Evaluation of the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Peripatetic Assessment Model

The Health Visitor Implementation Plan 2011-15: a call to action, called for an additional 4200 health visitors to be trained by 2015. To accommodate larger numbers of students, specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) programmes across the UK have undergone significant transformation in terms of practice supervision. Somerset Partnership NHS Trust introduced a peripatetic assessment model involving practice teachers and practice mentors. This differed from traditional one-to-one approaches of supervision to one-to-three. Practice teachers mostly supervised students through close collaboration with mentors who worked directly with students on a daily basis. Using a mixed methods approach, the evaluation aimed to assess the effectiveness of the new model from the perspective of SCPHN students, mentors, practice teachers (PTs) and managers. Data was collected through an anonymous online survey and individual interviews or focus groups. Overall, participants were positive about the peripatetic model’s impact on student learning and practice experience, in addition to the general up-skilling of the wider health visiting workforce and possible implications of continuation into the future. Any concerns raised focused on adequate preparation and support for mentors and the need for clear communication and role differentiation between practice teachers and mentors

The ontology of causal process theories

There is a widespread belief that the so-called process theories of causation developed by Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe have given us an original account of what causation really is. In this paper, I show that this is a misconception. The notion of "causal process" does not offer us a new ontological account of causation. I make this argument by explicating the implicit ontological commitments in Salmon and Dowe's theories. From this, it is clear that Salmon's Mark Transmission Theory collapses to a counterfactual theory of causation, while the Conserved Quantity Theory collapses to David Fair's phsyicalist reduction of causation

Intermediate range chemical ordering of cations in simple molten alkali halides

The presence of first sharp diffraction peaks in the partial structure factors is investigated in computer simulations of molten mixtures of alkali halides. An intermediate range ordering appears for the Li+ ions only, which is associated with clustering of this species and is not reflected in the arrangement of other ions. This ordering is surprising in view of the simplicity of the interionic interactions in alkali halides. The clustering reflects an incomplete mixing of the various species on a local length scale, which can be demonstrated by studying the complementary sub-space of cations in the corresponding pure alkali halides by means of a void analysis.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Information requirements for supersonic transport operation Final report

Effects of meteorological parameters and instrument errors on vertical flight performance of supersonic transport

Trisomy 19 ependymoma, a newly recognized genetico-histological association, including clear cell ependymoma

Ependymal tumors constitute a clinicopathologically heterogeneous group of brain tumors. They vary in regard to their age at first symptom, localization, morphology and prognosis. Genetic data also suggests heterogeneity. We define a newly recognized subset of ependymal tumors, the trisomy 19 ependymoma. Histologically, they are compact lesions characterized by a rich branched capillary network amongst which tumoral cells are regularly distributed. When containing clear cells they are called clear cell ependymoma. Most trisomy 19 ependymomas are supratentorial WHO grade III tumors of the young. Genetically, they are associated with trisomy 19, and frequently with a deletion of 13q21.31-31.2, three copies of 11q13.3-13.4, and/or deletions on chromosome 9. These altered chromosomal regions are indicative of genes and pathways involved in trisomy 19 ependymoma tumorigenesis. Recognition of this genetico-histological entity allows better understanding and dissection of ependymal tumors

Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience: Multifield Mechanistic Integration in Practice

Autonomist accounts of cognitive science suggest that cognitive model building and theory construction (can or should) proceed independently of findings in neuroscience. Common functionalist justifications of autonomy rely on there being relatively few constraints between neural structure and cognitive function (e.g., Weiskopf, 2011). In contrast, an integrative mechanistic perspective stresses the mutual constraining of structure and function (e.g., Piccinini & Craver, 2011; Povich, 2015). In this paper, I show how model-based cognitive neuroscience (MBCN) epitomizes the integrative mechanistic perspective and concentrates the most revolutionary elements of the cognitive neuroscience revolution (Boone & Piccinini, 2016). I also show how the prominent subset account of functional realization supports the integrative mechanistic perspective I take on MBCN and use it to clarify the intralevel and interlevel components of integration

Shear-banding in a lyotropic lamellar phase, Part 2: Temporal fluctuations

We analyze the temporal fluctuations of the flow field associated to a shear-induced transition in a lyotropic lamellar phase: the layering transition of the onion texture. In the first part of this work [Salmon et al., submitted to Phys. Rev. E], we have evidenced banded flows at the onset of this shear-induced transition which are well accounted for by the classical picture of shear-banding. In the present paper, we focus on the temporal fluctuations of the flow field recorded in the coexistence domain. These striking dynamics are very slow (100--1000s) and cannot be due to external mechanical noise. Using velocimetry coupled to structural measurements, we show that these fluctuations are due to a motion of the interface separating the two differently sheared bands. Such a motion seems to be governed by the fluctuations of $\sigma^\star$, the local stress at the interface between the two bands. Our results thus provide more evidence for the relevance of the classical mechanical approach of shear-banding even if the mechanism leading to the fluctuations of $\sigma^\star$ remains unclear

Improving the scalability of parallel N-body applications with an event driven constraint based execution model

The scalability and efficiency of graph applications are significantly constrained by conventional systems and their supporting programming models. Technology trends like multicore, manycore, and heterogeneous system architectures are introducing further challenges and possibilities for emerging application domains such as graph applications. This paper explores the space of effective parallel execution of ephemeral graphs that are dynamically generated using the Barnes-Hut algorithm to exemplify dynamic workloads. The workloads are expressed using the semantics of an Exascale computing execution model called ParalleX. For comparison, results using conventional execution model semantics are also presented. We find improved load balancing during runtime and automatic parallelism discovery improving efficiency using the advanced semantics for Exascale computing.Comment: 11 figure

Distributed leadership, trust and online communities

This paper analyses the role of distributed leadership and trust in online communities. The team-based informal ethos of online collaboration requires a different kind of leadership from that in formal positional hierarchies. Such leadership may be more flexible and sophisticated, capable of encompassing ambiguity and rapid change. Online leaders need to be partially invisible, delegating power and distributing tasks. Yet, simultaneously, online communities are facilitated by the high visibility and subtle control of expert leaders. This paradox: that leaders need to be both highly visible and invisible as appropriate, was derived from prior research and tested in the analysis of online community discussions using a pattern-matching process. It is argued that both leader visibility and invisibility are important for the facilitation of trusting collaboration via distributed leadership. Advanced leadership responses to complex situations in online communities foster positive group interaction and decision-making, facilitated through active distribution of specific tasks