A Mean Field Model for the Quadrupolar Phases of UPd3_3

UPd$_3$ is known to exhibit four antiferroquadrupolar ordered phases at low temperatures. We report measurements of the magnetisation and magnetostriction of single crystal UPd$_3$, along the principal symmetry directions, in fields up to 33 T. These results have been combined with recent inelastic neutron and x-ray resonant scattering measurements to construct a mean field model of UPd$_3$ including up to fourth nearest neighbour interactions. In particular we find that anisotropic quadrupolar interactions must be included in order to explain the low temperature structures derived from the scattering data.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 3 table

An assessment of validity and responsiveness of generic measures of health-related quality of life in hearing impairment

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Purpose: This review examines psychometric performance of three widely used generic preference-based measures, that is, EuroQol 5 dimensions (EQ-5D), Health Utility Index 3 (HUI3) and Short-form 6 dimensions (SF-6D) in patients with hearing impairments. Methods: A systematic search was undertaken to identify studies of patients with hearing impairments where health state utility values were measured and reported. Data were extracted and analysed to assess the reliability, validity (known group differences and convergent validity) and responsiveness of the measures across hearing impairments. Results: Fourteen studies (18 papers) were included in the review. HUI3 was the most commonly used utility measures in hearing impairment. In all six studies, the HUI3 detected difference between groups defined by the severity of impairment, and four out of five studies detected statistically significant changes as a result of intervention. The only study available suggested that EQ-5D only had weak ability to discriminate difference between severity groups, and in four out of five studies, EQ-5D failed to detected changes. Only one study involved the SF-6D; thus, the information is too limited to conclude on its performance. Also evidence for the reliability of these measures was not found. Conclusion: Overall, the validity and responsiveness of the HUI3 in hearing impairment was good. The responsiveness of EQ-5D was relatively poor and weak validity was suggested by limited evidence. The evidence on SF-6D was too limited to make any judgment. More head-to-head comparisons of these and other preference measures of health are required.Medical Research Counci

A Theory of Cheap Control in Embodied Systems

We present a framework for designing cheap control architectures for embodied agents. Our derivation is guided by the classical problem of universal approximation, whereby we explore the possibility of exploiting the agent's embodiment for a new and more efficient universal approximation of behaviors generated by sensorimotor control. This embodied universal approximation is compared with the classical non-embodied universal approximation. To exemplify our approach, we present a detailed quantitative case study for policy models defined in terms of conditional restricted Boltzmann machines. In contrast to non-embodied universal approximation, which requires an exponential number of parameters, in the embodied setting we are able to generate all possible behaviors with a drastically smaller model, thus obtaining cheap universal approximation. We test and corroborate the theory experimentally with a six-legged walking machine. The experiments show that the sufficient controller complexity predicted by our theory is tight, which means that the theory has direct practical implications. Keywords: cheap design, embodiment, sensorimotor loop, universal approximation, conditional restricted Boltzmann machineComment: 27 pages, 10 figure

Designing an information system for updating land records in Bangladesh: action design ethnographic research (ADER)

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Information Systems (IS) has developed through adapting, generating and applying diverse methodologies, methods, and techniques from reference disciplines. Further, Action Design Research (ADR) has recently developed as a broad research method that focuses on designing and redesigning IT and IS in organizational contexts. This paper reflects on applying ADR in a complex organizational context in a developing country. It shows that ADR requires additional lens for designing IS in such a complex organizational context. Through conducting ADR, it is seen that an ethnographic framework has potential complementarities for understanding complex contexts thereby enhancing the ADR processes. This paper argues that conducting ADR with an ethnographic approach enhances design of IS and organizational contexts. Finally, this paper aims presents a broader methodological framework, Action Design Ethnographic Research (ADER), for designing artefacts as well as IS. This is illustrated through the case of a land records updating service in Bangladesh

Health-related quality of life as measured with EQ-5D among populations with and without specific chronic conditions: A population-based survey in Shaanxi province, China

© 2013 Tan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as measured by EQ-5D and to investigate the influence of chronic conditions and other risk factors on HRQoL based on a distributed sample located in Shaanxi Province, China. Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was performed to select subjects. EQ-5D was employed to measure the HRQoL. The likelihood that individuals with selected chronic diseases would report any problem in the EQ-5D dimensions was calculated and tested relative to that of each of the two reference groups. Multivariable linear regression models were used to investigate factors associated with EQ VAS. Results: The most frequently reported problems involved pain/discomfort (8.8%) and anxiety/depression (7.6%). Nearly half of the respondents who reported problems in any of the five dimensions were chronic patients. Higher EQ VAS scores were associated with the male gender, higher level of education, employment, younger age, an urban area of residence, access to free medical service and higher levels of physical activity. Except for anemia, all the selected chronic diseases were indicative of a negative EQ VAS score. The three leading risk factors were cerebrovascular disease, cancer and mental disease. Increases in age, number of chronic conditions and frequency of physical activity were found to have a gradient effect. Conclusion: The results of the present work add to the volume of knowledge regarding population health status in this area, apart from the known health status using mortality and morbidity data. Medical, policy, social and individual attention should be given to the management of chronic diseases and improvement of HRQoL. Longitudinal studies must be performed to monitor changes in HRQoL and to permit evaluation of the outcomes of chronic disease intervention programs. © 2013 Tan et al.National Nature Science Foundation (No. 8107239

Dutch translation and cross-cultural validation of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT)

Background: The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit was developed to measure outcomes of social care in England. In this study, we translated the four level self-completion version (SCT-4) of the ASCOT for use in the Netherlands and performed a cross-cultural validation. Methods: The ASCOT SCT-4 was translated into Dutch following international guidelines, including two forward and back translations. The resulting version was pilot tested among frail older adults using think-aloud interviews. Furthermore, using a subsample of the Dutch ACT-study, we investigated test-retest reliability and construct validity and compared response distributions with data from a comparable English study. Results: The pilot tests showed that translated items were in general understood as intended, that most items were reliable, and that the response distributions of the Dutch translation and associations with other measures were comparable to the original English version. Based on the results of the pilot tests, some small modifications and a revision of the Dignity items were proposed for the final translation, which were approved by the ASCOT development team. The complete original English version and the final Dutch translation can be obtained after registration on the ASCOT website (http://www.pssru.ac.uk/ascot). Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that the Dutch translation of the ASCOT is valid, reliable and comparable to the original English version. We recommend further research to confirm the validity of the modified Dutch ASCOT translation

EQ-5D in skin conditions: an assessment of validity and responsiveness

Aims and objectives This systematic literature review aims to assess the reliability, validity and responsiveness of three widely used generic preference-based measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL), i.e., EQ-5D, Health Utility Index 3 (HUI3) and SF-6D in patients with skin conditions. Methods A systematic search was conducted to identify studies reporting health state utility values obtained using EQ-5D, SF-6D, or HUI3 alongside other HRQL measures or clinical indices for patients with skin conditions. Data on test-retest analysis for reliability, known group differences or correlation and regression analyses for validity, and change over time or responsiveness indices analysis were extracted and reviewed. Results A total of 16 papers reporting EQ-5D utilities in people with skin conditions were included in the final review. No papers for SF-6D and HUI3 were found. Evidence of reliability was not found for any of these measures. The majority of studies included in the review (12 out of 16) examined patients with plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis and the remaining four studies examined patients with either acne, hidradenitis suppurativa, hand eczema, or venous leg ulcers. The findings were generally positive in terms of performance of EQ-5D. Six studies showed that EQ-5D was able to reflect differences between severity groups and only one reported differences that were not statistically significant. Four studies found that EQ-5D detected differences between patients and the general population, and differences were statistically different for three of them. Further, moderate-to-strong correlation coefficients were found between EQ-5D and other skin-specific HRQL measures in four studies. Eight studies showed that EQ-5D was able to detect change in HRQL appropriately over time and the changes were statistically significant in seven studies. Conclusions Overall, the validity and responsiveness of the EQ-5D was found to be good in people with skin diseases, especially plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. No evidence on SF-6D and HUI3 was available to enable any judgments to be made on their performance

Prevalence of under and over weight in children with neurodisability, using body composition measures

We aimed to compare rates of under and overweight in children with different neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) by measuring weight, height/length, arm-to-leg bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and subscapular and triceps skinfolds in 146 children aged 4-16 years attending special schools. Z scores were calculated and skinfolds and lean mass Z scores were further adjusted for height. Underweight was found in 9% (14) children (body mass index (BMI) < 2nd) but only 3% (4) had skinfolds <5th centile. Overweight was much commoner, with 41% (58) children having BMI > 95th and 20% (14) had skinfolds >95th centile. Children with cerebral palsy were very short with low BMI and lean mass, but only 8% (3) had skinfolds <5th centile. The children with Down syndrome were also very short and once adjusted for height, half had skinfolds >95th centile. We conclude that overweight and raised body fat is now common in children with NDD, even when the BMI is low