6,010 research outputs found
The career choice of first year occupational therapy students: A follow up study
This study replicated a survey of first-year occupational therapy students at
Brunel University (Craik et al 2001) and 114 students (91.2%) responded. Their
profile was similar to that of the students in the previous study, with 90% being
female, 65% being over 21 years of age and 20% coming from minority ethnic
groups. The most frequent way that the students had heard about occupational
therapy remained through informal means, with variety and challenge
continuing to be the most important factors in attracting potential students to
the profession. The results of this study, taken with those of Craik et al (2001),
provide data on 444 first-year students and further emphasise the importance
of occupational therapists in encouraging recruitment to the professio
Occupational therapy students’ views of health promotion
With the increased interest in the contribution of occupational therapists to health promotion, the College of Occupational Therapists (2004a) recommended that pre-registration programmes should prepare graduates for practice which includes health promotion. This study ascertained the views of second year occupational therapy students about health promotion. Thirty five (30%) students responded to a self report questionnaire and demonstrated positive views about the future relationship between health promotion and occupational therapy. The students thought health promotion should be included in the education of occupational therapists and did not think that there had bee
Accreditation of practice educators: An expectation too far ?
The successful completion of practice placements is essential to the education
of occupational therapists; however, ensuring quality placements is challenging
for occupational therapy educators. In 2000, Brunel University introduced a
revised system of accreditation of practice educators which involved attendance
at a course, the supervision of a student and the submission of an essay to be
assessed.
An audit revealed that a total of 314 therapists attended 15 courses between
2000 and 2003; of these, 243 (77%) subsequently supervised students and
32 (10%) became accredited. The requirement to accredit practice educators,
which is a commendable attempt to ensure quality, may paradoxically have
been detrimental in achieving quality. The College of Occupational Therapists’
apparent change of emphasis on this topic is welcome
Enabling occupational therapy students to take a fresh approach to psychosis
This practice evaluation describes the implementation of a 2-day workshop on
psychosis with third-year undergraduate occupational therapy students at
Brunel University. The work was undertaken by the teaching team at Brunel
University, a clinical psychologist working in assertive outreach and an
occupational therapist working in community mental health. The background
to the project and the way in which the 2-day workshop was adapted to
accommodate the university timetable are outlined. An evaluation of the
workshop, its place in the occupational therapy programme and the feedback
from students are presented
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Inhibition of a viral enzyme by a small-molecule dimer disruptor.
We identified small-molecule dimer disruptors that inhibit an essential dimeric protease of human Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) by screening an alpha-helical mimetic library. Next, we synthesized a second generation of low-micromolar inhibitors with improved potency and solubility. Complementary methods including size exclusion chromatography and 1H-13C HSQC titration using selectively labeled 13C-Met samples revealed that monomeric protease is enriched in the presence of inhibitor. 1H-15N HSQC titration studies mapped the inhibitor binding site to the dimer interface, and mutagenesis studies targeting this region were consistent with a mechanism where inhibitor binding prevents dimerization through the conformational selection of a dynamic intermediate. These results validate the interface of herpesvirus proteases and other similar oligomeric interactions as suitable targets for the development of small-molecule inhibitors
Microwave control electrodes for scalable, parallel, single-qubit operations in a surface-electrode ion trap
We propose a surface ion trap design incorporating microwave control
electrodes for near-field single-qubit control. The electrodes are arranged so
as to provide arbitrary frequency, amplitude and polarization control of the
microwave field in one trap zone, while a similar set of electrodes is used to
null the residual microwave field in a neighbouring zone. The geometry is
chosen to reduce the residual field to the 0.5% level without nulling fields;
with nulling, the crosstalk may be kept close to the 0.01% level for realistic
microwave amplitude and phase drift. Using standard photolithography and
electroplating techniques, we have fabricated a proof-of-principle electrode
array with two trapping zones. We discuss requirements for the microwave drive
system and prospects for scalability to a large two-dimensional trap array.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
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Bilingualism: Consequences for Mind and Brain
Building on earlier evidence showing a beneficial effect of bilingualism on children’s cognitive development, we review recent studies using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods to examine the effects of bilingualism on cognition in adulthood and explore possible mechanisms for these effects. This research shows that bilingualism has a somewhat muted effect in adulthood but a larger role in older age, protecting against cognitive decline, a concept known as “cognitive reserve”. We discuss recent evidence that bilingualism is associated with a delay in the onset of symptoms of dementia. Cognitive reserve is a crucial research area in the context of an aging population; the possibility that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve is therefore of growing importance as populations become increasingly diverse
A phenomenological model of weakly damped Faraday waves and the associated mean flow
A phenomenological model of parametric surface waves (Faraday waves) is
introduced in the limit of small viscous dissipation that accounts for the
coupling between surface motion and slowly varying streaming and large scale
flows (mean flow). The primary bifurcation of the model is to a set of standing
waves (stripes, given the functional form of the model nonlinearities chosen
here). Our results for the secondary instabilities of the primary wave show
that the mean flow leads to a weak destabilization of the base state against
Eckhaus and Transverse Amplitude Modulation instabilities, and introduces a new
longitudinal oscillatory instability which is absent without the coupling. We
compare our results with recent one dimensional amplitude equations for this
system systematically derived from the governing hydrodynamic equations.Comment: Complete paper with embedded figures (PostScript, 3 Mb)
http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~vinals/mss/jmv1.p
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Lifelong Bilingualism Maintains White Matter Integrity in Older Adults
Previous research has shown that bilingual speakers have higher levels of cognitive control than comparable monolinguals, especially at older ages. The present study investigates a possible neural correlate of this behavioral effect. Given that white matter (WM) integrity decreases with age in adulthood, we tested the hypothesis that bilingualism is associated with maintenance of WM in older people. Using diffusion tensor imaging, we found higher WM integrity in older people who were lifelong bilinguals than in monolinguals. This maintained integrity was measured by fractional anisotropy (FA) and was found in the corpus callosum extending to the superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi. We also hypothesized that stronger WM connections would be associated with more widely distributed patterns of functional connectivity in bilinguals. We tested this by assessing the resting-state functional connectivity of frontal lobe regions adjacent to WM areas with group differences in FA. Bilinguals showed stronger anterior to posterior functional connectivity compared to monolinguals. These results are the first evidence that maintained WM integrity is related to lifelong naturally occurring experience; the resulting enhanced structural and functional connectivity may provide a neural basis for “brain reserve.
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