1,659 research outputs found
A Near Miss: The Lived Experiences of Telecommunication Technicians’ Injurious Accidents and Near Misses
Due to a dearth in the literature, this study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of telecommunication field technicians who have experienced near miss and injurious accidents. Using protection motivation theory (PMT), we sought to explore if, after an accident, a technician would alter behaviors and insights regarding safety practices while executing their job duties. Participants for this qualitative phenomenological study included six telecommunication technicians with an average of 19 years’ experience and who had experienced an injurious or near miss accident at work. Findings suggested that after experiencing such an event, technicians demonstrated PMT characteristics including a heightened perception of the severity and probability of a threatening event. Technicians also hold themselves and crew members accountable for safety, believe the industry views worker safety as inconsequential, and that companies and oversight entities should be accountable for enforcement of workplace practices. While many factors influence workplace safety, adopting and enforcing a safety climate that encourages safety practices, quality training, and employee input into the safety climate of the organization, could result in lower injurious accident or near miss accident rate, larger profit margins, and also create a culture of safety that is supported and sustained by employees
Increase in national intravenous thrombolysis rates for ischaemic stroke between 2005 and 2012: Is bigger better?
Background: Intravenous thrombolytic therapy after ischaemic stroke significantly reduces mortality and morbidity. Actual thrombolysis rates are disappointingly low in many western countries. It has been suggested that higher patient volume is related to shorter door-to-needle-time (DNT) and increased thrombolysis rates. We address a twofold research question: a) What are trends in national thrombolysis rates and door-to-needle times in the Netherlands between 2005-2012? and b) Is there a relationship between stroke patient volume per hospital, thrombolysis rates and DNT? Methods: We used data from the Stroke Knowledge Network Netherlands dataset. Information on volume, intravenous thrombolysis rates, and admission characteristics per hospital is acquired through yearly surveys, in up to 65 hospitals between January 2005 and December 2012. We used linear regression to determine a possible relationship between hospital stroke admission volume, hospital thrombolysis rates and mean hospital DNT, adjusted for patient characteristics. Results: Information on 121.887 stroke admissions was available, ranging from 7.393 admissions in 2005 to 24.067 admissions in 2012. Mean national thrombolysis rate increased from 6.4 % in 2005 to 14.6 % in 2012. Patient characteristics (mean age, gender, type of stroke) remained stable. Mean DNT decreased from 72.7 min in 2005 to 41.4 min in 2012. Volume of stroke admissions was not an independent predictor for mean thrombolysis rate nor for mean DNT. Conclusion: Intravenous thrombolysis rates in the Netherlands more than doubled between 2005 and 2012, in parallel with a large decline in mean DNT. We found no convincing evidence for a relationship between stroke patient volume per hospital and thrombolysis rate or DNT
Anthocyanins protect the gastrointestinal tract from high fat diet-induced alterations in redox signaling, barrier integrity and dysbiosis.
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract can play a critical role in the development of pathologies associated with overeating, overweight and obesity. We previously observed that supplementation with anthocyanins (AC) (particularly glycosides of cyanidin and delphinidin) mitigated high fat diet (HFD)-induced development of obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and steatosis in C57BL/6J mice. This paper investigated whether these beneficial effects could be related to AC capacity to sustain intestinal monolayer integrity, prevent endotoxemia, and HFD-associated dysbiosis. The involvement of redox-related mechanisms were further investigated in Caco-2 cell monolayers. Consumption of a HFD for 14 weeks caused intestinal permeabilization and endotoxemia, which were associated with a decreased ileum expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins (occludin, ZO-1 and claudin-1), increased expression of NADPH oxidase (NOX1 and NOX4) and NOS2 and oxidative stress, and activation of redox sensitive signals (NF-κB and ERK1/2) that regulate TJ dynamics. AC supplementation mitigated all these events and increased GLP-2 levels, the intestinal hormone that upregulates TJ protein expression. AC also prevented, in vitro, tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced Caco-2 monolayer permeabilization, NOX1/4 upregulation, oxidative stress, and NF-κB and ERK activation. HFD-induced obesity in mice caused dysbiosis and affected the levels and secretion of MUC2, a mucin that participates in intestinal cell barrier protection and immune response. AC supplementation restored microbiota composition and MUC2 levels and distribution in HFD-fed mice. Thus, AC, particularly delphinidin and cyanidin, can preserve GI physiology in HFD-induced obesity in part through redox-regulated mechanisms. This can in part explain AC capacity to mitigate pathologies, i.e. insulin resistance and steatosis, associated with HFD-associated obesity
Crystal-field splitting for low symmetry systems in ab initio calculations
In the framework of the LDA+U approximation we propose the direct way of
calculation of crystal-field excitation energy and apply it to La and Y
titanates. The method developed can be useful for comparison with the results
of spectroscopic measurements because it takes into account fast relaxations of
electronic system. For titanates these relaxation processes reduce the value of
crystal-field splitting by as compared with the difference of LDA one
electron energies. However, the crystal-field excitation energy in these
systems is still large enough to make an orbital liquid formation rather
unlikely and experimentally observed isotropic magnetism remains unexplained.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 3 table
Spectral evolution and polarization of variable structures in the pulsar wind nebula of PSR B0540-69.3
We present high spatial resolution optical imaging and polarization
observations of the PSR B0540-69.3 and its highly dynamical pulsar wind nebula
(PWN) performed with HST, and compare them with X-ray data obtained with the
Chandra X-ray Observatory. We have studied the bright region southwest of the
pulsar where a bright "blob" is seen in 1999. We show that it may be a result
of local energy deposition around 1999, and that the emission from this then
faded away. Polarization data from 2007 show that the polarization properties
show dramatic spatial variations at the 1999 blob position arguing for a local
process. Several other positions along the pulsar-"blob" orientation show
similar changes in polarization, indicating previous recent local energy
depositions. In X-rays, the spectrum steepens away from the "blob" position,
faster orthogonal to the pulsar-"blob" direction than along this axis of
orientation. This could indicate that the pulsar-"blob" orientation is an axis
along where energy in the PWN is mainly injected, and that this is then
mediated to the filaments in the PWN by shocks. We highlight this by
constructing an [S II]-to-[O III]-ratio map. We argue, through modeling, that
the high [S II]/[O III] ratio is not due to time-dependent photoionization
caused by possible rapid Xray emission variations in the "blob" region. We have
also created a multiwavelength energy spectrum for the "blob" position showing
that one can, to within 2sigma, connect the optical and X-ray emission by a
single power law. We obtain best power-law fits for the X-ray spectrum if we
include "extra" oxygen, in addition to the oxygen column density in the
interstellar gas of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way. This oxygen
is most naturally explained by the oxygen-rich ejecta of the supernova remnant.
The oxygen needed likely places the progenitor mass in the 20 - 25 Msun range.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS on December 6th 2010, 18 pages, 15 figures. The
article with full resolution figures is available here
ftp://ftp.astro.su.se/pub/peter/papers/pwn0540_2010_corrected.pd
Effective differentiation Practices:A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the cognitive effects of differentiation practices in primary education
This systematic review gives an overview of the effects of differentiation practices on language and math performance in primary education, synthesizing the results of empirical studies (n = 21) on this topic since 1995. We extracted 78 effect sizes from the included studies. We found that using computerized systems as a differentiation tool and using differentiation as part of a broader program or reform had small to moderate positive effects on students’ performance. Between- or within-class homogeneous ability grouping had a small negative effect on low-ability students, but no effect on others. The finding that computer technology can be a useful tool to facilitate differentiated instruction is not covered in earlier reviews. Moreover, our findings emphasize that homogeneous ability grouping alone is not enough to guarantee differentiated instruction. This stresses the importance of embedding differentiation practices in a broader educational context
Modes of Multiple Star Formation
This paper argues that star forming environments should be classified into
finer divisions than the traditional isolated and clustered modes. Using the
observed set of galactic open clusters and theoretical considerations regarding
cluster formation, we estimate the fraction of star formation that takes place
within clusters. We find that less than 10% of the stellar population
originates from star forming regions destined to become open clusters,
confirming earlier estimates. The smallest clusters included in the
observational surveys (having at least N=100 members) roughly coincide with the
smallest stellar systems that are expected to evolve as clusters in a dynamical
sense. We show that stellar systems with too few members N < N_\star have
dynamical relaxation times that are shorter than their formation times (1-2
Myr), where the critical number of stars N_\star \approx 100. Our results
suggest that star formation can be characterized by (at least) three principal
modes: I. isolated singles and binaries, II. groups (N<N_\star), and III.
clusters (N>N_\star). Many -- if not most -- stars form through the
intermediate mode in stellar groups with 10<N<100. Such groups evolve and
disperse much more rapidly than open clusters; groups also have a low
probability of containing massive stars and are unaffected by supernovae and
intense ultraviolet radiation fields. Because of their short lifetimes and
small stellar membership, groups have relatively little effect on the star
formation process (on average) compared to larger open clusters.Comment: accepted to The Astrophysical Journa
Non-stationary Rayleigh-Taylor instability in supernovae ejecta
The Rayleigh-Taylor instability plays an important role in the dynamics of
several astronomical objects, in particular, in supernovae (SN) evolution. In
this paper we develop an analytical approach to study the stability analysis of
spherical expansion of the SN ejecta by using a special transformation in the
co-moving coordinate frame. We first study a non-stationary spherical expansion
of a gas shell under the pressure of a central source. Then we analyze its
stability with respect to a no radial, non spherically symmetric perturbation
of the of the shell. We consider the case where the polytropic constant of the
SN shell is and we examine the evolution of a arbitrary shell
perturbation. The dispersion relation is derived. The growth rate of the
perturbation is found and its temporal and spatial evolution is discussed. The
stability domain depends on the ejecta shell thickness, its acceleration, and
the perturbation wavelength.Comment: 16 page
New Studies of the Pulsar Wind Nebula in the Supernova Remnant CTB 80
We investigated the kinematics of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) associated
with PSR B1951+32 in the old supernova remnant CTB 80 using the Fabry-Perot
interferometer of the 6m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope. In
addition to the previously known expansion of the system of bright filaments
with a velocity of 100-200km/s, we detected weak high-velocity features in the
H-alpha line at least up to velocities of 400-450km/s. We analyzed the
morphology of the PWN in the H-alpha, [SII], and [OIII] lines using HST data
and discuss its nature. The shape of the central filamentary shell, which is
determined by the emission in the [OIII] line and in the radio continuum, is
shown to be consistent with the bow-shock model for a significant (about 60
degrees) inclination of the pulsar's velocity vector to the plane of the sky.
In this case, the space velocity of the pulsar is twice higher than its
tangential velocity, i.e., it reaches ~500 km/s, and PSR B1951+32 is the first
pulsar whose line-of-sight velocity (of about 400 km/s) has been estimated from
the PWN observations. The shell-like H-alpha-structures outside the bow shock
front in the east and the west may be associated with both the pulsar's jets
and the pulsar-wind breakthrough due to the layered structure of the extended
CTB 80 shell.Comment: to appear in Astronomy Letters, 12 pages, 6 postscript figures, two
in colour; for a version with high resolution figures see
http://www.sao.ru/hq/grb/team/vkom/CTB80_fine.pd
Handleiding kwaliteitsverbetering ziekenhuiszorg vanuit de ervaring van patienten
__Abstract__
De laatste jaren is er een toenemende belangstelling voor patiëntervaringen in de Nederlandse gezondheidszorg en patiëntenparticipatie
wordt veelvuldig in de praktijk gebracht. Het idee is dat de ervaringen van patiënten unieke informatie
opleveren over de kwaliteit van zorg. Ervaringsverhalen maken duidelijk dat patiënten de zorg vaak anders ervaren dan
professionals denken en dat deze ervaringen een belangrijke bijdrage kunnen leveren aan kwaliteitsverbetering. Zorgverleners
kijken vanuit hun eigen perspectief naar de zorg en hebben zich bepaalde gewoonten aangemeten die ze niet meer
ter discussie stellen, terwijl een patiënt hen kan wijzen op de positi
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