Dialectics and difference: against Harvey's dialectical post-Marxism

David Harvey`s recent book, Justice, nature and the geography of difference (JNGD), engages with a central philosophical debate that continues to dominate human geography: the tension between the radical Marxist project of recent decades and the apparently disempowering relativism and `play of difference' of postmodern thought. In this book, Harvey continues to argue for a revised `post-Marxist' approach in human geography which remains based on Hegelian-Marxian principles of dialectical thought. This article develops a critique of that stance, drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. I argue that dialectical thinking, as well as Harvey's version of `post-Marxism', has been undermined by the wide-ranging `post-' critique. I suggest that Harvey has failed to appreciate the full force of this critique and the implications it has for `post-Marxist' ontology and epistemology. I argue that `post-Marxism', along with much contemporary human geography, is constrained by an inflexible ontology which excessively prioritizes space in the theory produced, and which implements inflexible concepts. Instead, using the insights of several `post-' writers, I contend there is a need to develop an ontology of `context' leading to the production of `contextual theories'. Such theories utilize flexible concepts in a multilayered understanding of ontology and epistemology. I compare how an approach which produces a `contextual theory' might lead to more politically empowering theory than `post-Marxism' with reference to one of Harvey's case studies in JNGD

The impact of a ward‐based pharmacy technician service in an Irish hospital

Introduction: Pharmacy technicians have been employed in hospital settings for many years, but only recently have their role been reviewed for potential expansion. Hospitals across Australia, the United Kingdom, and many other countries have implemented a ward‐based pharmacy technician service (1, 2), but this is yet to become common practice in Ireland. At present, there is only one published study on the development of the clinical role of pharmacy technicians in Ireland (3). Aim: The aim of this study was to determine if the expanded role of the ward‐based pharmacy technician role could have a positive impact on medicine management systems within a hospital ward. Methods: This study was carried out over 8 weeks in an Irish hospital. Sixteen wards were studied; four “intervention wards” which have the ward‐based technician service in situ, and 12 “control ward” which currently do not. Medicine management systems were assessed within these wards with respect to (1) the presence of excess non‐ward stock on drug trolleys, (2) the presence of expired medication on drug trolleys, and (3) the time taken by nurses to complete drug rounds. Results: The total cost value of the excess non‐stock items found on the intervention wards was €97.51 (the average cost per ward was €24.38). The total cost value of the excess non‐stock items found on the control wards was €13,767.76 (the average cost per ward was €1,147.31). Eight expired medications were found on the control wards; none were present on intervention wards. The ward‐based technician service reduced the average nursing time to complete drug rounds on a per‐patient basis by 28%. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that the expanded role of the ward‐based pharmacy technician has had a positive impact in several ways; a reduction in the cost of non‐stock items present on the ward along with a reduction in expired stock present. Time taken to complete drug rounds was less on the intervention wards compared to control wards, thus, freeing up time for nurses to engage in other patient activities. Further studies should consider the full economic costing of the ward‐based pharmacy technician service

The impact of a ward-based pharmacy technician service

Background: Pharmacy technicians have been employed in hospital settings for many years, but only recently has the potential for service expansion been explored. There is a paucity of research on the impact of a ward-based pharmacy technician service (WBPTS) in this country. Purpose: To determine the impact of a WBPTS on medicine management systems, patient safety and healthcare costs. Methods: Sixteen wards were studied over 8 weeks; four ‘intervention’ wards (already assigned a WBPTS prior to the study) and 12 ‘control’ wards (whereby technicians provide a stock ‘top-up’ service). The ‘intervention’ wards comprised mainly of medical patients; a WBPT had been assigned to each of these wards as they were considered high activity wards. The control wards comprised both medical and surgical patients. The medication management systems were inspected by the research team for the presence of excess non-stock medicines and expired medication. Nurses were observed by the research team to calculate time taken to complete drug rounds. Patient drug charts were analysed to calculate the duration to pharmacist review of high-risk medications. Nursing staff were surveyed on their opinions of the service. Results: The total value of excess non-stock on intervention wards was €97.51 (mean cost per ward: €24.38) compared with €13,767.76 on the control wards (mean cost per ward: €1,147.31). Eight expired medications were found on control wards; none were present on intervention wards. The mean time to complete drug rounds on a per-patient basis was 28% lower on intervention wards. The median time taken for pharmacist review of high-risk medications was shorter on intervention wards (0.67 days vs 4.2 days). 100% of respondents agreed that the WBPTS should continue. Conclusion: More widespread investment in the WBPTS has the potential to reduce healthcare expenditure due to excess medicines, increase nursing time spent on direct care of patients, and reduce the potential for patient harm from high-risk medicines. The current study did not consider the costs associated with providing this service (e.g. personnel costs, additional time spent by the technician/ time saved by nurses etc.) and so further studies should consider the full economic costing of the service

The Metaphor of Circle: Stanislavski, Phenomenology of Roundness and High Yoga

Stanislavski’s Eastern influence and his persistent fascination with Yoga is an established area of research. Stanislavski has two major yogic influences in the System: Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. The first is about training the body through postures, movements, stances and breathing exercises to make it active, relaxed and energetic. The second includes a range of exclusive practices on concentration and visualization that are an integral part of the actor’s creativity. However, in the current research, there is a clear lack of a comprehensive practical method that informs Stanislavski’s use of yogic practice in the System: what specific yogic exercises were used and what synergies were developed in the training? Scholars have, so far, only explored Stanislavski’s literary legacy of his encounter with yoga, identifying the Sanskrit terms appeared in his writings such as prana for breathing and the Indian anecdotes he used when answering the questions of his students. Focusing on the metaphor of the circle, the phenomenology of roundness and the Deleuzian notions of ‘the invisible forces of sensations’ and ‘the body becomes an event itself’, the present study, for the first time, offers useful insights into the fundamental principles of yoga and their methods of practice as a way of developing a new training to understand the significance of Stanislavski in the 21st century

Limits on Gravitational-Wave Emission from Selected Pulsars Using LIGO Data

We place direct upper limits on the amplitude of gravitational waves from 28 isolated radio pulsars by a coherent multidetector analysis of the data collected during the second science run of the LIGO interferometric detectors. These are the first direct upper limits for 26 of the 28 pulsars. We use coordinated radio observations for the first time to build radio-guided phase templates for the expected gravitational-wave signals. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set strain upper limits as low as a few times 10^(-24). These strain limits translate into limits on the equatorial ellipticities of the pulsars, which are smaller than 10^(-5) for the four closest pulsars

First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings

We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9 days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of cosmic string models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PR

Search for gravitational waves from binary inspirals in S3 and S4 LIGO data

We report on a search for gravitational waves from the coalescence of compact binaries during the third and fourth LIGO science runs. The search focused on gravitational waves generated during the inspiral phase of the binary evolution. In our analysis, we considered three categories of compact binary systems, ordered by mass: (i) primordial black hole binaries with masses in the range 0.35 M(sun) < m1, m2 < 1.0 M(sun), (ii) binary neutron stars with masses in the range 1.0 M(sun) < m1, m2 < 3.0 M(sun), and (iii) binary black holes with masses in the range 3.0 M(sun)< m1, m2 < m_(max) with the additional constraint m1+ m2 < m_(max), where m_(max) was set to 40.0 M(sun) and 80.0 M(sun) in the third and fourth science runs, respectively. Although the detectors could probe to distances as far as tens of Mpc, no gravitational-wave signals were identified in the 1364 hours of data we analyzed. Assuming a binary population with a Gaussian distribution around 0.75-0.75 M(sun), 1.4-1.4 M(sun), and 5.0-5.0 M(sun), we derived 90%-confidence upper limit rates of 4.9 yr^(-1) L10^(-1) for primordial black hole binaries, 1.2 yr^(-1) L10^(-1) for binary neutron stars, and 0.5 yr^(-1) L10^(-1) for stellar mass binary black holes, where L10 is 10^(10) times the blue light luminosity of the Sun.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

All-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S4 data

We report on an all-sky search with the LIGO detectors for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency range 50-1000 Hz and with the frequency's time derivative in the range -1.0E-8 Hz/s to zero. Data from the fourth LIGO science run (S4) have been used in this search. Three different semi-coherent methods of transforming and summing strain power from Short Fourier Transforms (SFTs) of the calibrated data have been used. The first, known as "StackSlide", averages normalized power from each SFT. A "weighted Hough" scheme is also developed and used, and which also allows for a multi-interferometer search. The third method, known as "PowerFlux", is a variant of the StackSlide method in which the power is weighted before summing. In both the weighted Hough and PowerFlux methods, the weights are chosen according to the noise and detector antenna-pattern to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. The respective advantages and disadvantages of these methods are discussed. Observing no evidence of periodic gravitational radiation, we report upper limits; we interpret these as limits on this radiation from isolated rotating neutron stars. The best population-based upper limit with 95% confidence on the gravitational-wave strain amplitude, found for simulated sources distributed isotropically across the sky and with isotropically distributed spin-axes, is 4.28E-24 (near 140 Hz). Strict upper limits are also obtained for small patches on the sky for best-case and worst-case inclinations of the spin axes.Comment: 39 pages, 41 figures An error was found in the computation of the C parameter defined in equation 44 which led to its overestimate by 2^(1/4). The correct values for the multi-interferometer, H1 and L1 analyses are 9.2, 9.7, and 9.3, respectively. Figure 32 has been updated accordingly. None of the upper limits presented in the paper were affecte

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with 39 Gamma-Ray Bursts Using Data from the Second, Third, and Fourth LIGO Runs

We present the results of a search for short-duration gravitational-wave bursts associated with 39 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by gamma-ray satellite experiments during LIGO's S2, S3, and S4 science runs. The search involves calculating the crosscorrelation between two interferometer data streams surrounding the GRB trigger time. We search for associated gravitational radiation from single GRBs, and also apply statistical tests to search for a gravitational-wave signature associated with the whole sample. For the sample examined, we find no evidence for the association of gravitational radiation with GRBs, either on a single-GRB basis or on a statistical basis. Simulating gravitational-wave bursts with sine-gaussian waveforms, we set upper limits on the root-sum-square of the gravitational-wave strain amplitude of such waveforms at the times of the GRB triggers. We also demonstrate how a sample of several GRBs can be used collectively to set constraints on population models. The small number of GRBs and the significant change in sensitivity of the detectors over the three runs, however, limits the usefulness of a population study for the S2, S3, and S4 runs. Finally, we discuss prospects for the search sensitivity for the ongoing S5 run, and beyond for the next generation of detectors.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, 14 tables; minor changes to text and Fig. 2; accepted by Phys. Rev.

Search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO data from the fourth science run

The fourth science run of the LIGO and GEO 600 gravitational-wave detectors, carried out in early 2005, collected data with significantly lower noise than previous science runs. We report on a search for short-duration gravitational-wave bursts with arbitrary waveform in the 64-1600 Hz frequency range appearing in all three LIGO interferometers. Signal consistency tests, data quality cuts, and auxiliary-channel vetoes are applied to reduce the rate of spurious triggers. No gravitational-wave signals are detected in 15.5 days of live observation time; we set a frequentist upper limit of 0.15 per day (at 90% confidence level) on the rate of bursts with large enough amplitudes to be detected reliably. The amplitude sensitivity of the search, characterized using Monte Carlo simulations, is several times better than that of previous searches. We also provide rough estimates of the distances at which representative supernova and binary black hole merger signals could be detected with 50% efficiency by this analysis.Comment: Corrected amplitude sensitivities (7% change on average); 30 pages, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit