Using evidence to inform health policy: case study

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Fall prevention in the community: what older people say they need

Original article can be found at: http://www.bjcn.co.uk/ Copyright MA HealthcareUptake of and adherence to fall prevention interventions is often poor and we know little about how older people’s perceptions of and beliefs about fall prevention interventions affect uptake. This study aimed to explore older people’s perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to participation in fall prevention interventions. We undertook a qualitative study with older people who had taken part in, declined to participate or adhere to fall prevention interventions using semi-structured interviews (n=65), and 17 focus groups (n=122) with older people (including 32 South Asian and 30 Chinese older people) in primary and community care settings in the South of England. A number of factors acted as either barriers or facilitators to uptake of interventions. Older people also made recommendations for improving access to interventions. Community nurses are ideally placed to screen older people, identify those at risk of falling and refer them to appropriate interventions as well as providing health promotion and education.Peer reviewe

A proposed neutral line signature

An identifying signature is proposed for the existence and location of the neutral line in the magnetotail. The signature, abrupt density, and temperature changes in the Earthtail direction, was first discovered in test particle simulations. Such temperature variations have been observed in ISEE data (Huang et. al. 1992), but their connection to the possible existence of a neutral line in the tail has not yet been established. The proposed signature develops earlier than the ion velocity space ridge of Martin and Speiser (1988), but can only be seen by spacecraft in the vicinity of the neutral line, while the latter can locate a neutral line remotely

Numerical study of the current sheet and PSBL in a magnetotail model

The current sheet and plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) in a magnetotail model are discussed. A test particle code is used to study the response of ensembles of particles to a two-dimensional, time-dependent model of the geomagnetic tail, and test the proposition (Coroniti, 1985a, b; Buchner and Zelenyi, 1986; Chen and Palmadesso, 1986; Martin, 1986) that the stochasticity of the particle orbits in these fields is an important part of the physical mechanism for magnetospheric substorms. The realistic results obtained for the fluid moments of the particle distribution with this simple model, and their insensitivity to initial conditions, is consistent with this hypothesis

Simultaneous heat and mass transfer in soil columns exposed to freezing/thawing conditions

Soil heat and mass transfer are important processes in nature The effects of soil solution concentration on soil heat and mass transfer have not been investigated thoroughly for freezing/thawing conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the SHAW model predictions of heat, water, and chemical transfer in saline and solute-free soils. Heat and mass transfer was studied in closed soil columns. Included were loam soil materials with two salinity levels. Three derivatives of benzoic acid were used as tracers for liquid water movement. Soil was packed into PVC columns that were buried vertically in a field soil profile and exposed to ambient weather conditions. After 72 days, the soil columns were removed from the field and sectioned into 0.02-m increments in order to measure water content, chloride, and benzoic acid tracer distributions. In addition to the observed heat and mass transfer, the SHAW model was used to predict heat and mass transfer in the soil columns. The model described the temperature distributions accurately for both salinized and solute-free soils. Both observed and predicted values of water distribution showed water accumulation in the upper 0.4 m in the solute-free soil. The water diminished slightly in the upper 0.20-m region in the salinized soil columns. Within the salinized soil columns, the final solute distribution did not indicate appreciable net solute movement. The observed and predicted frost depths in the solute-free soil were between 0.45 m and 0.65 m. Freezing was not significant in the salinized soil. The SHAW model should be improved if it is expanded to include the effects of temperature and osmotic potentials on liquid water flow in soil

Effective use of ERTS multisensor data in the Northern Great Plains

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS imagery was used as a tool in the identification and refinement of soil association areas; to classify land use patterns between crop and fallow fields; to identify corn, soybeans, and oats; and to identify broad generalized range ecosystems. Various data handling techniques were developed and applied to accomplish these tasks. A map outlining soil associations and relative land values was completed on a base mosaic of ERTS imagery and is included as an appendix to the report

Soil moisture and evapotranspiration predictions using Skylab data

The author has identified the following significant results. Multispectral reflectance and emittance data from the Skylab workshop were evaluated for prediction of evapotranspiration and soil moisture for an irrigated region of southern Texas. Wavelengths greater than 2.1 microns were required to spectrally distinguish between wet and dry fallow surfaces. Thermal data provided a better estimate of soil moisture than did data from the reflective bands. Thermal data were dependent on soil moisture but not on the type of agricultural land use. The emittance map, when used in conjunction with existing models, did provide an estimate of evapotranspiration rates. Surveys of areas of high soil moisture can be accomplished with space altitude thermal data. Thermal data will provide a reliable input into irrigation scheduling

The Three-Magnon Contribution to the Spin Correlation Function in Integer-Spin Antiferromagnetic Chains

The exact form factor for the O(3) non-linear sigma model is used to predict the three-magnon contribution to the spin correlation function, S(q,w), near wavevector q=pi in an integer spin, one-dimensional antiferromagnet. The three-magnon contribution is extrememly broad and extremely weak; the integrated intensity is <2% of the single-magnon contribution.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Analysis of the October 3–7 2000 GEM storm with the WINDMI model

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95446/1/grl20167.pd