evolving under Kawasaki dynamics. At equilibrium, the displacement is Gaussian, with a variance growing as $A t^{1/2}$. The temperature dependence of the prefactor $A$ is derived exactly. At low temperature, where the static correlation length $\xi$ is large, the mean square displacement grows as $(t/\xi^2)^{2/3}$ in the coarsening regime, i.e., as a finite fraction of the mean square domain length. The case of totally asymmetric dynamics, where $(+)$ (resp. $(-)$) spins move only to the right (resp. to the left), is also considered. In the steady state, the displacement variance grows as $B t^{2/3}$. The temperature dependence of the prefactor $B$ is derived exactly, using the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang theory. At low temperature, the displacement variance grows as $t/\xi^2$ in the coarsening regime, again proportionally to the mean square domain length.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures. A few minor changes and update

From urn models to zero-range processes: statics and dynamics

The aim of these lecture notes is a description of the statics and dynamics of zero-range processes and related models. After revisiting some conceptual aspects of the subject, emphasis is then put on the study of the class of zero-range processes for which a condensation transition arises.Comment: Lecture notes for the Luxembourg Summer School 200

New Dynamic Monte Carlo Renormalization Group Method

The dynamical critical exponent of the two-dimensional spin-flip Ising model is evaluated by a Monte Carlo renormalization group method involving a transformation in time. The results agree very well with a finite-size scaling analysis performed on the same data. The value of $z = 2.13 \pm 0.01$ is obtained, which is consistent with most recent estimates

Transverse-field Ising spin chain with inhomogeneous disorder

We consider the critical and off-critical properties at the boundary of the random transverse-field Ising spin chain when the distribution of the couplings and/or transverse fields, at a distance $l$ from the surface, deviates from its uniform bulk value by terms of order $l^{-\kappa}$ with an amplitude $A$. Exact results are obtained using a correspondence between the surface magnetization of the model and the surviving probability of a random walk with time-dependent absorbing boundary conditions. For slow enough decay, $\kappa<1/2$, the inhomogeneity is relevant: Either the surface stays ordered at the bulk critical point or the average surface magnetization displays an essential singularity, depending on the sign of $A$. In the marginal situation, $\kappa=1/2$, the average surface magnetization decays as a power law with a continuously varying, $A$-dependent, critical exponent which is obtained analytically. The behavior of the critical and off-critical autocorrelation functions as well as the scaling form of the probability distributions for the surface magnetization and the first gaps are determined through a phenomenological scaling theory. In the Griffiths phase, the properties of the Griffiths-McCoy singularities are not affected by the inhomogeneity. The various results are checked using numerical methods based on a mapping to free fermions.Comment: 11 pages (Revtex), 11 figure

Topical bioavailability of diclofenac from locally-acting, dermatological formulations

Assessment of the bioavailability of topically applied drugs designed to act within or beneath the skin is a challenging objective. A number of different, but potentially complementary, techniques are under evaluation. The objective of this work was to evaluate in vitro skin penetration and stratum corneum tape-stripping in vivo as tools with which to measure topical diclofenac bioavailability from three approved and commercialized products (two gels and one solution). Drug uptake into, and its subsequent clearance from, the stratum corneum of human volunteers was used to estimate the input rate of diclofenac into the viable skin layers. This flux was compared to that measured across excised porcine skin in conventional diffusion cells. Both techniques clearly demonstrated (a) the superiority in terms of drug delivery from the solution, and (b) that the two gels performed similarly. There was qualitative and, importantly, quantitative agreement between the in vitro and in vivo measurements of drug flux into and beyond the viable skin. Evidence is therefore presented to support an in vivo − in vitro correlation between methods to assess topical drug bioavailability. The potential value of the stratum corneum tape-stripping technique to quantify drug delivery into (epi)dermal and subcutaneous tissue beneath the barrier is demonstrated.</p