571 research outputs found
Skyrmions, Rational Maps & Scaling Identities
Starting from approximate Skyrmion solutions obtained using the rational map
ansatz, improved approximate Skyrmions are constructed using scaling arguments.
Although the energy improvement is small, the change of shape clarifies whether
the true Skyrmions are more oblate or prolate.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Why and how to integrate non-standard linguistic varieties into education: Cypriot Greek in Cyprus and the UK
• Greek Cypriot education remains largely oriented towards promoting standard language ideologies and only accepts Standard Greek as the language of teaching and learning.
• Cypriot Greek, the students’ home variety, is still seen as an obstacle to academic achievement by teachers and educational authorities.
• Cypriot Greek needs to be integrated into policies and practices of teaching and learning both in Cyprus and in the UK’s Greek Cypriot community.
• This will:
o hone pupils’ awareness of different varieties;
o foster the development of their critical literacy;
o facilitate the acquisition of Standard Greek;
o counter negative perceptions, stereotypes and feelings of inferiority associated with the use of Cypriot Greek; and,
o aid in the maintenance and intergenerational transmission of Cypriot Greek as a heritage and community language in the UK.
• Teachers and learning activities should promote and cultivate:
o awareness and respect of the different varieties spoken in class, Cypriot Greek and Standard Greek; and,
o awareness of vocabulary and grammar in the contexts of use of the two varieties and their social meanings.
•This approach will ultimately change the way we view language and literacy learning
The 1996 research assessment exercise : the library and information management panel
Reports on the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the fourth such exercise aimed at providing funding councils of UK universities (including former polytechnics) with the necessary data to rate the quality of UK academic research for predetermined units of assessment in order to fund research selectively. Previous RAEs were conducted in 1986, 1989, and 1992 (for a report of the 1992 RAE see JOLIS 26 (3) Sep 94, 141-7 (LISA ref. 9409765)). Reports generally on the work of the Library and Information Management Panel in agreeing criteria specific to their assessment task, particularly the five principal modes of publication: research monographs; articles in scholarly periodicals; refereed conference papers; published research reports; and book chapters. Discusses the methodology used by the Panel, research submissions received and the overall results
Prevalence, incidence burden and clinical impact of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance: a national prevalent cohort study in acute care hospitals in Greece
Purpose: Assessing the overall burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is challenging, but imperative in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of infection control programs. This study aimed to estimate the point prevalence and annual incidence of HAIs in Greece and assess the excess length of stay (LOS) and mortality attributable to HAIs, overall and for main infection sites and tracer antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenotypes and pathogens.
Patients and methods: This prevalent cohort study used a nationally representative cross-section of 8,247 inpatients in 37 acute-care hospitals to record active HAIs of all types at baseline and overall LOS and in-hospital mortality up to 90 days following hospital admission. HAI incidence was estimated using prevalence-to-incidence conversion methods. Excess mortality and LOS were assessed by Cox regression and multistate models correcting for confounding and time-dependent biases.
Results: HAIs were encountered with daily prevalence of 9.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.8% – 10.6%). The estimated annual HAI incidence was 5.2% (95%CI 4.4% – 5.3%), corresponding to approximately 121,000 (95%CI 103,500 – 123,700) affected patients each year in the country. 90-day mortality risk was increased by 80% in patients with HAI compared to those without HAI (adjusted hazard ratio 1.8; 95%CI 1.3 – 2.6). Lower respiratory tract infections, bloodstream infections and multiple concurrent HAIs doubled the risk of death, whereas surgical site and urinary-tract infections were are not associated with increased mortality. AMR had significant impact on the daily risk of 90-day mortality, which was increased by 90%-110% in patients infected by carbapenem-resistant gram-negative pathogens (CR-GNBs). HAIs increased LOS for an average of 4.3 (95% CI 2.4– 6.2) additional days. Mean excess LOS exceeded 20 days in infections caused by major CR-GNBs.
Conclusion: HAIs, alongside with increasing AMR, pose significant burden to the hospital system. Burden estimates obtained in this study will be valuable in future evaluations of infection prevention programs
Radon measurements along active faults in the Langadas Basin, northern Greece
A network of three radon stations has been established in the Langadas Basin, northern Greece for radon monitoring by various techniques in earthquake prediction studies. Specially made devices with plastic tubes including Alpha Tracketch Detectors (ATD) were installed for registering alpha particles from radon and radon decay products exhaled from the ground, every 2 weeks, by using LR-115, type II, non-strippable Kodak films, starting from December 1996. Simultaneous measurements started using Lucas cells alpha spectrometer for instantaneous radon measurements in soil gas, before and after setting ATDs at the radon stations. Continuous monitoring of radon gas exhaling from the ground started from the middle of August 1999 by using silicon diode detectors, which simultaneously register meteorological parameters, such as rainfall, temperature and barometric pressure. The obtained data were studied together with the data of seismic events, such as the magnitude, <i>M<sub>L</sub></i>, of earthquakes that occurred at the Langadas Basin during the period of measurements, as registered by the Laboratory of Geophysics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in order to find out any association between them
Solutions of the Generic Non-Compact Weyl Equation
In this paper, solutions of the generic non-compact Weyl equation are
obtained. In particular, by identifying a suitable similarity transformation
and introducing a non-trivial change of variables we are able to implement
azimuthal dependence on the solutions of the diagonal non-compact Weyl
equation. We also discuss some open questions related to the construction of
infinite BPS monopole configurations.Comment: 12 pages, Latex. Few extra comments and a reference adde
Severity of Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis and Risk of Ipsilateral Hemispheric Ischaemic Events: Results from the ACSRS Study. Nicolaides et al.: EJVES 2005; 30: 275–284
Topological discrete kinks
A spatially discrete version of the general kink-bearing nonlinear
Klein-Gordon model in (1+1) dimensions is constructed which preserves the
topological lower bound on kink energy. It is proved that, provided the lattice
spacing h is sufficiently small, there exist static kink solutions attaining
this lower bound centred anywhere relative to the spatial lattice. Hence there
is no Peierls-Nabarro barrier impeding the propagation of kinks in this
discrete system. An upper bound on h is derived and given a physical
interpretation in terms of the radiation of the system. The construction, which
works most naturally when the nonlinear Klein-Gordon model has a squared
polynomial interaction potential, is applied to a recently proposed continuum
model of polymer twistons. Numerical simulations are presented which
demonstrate that kink pinning is eliminated, and radiative kink deceleration
greatly reduced in comparison with the conventional discrete system. So even on
a very coarse lattice, kinks behave much as they do in the continuum. It is
argued, therefore, that the construction provides a natural means of
numerically simulating kink dynamics in nonlinear Klein-Gordon models of this
type. The construction is compared with the inverse method of Flach, Zolotaryuk
and Kladko. Using the latter method, alternative spatial discretizations of the
twiston and sine-Gordon models are obtained which are also free of the
Peierls-Nabarro barrier.Comment: 14 pages LaTeX, 7 postscript figure
Effects of Cadmium (Cd) on Dry Matter and on Cd Concentration in Leaves and Roots of Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.)
The aim of this research was to examine the effect of Cd on leaves dry matter (LDM), root dry matter (RDM) and on Cd concentration in leaves (Cd-leaves) and roots (Cd-roots) of purple coneflower (E. purpurea) grown in an acid and in a neutral substrate. A completely randomized block design with four treatments (0-control, 1, 2, and 5 mg Cd L-1) and six replications for each treatment and each substrate (acid, neutral) was conducted in pot experiments. Cd concentration in leaves grown in acid substrate as well as in roots of plants grown in neutral substrate increased at Cd rates greater than 2 mg Cd L-1. Cd concentration in roots of the plants grown in neutral substrate raised with increasing doses of Cd. In general Cd concentration in the roots and leaves of purple coneflower grown either in acid or in neutral substrate was affected by Cd applications
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