5,354 research outputs found
Constrained by managerialism : caring as participation in the voluntary social services
The data in this study show that care is a connective process, underlying and motivating participation and as a force that compels involvement in the lives of others, care is at least a micro-participative process. Care or affinity not only persisted in the face of opposition, but it was also used by workers as a counter discourse and set of practices with which to resist the erosion of worker participation and open up less autonomized practices and ways of connecting with fellow staff, clients and the communities they served. The data suggest that while managerialism and taylorised practice models may remove or reduce opportunities for worker participation, care is a theme or storyline that gave workers other ways to understand their work and why they did it, as well as ways they were prepared to resist managerial priorities and directives, including the erosion of various kinds of direct and indirect participation. The degree of resistance possible, even in the highly technocratic worksite in Australia, shows that cracks and fissures exist within managerialism
Actin in Herpesvirus Infection
Actin is important for a variety of cellular processes, including uptake of extracellular material and intracellular transport. Several emerging lines of evidence indicate that herpesviruses exploit actin and actin-associated myosin motors for viral entry, intranuclear transport of capsids, and virion egress. The goal of this review is to explore these processes and to highlight potential future directions for this area of research
Transport through side-coupled double quantum dots: from weak to strong interdot coupling
We report low-temperature transport measurements through a double quantum dot
device in a configuration where one of the quantum dots is coupled directly to
the source and drain electrodes, and a second (side-coupled) quantum dot
interacts electrostatically and via tunneling to the first one. As the interdot
coupling increases, a crossover from weak to strong interdot tunneling is
observed in the charge stability diagrams that present a complex pattern with
mergings and apparent crossings of Coulomb blockade peaks. While the weak
coupling regime can be understood by considering a single level on each dot, in
the intermediate and strong coupling regimes, the multi-level nature of the
quantum dots needs to be taken into account. Surprisingly, both in the strong
and weak coupling regimes, the double quantum dot states are mainly localized
on each dot for most values of the parameters. Only in an intermediate coupling
regime the device presents a single dot-like molecular behavior as the
molecular wavefunctions weight is evenly distributed between the quantum dots.
At temperatures larger than the interdot coupling energy scale, a loss of
coherence of the molecular states is observed.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Development and validation of a chemostat gut model to study both planktonic and biofilm modes of growth of Clostridium difficile and human microbiota
Copyright: 2014 Crowther et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The human gastrointestinal tract harbours a complex microbial community which exist in planktonic and sessile form. The degree to which composition and function of faecal and mucosal microbiota differ remains unclear. We describe the development and characterisation of an in vitro human gut model, which can be used to facilitate the formation and longitudinal analysis of mature mixed species biofilms. This enables the investigation of the role of biofilms in Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). A well established and validated human gut model of simulated CDI was adapted to incorporate glass rods that create a solid-gaseous-liquid interface for biofilm formation. The continuous chemostat model was inoculated with a pooled human faecal emulsion and controlled to mimic colonic conditions in vivo. Planktonic and sessile bacterial populations were enumerated for up to 46 days. Biofilm consistently formed macroscopic structures on all glass rods over extended periods of time, providing a framework to sample and analyse biofilm structures independently. Whilst variation in biofilm biomass is evident between rods, populations of sessile bacterial groups (log10 cfu/g of biofilm) remain relatively consistent between rods at each sampling point. All bacterial groups enumerated within the planktonic communities were also present within biofilm structures. The planktonic mode of growth of C. difficile and gut microbiota closely reflected observations within the original gut model. However, distinct differences were observed in the behaviour of sessile and planktonic C. difficile populations, with C. difficile spores preferentially persisting within biofilm structures. The redesigned biofilm chemostat model has been validated for reproducible and consistent formation of mixed species intestinal biofilms. This model can be utilised for the analysis of sessile mixed species communities longitudinally, potentially providing information of the role of biofilms in CDI.Peer reviewe
Quantum Coherence at Low Temperatures in Mesoscopic Systems: Effect of Disorder
We study the disorder dependence of the phase coherence time of quasi
one-dimensional wires and two-dimensional (2D) Hall bars fabricated from a high
mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. Using an original ion implantation
technique, we can tune the intrinsic disorder felt by the 2D electron gas and
continuously vary the system from the semi-ballistic regime to the localized
one. In the diffusive regime, the phase coherence time follows a power law as a
function of diffusion coefficient as expected in the Fermi liquid theory,
without any sign of low temperature saturation. Surprisingly, in the
semi-ballistic regime, it becomes independent of the diffusion coefficient. In
the strongly localized regime we find a diverging phase coherence time with
decreasing temperature, however, with a smaller exponent compared to the weakly
localized regime.Comment: 21 pages, 30 figure
Direct observation of the quantum critical point in heavy fermion CeRhSi
We report on muon spin rotation studies of the noncentrosymmetric heavy
fermion antiferromagnet CeRhSi. A drastic and monotonic suppression of the
internal fields, at the lowest measured temperature, was observed upon an
increase of external pressure. Our data suggest that the ordered moments are
gradually quenched with increasing pressure, in a manner different from the
pressure dependence of the N\'eel temperature. At \unit{23.6}{kbar}, the
ordered magnetic moments are fully suppressed via a second-order phase
transition, and is zero. Thus, we directly observed the quantum
critical point at \unit{23.6}{kbar} hidden inside the superconducting phase
of CeRhSi
Conceptualising production, productivity and technology in pharmacy practice: a novel framework for policy, education and research.
CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND: People and health systems worldwide face serious challenges due to shifting disease demographics, rising population demands and weaknesses in healthcare provision, including capacity shortages and lack of impact of healthcare services. These multiple challenges, linked with the global push to achieve universal health coverage, have made apparent the importance of investing in workforce development to improve population health and economic well-being. In relation to medicines, health systems face challenges in terms of access to needed medicines, optimising medicines use and reducing risk. In 2017, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) published global policy on workforce development ('the Nanjing Statements') that describe an envisioned future for professional education and training. The documents make clear that expanding the pharmacy workforce benefits patients, and continually improving education and training produces better clinical outcomes. AIMS AND PURPOSE: The opportunities for harnessing new technologies in pharmacy practice have been relatively ignored. This paper presents a conceptual framework for analysing production methods, productivity and technology in pharmacy practice that differentiates between dispensing and pharmaceutical care services. We outline a framework that may be employed to study the relationship between pharmacy practice and productivity, shaped by educational and technological inputs. METHOD AND RESULTS: The analysis is performed from the point of view of health systems economics. In relation to pharmaceutical care (patient-oriented practice), pharmacists are service providers; however, their primary purpose is not to deliver consultations, but to maximise the quantum of health gain they secure. Our analysis demonstrates that 'technology shock' is clearly beneficial compared with orthodox notions of productivity or incremental gain implementations. Additionally, the whole process of providing professional services using 'pharmaceutical care technologies' is governed by local institutional frames, suggesting that activities may be structured differently in different places and countries. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Addressing problems with medication use with the development of a pharmaceutical workforce that is sufficient in quantity and competence is a long-term issue. As a result of this analysis, there emerges a challenge about the profession's relationship with existing and emerging technical innovations. Our novel framework is designed to facilitate policy, education and research by providing an analytical approach to service delivery. By using this approach, the profession could develop examples of good practice in both developed and developing countries worldwide
Effect of two gaps on the flux lattice internal field distribution: evidence of two length scales from muSR in Mg1-xAlxB2
We have measured the transverse field muon spin precession in the flux
lattice (FL) state of the two gap superconductor MgB2 and of the electron doped
compounds Mg1-xAlxB2 in magnetic fields up to 2.8T. We show the effect of the
two gaps on the internal field distribution in the FL, from which we determine
two coherence length parameters and the doping dependence of the London
penetration depth. This is an independent determination of the complex vortex
structure already suggested by the STM observation of large vortices in a MgB2
single crystal. Our data agrees quantitatively with STM and we thus validate a
new phenomenological model for the internal fields.Comment: now in press Phys. Rev. Lett., small modifications required by the
edito
Radial Velocities of Six OB Stars
We present new results from a radial velocity study of six bright OB stars
with little or no prior measurements. One of these, HD 45314, may be a
long-period binary, but the velocity variations of this Be star may be related
to changes in its circumstellar disk. Significant velocity variations were also
found for HD 60848 (possibly related to nonradial pulsations) and HD 61827
(related to wind variations). The other three targets, HD 46150, HD 54879, and
HD 206183, are constant velocity objects, but we note that HD 54879 has
H emission that may originate from a binary companion. We illustrate
the average red spectrum of each target.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP July 2007 issu
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