Bad science concerning NHS competition is being used to support the controversial Health and Social Care Bill

A recent report by LSE academics extolling the benefits of competition between NHS hospitals claims causality where there is none. Allyson Pollock, Alison Macfarlane and Ian Greener argue that the authors engage in data dredging and faulty empirical analysis. In so doing, they sweep aside decades of evidence showing why markets do not work in health services and lend support to an HSC Bill that is inherently dangerous

The Role of Superannuation in the Financial Sector and in Aggregate Saving: A Review of Recent Trends

Assets with superannuation funds represented the fastest growing of the major components of household wealth during the 1980s. This paper reviews the causes of that growth, and its effects on private saving and on the pattern of financial intermediation. It is found that the growth of superannuation funds during this period was mainly a result of the funds’ high earnings rates; there was relatively little change in the net rate of new contributions by members. This fact makes it hard to argue that growth of the superannuation sector came at the expense of other types of financial intermediaries. The relative stability of members’ contributions also helps to explain why superannuation has not yet had a noticeable effect on the level of private saving.

The Thermal Decomposition of Some Polysiloxanes

There is an ever increasing demand for polymers and copolymers having high thermal and oxidative stability. Since the silicone industry began in 1931, silicone polymers have provided for a wide range of industrial needs as thermally stable oils, rubbers and resins. In recent years research has been carried out by a number of workers into the mechanism of breakdown processes in these materials in an attempt to bridge the gap between empirical knowledge and scientific understanding. The present work is aimed at supplementing information in the literature on the thermal breakdown of some linear polysiloxanes containing methyl or methyl and phenyl side groups. Brief notes on the history of silicones, on common nomenclature and on some aspects of the physical chemistry of silicon and its compounds are given in Chapter 1 and these are followed by a comprehensive review of the literature dealing with work related to the title of this thesis. Chapter 2 includes a list of sources for the chemicals used in this work, gives details of polymerisation techniques and summarises the apparatus and experimental techniques employed in this study. The first part deals with the thermal analysis techniques and the second part describes the techniques used to identify the degradation products both qualitatively and quantitatively. The thermal degradation of poly(dimethylsiloxane) is discussed in Chapter 3. The main products are cyclic siloxanes containing up to eighteen or more dimethylsiloxane units. The cyclic trimer, hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane is the major product. Methane is a product from samples degraded in the presence of base. In Chapter 4 the preparation and thermal properties of poly(methylphenylsiloxane) are discussed. The two isomeric forms of the cyclic siloxane trimer and the four forms of the cyclic tetramer have been shown to be the major products of degradation. Benzene is also formed. Several attempts to prepare high molecular weight samples of poly(diphenylsiloxane) are described in Chapter 5. These attempts were not successful. In Chapter 6 some preliminary studies on copolymers of poly(dimethyldiphenylsiloxane) are described. Although benzene is produced there is evidence that some diphenyl units remain intact and are incorporated into siloxane ring compounds which appear as degradation products

Anonymity for practical quantum networks

Quantum communication networks have the potential to revolutionise information and communication technologies. Here we are interested in a fundamental property and formidable challenge for any communication network, that of guaranteeing the anonymity of a sender and a receiver when a message is transmitted through the network, even in the presence of malicious parties. We provide the first practical protocol for anonymous communication in realistic quantum networks.Comment: 5 pages, published versio

Anxiety's effect on the experience of supervision of genetic counseling students

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2013. Major: Educational Psychology. Advisor: Dr. Patricia McCarthy Veach. 1 computer file (PDF); xi, 269 pages, appendices A-I.Genetic counseling has been a recognized profession in North America for over 40 years. Supervised clinical experiences with patients comprise a critical component of genetic counseling student education. Previous research has found genetic counseling students s tend to be more anxiety prone than the general population (Jungbluth et al., 2011), and anxiety related to supervision has been found in genetic counseling (e.g., Hendrickson et al., 2002) and related fields (e.g., Skovholt & Ronnestad, 2003). The present study investigated how anxiety affects the experience of supervision for genetic counseling students. Second year genetic counseling students (~N = 200) were invited to participate through email invitations distributed via training directors of the 33 programs accredited by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. The initial online survey contained the trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger et al., 1983) to estimate anxiety proneness in this population and an invitation to participate in a 1-hour interview focusing on students' experiences in supervision. The interviews questions investigated seven research questions focusing on satisfaction with training, interactions with patients and supervisors, perceptions of the structure and processes of supervision, and experiences related to anxiety. High, moderate, and low trait anxiety groups were created using STAI scores, and the high and low groups' interview responses were compared using consensual qualitative research methodology (CQR; Hill, 2012). Analysis discovered relatively few differences between groups. The high anxiety group was more likely to describe problematic supervisory relationships, appreciate the supervisor's ability to help them when they get stuck in sessions, and feel their anxiety had a negative effect on their performance in general and in supervision. Common themes included supervisors' balancing support and guidance, the importance of feedback, ego-centric responses, and supervisors as focal points. Students unanimously reported positive levels of satisfaction with their clinical rotations in general and supervision specifically. The results of the present study are largely consistent with the literature, including recently published supervision competencies (Eubanks Higgins et al., 2013). Further research findings and research, practice, and training recommendations are provided

The role of higher education institutions in knowledge generation to support Education For All

Abstrac

The Genetic Relationships of Grevillea Hybrids Determined by RAPD Marker

Grevillea (Proteaceae) is native to Australia and is known as garden plant. The flowers have high diversity colors, which range over orange, yellow, pink, red and green. It is a large genus, consisted of 357 species. This genus is economically important and there are hundreds of Grevillea hybrids with beautiful color and shape of flower.  Information of the genetic relationships of Grevillea hybrids is not available. Ten Grevillea hybrids were used in this study to evaluate the genetic relationships between hybrids and with their parents. PCR-RAPD technique was employed in this study with seven RAPD primers. The dendrogram of Grevillea hybrids was performed using Neighbor-Joining analysis based on genetic distance. The analysis revealed that ‘Moonlight’, ‘Caloundra Gem’, and Little Pink Willie’ were clustered with Grevillea banksii. The three hybrids were hybrid of G. banksii and other Grevillea species.  ‘Superb’ was closely related to ‘Robyn Gordon’ as they are hybrid of G. banksii and G. bipinnatifida