3,025 research outputs found
Synergies between processing and memory in children's reading span.
Previous research has established the relevance of working memory for cognitive development. Yet the factors responsible for shaping performance in the complex span tasks used to assess working memory capacity are not fully understood. We report a study of reading span in 7- to 11-year old children that addresses several contemporary theoretical issues. We demonstrate that both the timing and the accuracy of recall are affected by the presence or absence of a semantic connection between the processing requirement and the memoranda. Evidence that there can be synergies between processing and memory argues against the view that complex span simply measures the competition between these activities. We also demonstrate a consistent relationship between the rate of completing processing operations (sentence reading) and recall accuracy. At the same time, the shape and strength of this function varies with the task configuration. Taken together, these results demonstrate the potential for reconstructive influences to shape working memory performance among children
Implementing health research through academic and clinical partnerships : a realistic evaluation of the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC)
Background: The English National Health Service has made a major investment in nine partnerships between
higher education institutions and local health services called Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health
Research and Care (CLAHRC). They have been funded to increase capacity and capability to produce and
implement research through sustained interactions between academics and health services. CLAHRCs provide a
natural ‘test bed’ for exploring questions about research implementation within a partnership model of delivery.
This protocol describes an externally funded evaluation that focuses on implementation mechanisms and
processes within three CLAHRCs. It seeks to uncover what works, for whom, how, and in what circumstances.
Design and methods: This study is a longitudinal three-phase, multi-method realistic evaluation, which
deliberately aims to explore the boundaries around knowledge use in context. The evaluation funder wishes to see
it conducted for the process of learning, not for judging performance. The study is underpinned by a conceptual
framework that combines the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services and Knowledge to
Action frameworks to reflect the complexities of implementation. Three participating CLARHCS will provide indepth
comparative case studies of research implementation using multiple data collection methods including
interviews, observation, documents, and publicly available data to test and refine hypotheses over four rounds of
data collection. We will test the wider applicability of emerging findings with a wider community using an
interpretative forum.
Discussion: The idea that collaboration between academics and services might lead to more applicable health
research that is actually used in practice is theoretically and intuitively appealing; however the evidence for it is
limited. Our evaluation is designed to capture the processes and impacts of collaborative approaches for
implementing research, and therefore should contribute to the evidence base about an increasingly popular (e.g.,
Mode two, integrated knowledge transfer, interactive research), but poorly understood approach to knowledge
translation. Additionally we hope to develop approaches for evaluating implementation processes and impacts
particularly with respect to integrated stakeholder involvement
Fast computation of Bernoulli, Tangent and Secant numbers
We consider the computation of Bernoulli, Tangent (zag), and Secant (zig or
Euler) numbers. In particular, we give asymptotically fast algorithms for
computing the first n such numbers in O(n^2.(log n)^(2+o(1))) bit-operations.
We also give very short in-place algorithms for computing the first n Tangent
or Secant numbers in O(n^2) integer operations. These algorithms are extremely
simple, and fast for moderate values of n. They are faster and use less space
than the algorithms of Atkinson (for Tangent and Secant numbers) and Akiyama
and Tanigawa (for Bernoulli numbers).Comment: 16 pages. To appear in Computational and Analytical Mathematics
(associated with the May 2011 workshop in honour of Jonathan Borwein's 60th
birthday). For further information, see
http://maths.anu.edu.au/~brent/pub/pub242.htm
Holographic Description of Gravitational Anomalies
The holographic duality can be extended to include quantum theories with
broken coordinate invariance leading to the appearance of the gravitational
anomalies. On the gravity side one adds the gravitational Chern-Simons term to
the bulk action which gauge invariance is only up to the boundary terms. We
analyze in detail how the gravitational anomalies originate from the modified
Einstein equations in the bulk. As a side observation we find that the
gravitational Chern-Simons functional has interesting conformal properties. It
is invariant under conformal transformations. Moreover, its metric variation
produces conformal tensor which is a generalization of the Cotton tensor to
dimension . We calculate the modification of the holographic
stress-energy tensor that is due to the Chern-Simons term and use the bulk
Einstein equations to find its divergence and thus reproduce the gravitational
anomaly. Explicit calculation of the anomaly is carried out in dimensions
and . The result of the holographic calculation is compared with that of
the descent method and agreement is found. The gravitational Chern-Simons term
originates by Kaluza-Klein mechanism from a one-loop modification of M-theory
action. This modification is discussed in the context of the gravitational
anomaly in six-dimensional theory. The agreement with earlier
conjectured anomaly is found.Comment: 24 pages, Latex; presentation re-structured, new references adde
Economies of space and the school geography curriculum
This paper is about the images of economic space that are found in school curricula. It suggests the importance for educators of evaluating these representations in terms of the messages they contain about how social processes operate. The paper uses school geography texts in Britain since the 1970s to illustrate the different ways in which economic space has been represented to students, before exploring some alternative resources that could be used to provide a wider range of representations of economic space. The paper highlights the continued importance of understanding the politics of school knowledge
Following a natural experiment of guideline adaptation and early implementation: a mixed-methods study of facilitation
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Facilitation is emerging as an important strategy in the uptake of evidence. However, it is not entirely clear from a practical perspective how facilitation occurs to help move research evidence into nursing practice. The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, also known as the 'Partnership,' is a Pan-Canadian initiative supporting knowledge translation activity for improved care through guideline use. In this case-series study, five self-identified groups volunteered to use a systematic methodology to adapt existing clinical practice guidelines for Canadian use. With 'Partnership' support, local and external facilitators provided assistance for groups to begin the process by adapting the guidelines and planning for implementation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of facilitation, we conducted a mixed-methods study. Specifically, we examined the role and skills of individuals actively engaged in facilitation as well as the actual facilitation activities occurring within the 'Partnership.' The study was driven by and builds upon a focused literature review published in 2010 that examined facilitation as a role and process in achieving evidence-based practice in nursing. An audit tool outlining 46 discrete facilitation activities based on results of this review was used to examine the facilitation noted in the documents (emails, meeting minutes, field notes) of three nursing-related cases participating in the 'Partnership' case-series study. To further examine the concept, six facilitators were interviewed about their practical experiences. The case-audit data were analyzed through a simple content analysis and triangulated with participant responses from the focus group interview to understand what occurred as these cases undertook guideline adaptation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The analysis of the three cases revealed that almost all of the 46 discrete, practical facilitation activities from the literature were evidenced. Additionally, case documents exposed five other facilitation-related activities, and a combination of external and local facilitation was apparent. Individuals who were involved in the case or group adapting the guideline(s) also performed facilitation activities, both formally and informally, in conjunction with or in addition to appointed external and local facilitators.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Facilitation of evidence-based practice is a multifaceted process and a team effort. Communication and relationship-building are key components. The practical aspects of facilitation explicated in this study validate what has been previously noted in the literature and expand what is known about facilitation process and activity.</p
Networked but Commodified: The (Dis)Embeddedness of Digital Labour in the Gig Economy
This article investigates the (dis)embeddedness of digital labour within the remote gig economy. We use interview and survey data to highlight how platform workers in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are normatively disembedded from social protections through a process of commodification. Normative disembeddedness leaves workers exposed to the vagaries of the external labour market due to an absence of labour regulations and rights. It also endangers social reproduction by limiting access to healthcare and requiring workers to engage in significant unpaid ‘work-for-labour’. However, we show that these workers are also simultaneously embedded within interpersonal networks of trust, which enable the work to be completed despite the low-trust nature of the gig economy. In bringing together the concepts of normative and network embeddedness, we reconnect the two sides of Polanyi’s thinking and demonstrate the value of an integrated understanding of Polanyi’s approach to embeddedness for understanding contemporary economic transformations
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
Bulk perturbations of N=2 branes
The evolution of supersymmetric A-type D-branes under the bulk
renormalization group flow between two different N=2 minimal models is studied.
Using the Landau-Ginzburg description we show that a specific set of branes
decouples from the infrared theory, and we make detailed predictions for the
behavior of the remaining branes. The Landau-Ginzburg picture is then checked
against a direct conformal field theory analysis. In particular we construct a
natural index pairing which is preserved by the RG flow, and show that the
branes that decouple have vanishing index with the surviving branes.Comment: 35 pages (30 pages plus title and references), 8 figure
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