307 research outputs found
A mixed-method study of pain management practice in a UK childrenâs hospital: Identification of barriers and developing strategies to maintain effective in-patient paediatric pain management
© 2015 The Authors. Aim To assess Acute Pain Service and paediatric pain management efficacy in a UK specialist paediatric hospital to inform wider recommendations for future sustainability. Background UK paediatric acute pain services vary. Although comprehensive pain management guidelines exist, consensus on the best model of care is lacking. Worldwide, medical and pharmacological advances and rapid patient turnover have increased the challenges of managing hospitalized childrenâs pain. Simultaneously nurses, who deliver the bulk of pain management, have experienced reduction in skill mix and training opportunities. Specialist Acute Pain Services have evolved to meet these demands; their overall efficacy is unknown. Design This mixed-methods study explores pain management practice at a UK paediatric hospital to assess current efficacy and future sustainability. Method A 2013 case note review of all Acute Pain Services referrals over 14 days were compared with an interval sample of concurrent non-referred inpatient children; seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of clinical staff. Results Twenty-two referrals of 15 children were made; 15 comparison children were identified. All 30 children (100%) were appropriately referred/non-referred. Acute Pain Services cases experienced higher pain levels, were more likely to have long term conditions, longer hospital stay and repeat admissions. Three key themes emerged through interview analysis: âaddressing painâ, âchanging contextsâ âpain as an âexpertâ skillâ. Increased specialization, reduced clarity between different pain modalities and decreased training opportunities had resulted in potentially unsustainable APS dependence
On the number of classes of conjugate Hall subgroups in finite simple groups
In this paper we find the number of conjugate -Hall subgroups in all
finite almost simple groups. We also complete the classification of -Hall
subgroups in finite simple groups and correct some mistakes from our previous
paper.Comment: article in press in "Journal of algebra
Majorana Neutrino, the Size of Extra Dimensions, and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
The problem of Majorana neutrino mass generated in
Arkani-Hamed--Dimopoulos-Dvali model with n extra spatial dimensions is
discussed. Taking into account constraints on neutrino masses coming from
cosmological observations, it is possible to obtain lower limits on the size of
extra dimensions as large as 10^{-6} mm. In the case of n=4 it is easy to lower
the fundamental scale of gravity from the Planck energy to electroweak scale
\~TeV without imposing any additional constraints. A link between the half-life
of neutrinoless double beta decay and the size of extra dimensions is
discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, using RevTEX. Units conversion correcte
Neutrino Masses and Lepton Flavour Violation in Thick Brane Scenarios
We address the issue of lepton flavour violation and neutrino masses in the
``fat-brane'' paradigm, where flavour changing processes are suppressed by
localising different fermion field wave-functions at different positions (in
the extra dimensions) in a thick brane. We study the consequences of
suppressing lepton number violating charged lepton decays within this scenario
for lepton masses and mixing angles. In particular, we find that charged lepton
mass matrices are constrained to be quasi-diagonal. We further consider whether
the same paradigm can be used to naturally explain small Dirac neutrino masses
by considering the existence of three right-handed neutrinos in the brane, and
discuss the requirements to obtain phenomenologically viable neutrino masses
and mixing angles. Finally, we examine models where neutrinos obtain a small
Majorana mass by breaking lepton number in a far away brane and show that, if
the fat-brane paradigm is the solution to the absence of lepton number
violating charged lepton decays, such models predict, in the absence of flavour
symmetries, that charged lepton flavour violation will be observed in the next
round of rare muon/tau decay experiments.Comment: 33 pages, 9 eps figure
Supernova Bounds on Majoron-emitting decays of light neutrinos
Neutrino masses arising from the spontaneous violation of ungauged
lepton-number are accompanied by a physical Goldstone boson, generically called
Majoron. In the high-density supernova medium the effects of Majoron-emitting
neutrino decays are important even if they are suppressed in vacuo by small
neutrino masses and/or small off-diagonal couplings. We reconsider the
influence of these decays on the neutrino signal of supernovae in the light of
recent Super-Kamiokande data on solar and atmospheric neutrinos. We find that
majoron-neutrino coupling constants in the range 3\times 10^{-7}\lsim g\lsim
2\times 10^{-5} or g \gsim 3 \times 10^{-4} are excluded by the observation
of SN1987A. Then we discuss the potential of Superkamiokande and the Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory to detect majoron neutrino interactions in the case of a
future galactic supernova. We find that these experiments could probe majoron
neutrino interactions with improved sensitivity.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure
Confusing non-standard neutrino interactions with oscillations at a neutrino factory
Most neutrino mass theories contain non-standard interactions (NSI) of
neutrinos which can be either non-universal (NU) or flavor-changing (FC). We
study the impact of such interactions on the determination of neutrino mixing
parameters at a neutrino factory using the so-called ``golden channels''
\pnu{e}\to\pnu{\mu} for the measurement of \theta_{13}. We show that a certain
combination of FC interactions in neutrino source and earth matter can give
exactly the same signal as oscillations arising due to \theta_{13}. This
implies that information about \theta_{13} can only be obtained if bounds on
NSI are available. Taking into account the existing bounds on FC interactions,
this leads to a drastic loss in sensitivity in \theta_{13}, at least two orders
of magnitude. A near detector at a neutrino factory offers the possibility to
obtain stringent bounds on some NSI parameters. Such near site detector
constitutes an essential ingredient of a neutrino factory and a necessary step
towards the determination of \theta_{13} and subsequent study of leptonic CP
violation.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, improved version, accepted for publication in
Phs. Rev. D, references adde
Neutrino Masses, Mixing and New Physics Effects
We introduce a parametrization of the effects of radiative corrections from
new physics on the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, studying how
several relevant quantities describing the pattern of neutrino masses and
mixing are affected by these corrections. We find that the ratio omega = sin
theta / tan theta_atm is remarkably stable, even when relatively large
corrections are added to the original mass matrices. It is also found that if
the lightest neutrino has a mass around 0.3 eV, the pattern of masses and
mixings is considerably more stable under perturbations than for a lighter or
heavier spectrum. We explore the consequences of perturbations on some flavor
relations given in the literature. In addition, for a quasi-degenerate neutrino
spectrum it is shown that: (i) starting from a bi-maximal mixing scenario, the
corrections to the mass matrices keep tan theta_atm very close to unity while
they can lower tan theta_sol to its measured value; (ii) beginning from a
scenario with a vanishing Dirac phase, corrections can induce a Dirac phase
large enough to yield CP violation observable in neutrino oscillations.Comment: 14 pages, 21 figures. Uses RevTeX4. Added several comments and
references. Final version to appear in PR
Neutrino masses: From fantasy to facts
Theory suggests the existence of neutrino masses, but little more. Facts are
coming close to reveal our fantasy: solar and atmospheric neutrino data
strongly indicate the need for neutrino conversions, while LSND provides an
intriguing hint. The simplest ways to reconcile these data in terms of neutrino
oscillations invoke a light sterile neutrino in addition to the three active
ones. Out of the four neutrinos, two are maximally-mixed and lie at the LSND
scale, while the others are at the solar mass scale. These schemes can be
distinguished at neutral-current-sensitive solar & atmospheric neutrino
experiments. I discuss the simplest theoretical scenarios, where the lightness
of the sterile neutrino, the nearly maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing, and
the generation of & all follow
naturally from the assumed lepton-number symmetry and its breaking. Although
the most likely interpretation of the present data is in terms of
neutrino-mass-induced oscillations, one still has room for alternative
explanations, such as flavour changing neutrino interactions, with no need for
neutrino mass or mixing. Such flavour violating transitions arise in theories
with strictly massless neutrinos, and may lead to other sizeable flavour
non-conservation effects, such as , conversion in
nuclei, unaccompanied by neutrino-less double beta decay.Comment: 33 pages, latex, 16 figures. Invited Talk at Ioannina Conference,
Symmetries in Intermediate High Energy Physics and its Applications, Oct.
1998, to be published by Springer Tracts in Modern Physics. Festschrift in
Honour of John Vergados' 60th Birthda
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