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Some Properties of a Soil Having a High Percentage of Replaceable Potassium: Field and Laboratory Studies on Comparative Value of Soil Conditioners
This item is part of the Agricultural Experiment Station archive. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information, please email CALS Publications at [email protected]
Modelling the impact of extreme weather events on healthcare infrastructure using rich picture diagrams
Healthcare infrastructure for a community comprises not only its hospital but also
many other related facilities such as primary care clinics, community health centres,
rural nursing posts, aged care centres, etc. These facilities form a complex set of
relationships which need to work collectively for an effective response to climatechange
related extreme weather events such as floods and storms. The aim of this
research is to develop a conceptual understanding of the dynamic relationships of
hospital facilities before, during and after an extreme weather event. This is an
essential step in framing a systems model that will assist facility managers to maintain
critical healthcare infrastructure during an emergency. Rich Picture Diagrams (RPDs)
were used to map relationships between critical healthcare infrastructure components
such as the base hospital; access roads; aged care facilities and remotely located
supplies. The rich information on the inter-organisational, system and governance
complexities associated with responding to extreme weather events was obtained
from three hospital case studies (two in Australia and one in New Zealand). The main
finding of this research is that RPDs have considerable potential in the development
of soft systems models which will assist decision takers involved in the design and
management of healthcare infrastructure particularly in the context of extreme
weather events. The soft systems methodology which underpins this research
challenges the conventional view of what constitutes a ‘facility’ and consequently has
important implications for those constructing and managing facilities
The adaptive capacity of hospital facilities to cope with the risk of disasters caused by extreme weather events: a case study approach.
A three-year study is currently being conducted to determine the adaptive capacity of
hospitals in Australia and New Zealand to cope with climate change-related extreme
weather events. The primary objective of this research is to develop strategies that can
be employed to improve the resilience of hospital facilities to these events. A case study
approach was adopted to collect data through focus groups comprising participants who
had experienced extreme weather events. Using risk and opportunity management
methods, focus group workshop sessions were used as a structured approach to identify,
assess and control the risks and opportunities associated with an extreme weather event
scenario. The research findings indicate that there is considerable scope for clinical and
non-clinical staff to work cooperatively in developing preventative as well as response
and recovery strategies. The findings reinforce the view that the relationship between
building users and building facilities needs to operate in an integrated fashion if any
adaptive strategy is to be effective. This raises interesting governance issues which will
be explored in future research
Occupational Therapy in HomEcare Re-ablement Services (OTHERS): results of a feasibility randomised controlled trial
Objectives: The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of an intervention targeted at activities of daily living (ADL), delivered by an occupational therapist, in homecare reablement.
Design: Feasibility parallel group RCT.
Setting: Single-site local authority homecare reablement service.
Participants: People referred for homecare reablement with ability to consent. Exclusion criteria were as follows: inability to speak English, receiving other community therapy services, needing two or more to assist transfer and receiving end-of-life care.
Control: ‘Usual care’ was 6 weeks of homecare reablement delivered by social care workers (no routine health professional input).
Intervention: A targeted ADL programme, delivered by an occupational therapist incorporating goal setting, teaching/practising techniques, equipment/adaptations and provision of advice/support. This was in addition to usual care.
Outcome measures: Aspects of feasibility including eligibility, recruitment, intervention delivery, attrition and suitability and sensitivity of outcome measures. Participant outcomes were personal and extended ADL, quality of life, falls and use of health and social care services.
Results: 30 participants were recruited, 15 to each arm, which was 60% of those eligible. Data from 22 (73%) were analysed at 6 months. Of the 15 participants, 13 (86%) received the intervention and were able to set one or more ADL goals. There were improvements from baseline in both groups, although overall improvements were greater in the occupational therapy (OT) intervention group. The biggest threat to feasibility was a change in service configuration during the trial, involving additional occupational therapy input, affecting usual care and recruitment.
Conclusions: Despite the service reconfiguration, it was feasible to recruit and retain participants, deliver the intervention and collect outcome data that were responsive to change. The choice of primary outcome measure remains unclear. A further powered study is feasible and warranted; however, the design will require careful consideration because of ongoing national changes in service configurations
Quasi-free Compton Scattering and the Polarizabilities of the Neutron
Differential cross sections for quasi-free Compton scattering from the proton
and neutron bound in the deuteron have been measured using the Glasgow/Mainz
tagging spectrometer at the Mainz MAMI accelerator together with the Mainz 48
cm 64 cm NaI(Tl) photon detector and the G\"ottingen SENECA
recoil detector. The data cover photon energies ranging from 200 MeV to 400 MeV
at . Liquid deuterium and hydrogen targets
allowed direct comparison of free and quasi-free scattering from the proton.
The neutron detection efficiency of the SENECA detector was measured via the
reaction . The "free" proton Compton scattering cross
sections extracted from the bound proton data are in reasonable agreement with
those for the free proton which gives confidence in the method to extract the
differential cross section for free scattering from quasi-free data.
Differential cross sections on the free neutron have been extracted and the
difference of the electromagnetic polarizabilities of the neutron have been
obtained to be
in units . In combination with the polarizability sum deduced from photoabsorption data, the neutron electric and
magnetic polarizabilities, and
are obtained. The backward spin polarizability of the neutron was determined to
be
The reaction and the magnetic dipole moment of the resonance
The reaction has been measured with
the TAPS calorimeter at the Mainz Microtron accelerator facility MAMI for
energies between = 1221--1331 MeV. Cross sections differential in
angle and energy have been determined for all particles in the final state in
three bins of the excitation energy. This reaction channel provides access to
the magnetic dipole moment of the resonance and, for the
first time, a value of has been extracted
Photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He
The photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He has been investigated using the TAPS
calorimeter at the Mainz Microtron accelerator facility MAMI. The total
inclusive cross section for the reaction gamma+3He->eta+X has been measured for
photon energies from threshold to 820 MeV. The total and angular differential
coherent eta cross sections have been extracted up to energies of 745 MeV. A
resonance-like structure just above the eta production threshold with an
isotropic angular distribution suggests the existence of a resonant quasi-bound
state. This is supported by studies of a competing decay channel of such a
quasi-bound eta-mesic nucleus into pi^0+p+X. A binding energy of (-4.4+-4.2)
MeV and a width of (25.6+-6.1) MeV is deduced for the quasi-bound eta-mesic
state in 3He.Comment: v1: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL; v2: minor revisions and
corrections, new figure added, 4 pages, 5 figs; v3: minor change
Upgrade of the Glasgow photon tagging spectrometer for Mainz MAMI-C
The Glasgow photon tagging spectrometer at Mainz has been upgraded so that it
can be used with the 1500 MeV electron beam now available from the Mainz
microtron MAMI-C. The changes made and the resulting properties of the
spectrometer are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure
Excitations in the Halo Nucleus He-6 Following The Li-7(gamma,p)He-6 Reaction
A broad excited state was observed in 6-He with energy E_x = 5 +/- 1 MeV and
width Gamma = 3 +/- 1 MeV, following the reaction Li-7(gamma,p)He-6. The state
is consistent with a number of broad resonances predicted by recent cluster
model calculations. The well-established reaction mechanism, combined with a
simple and transparent analysis procedure confers considerable validity to this
observation.Comment: 3 pages of LaTeX, 3 figures in PostScript, approved for publication
in Phys. Rev. C, August, 200
In-medium modifications of the interaction in photon-induced reactions
Differential cross sections of the reactions
and have been measured for several
nuclei (H,C, and Pb) at an incident-photon energy of
=400-460 MeV at the tagged-photon facility at MAMI-B using the TAPS
spectrometer. A significant nuclear-mass dependence of the
invariant-mass distribution is found in the channel. This
dependence is not observed in the channel and is
consistent with an in-medium modification of the interaction in the
==0 channel. The data are compared to -induced measurements and to
calculations within a chiral-unitary approach
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