6,196 research outputs found
What is the Impact of Volunteers Providing Care and Support for People with Dementia in Acute Hospitals? A Systematic Review
© The Author(s) 2017. A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia, and a hospital stay may impact negatively on their health and wellbeing. The development and implementation of volunteers to provide social, activity-based, one-to-one support for people with dementia in acute hospitals has become routine practice. However, the evidence to support this practice has not been identified or evaluated. This systematic review considers the effect of volunteers on the care and experience of people with co-morbid cognitive impairment/dementia in acute hospitals. The systematic search identified 444 papers, although only three papers included specific analysis relating to the impact of volunteers. The evidence suggests volunteers may have potential to enhance the experiences of people with dementia in acute hospitals; however, there is currently a marked lack of evidence to support the widespread implementation of volunteers. There is therefore an urgent need for multi-site robust research to provide evidence of the impact of volunteers supporting people with cognitive impairment/dementia during an acute hospital stay
The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s
In this chapter, Andrew Heisz, Andrew Jackson and Garnet Picot provide an incisive and comprehensive analysis of the distributional changes that have occurred in Canada in the 1990s as well as useful comparative perspectives both in terms of trends over time and the particular patterns that can be discerned here relative to the situation in the United States. The authors focus on four aspects of distribution outcomes: (1) earnings and income inequality; (2) the relative earnings of the young and old and the more and less educated; (3) the changing relative position of men and women; and (4) changes in low income in Canada during the 1990s.Inequality, Equality, Earnings, Income, Canada, Distribution, Low Income, Low-income, Wages
Investigating the effectiveness of microcatchments at enhancing transplant performance in Nama-Karoo riparian ecosystem restoration
Globally agricultural rangelands have been subjected to degradation through over-utilization. The loss of productivity of agricultural rangelands around the world has led to the development of methods to restore the productivity of these areas. In South Africa, extensive areas of the Nama-Karoo have been degraded or transformed due in part to unsustainable agricultural activities. The development of restoration methods which are easily implementable and financially viable could increase the probability of stakeholders implementing restoration activities on privately owned land. The removal of the degrading factor is not sufficient to reverse the degradative trend in dryland environments. Active measures must be implemented to arrest the degradation cascade. The climatic conditions of the rangelands of South Africa are limiting to plant performance and the favourable conditions are sporadic. The translocation of plants should be combined with the amelioration of the local conditions. This study tested the restoration technique of microcatchments in association with plant translocation. The effects of microcatchments and planting combinations which were best suited to the survival and performance of the transplants were determined through a field trail. The results showed that microcatchments created microsites which were conducive to transplant survival and growth, including nutrient accumulation and increased soil moisture. The success of the method was dependent on the planting combination used. Plants which are adapted to inundation and the saline conditions of the site performed better. Plants which were older at the time of translocation had higher survival rates than younger transplants. In the conditions of this site, planting adjacent to the microcatchments was necessary to avoid inundation induced mortalities. The environmental conditions of the Nama-Karoo necessitate the coordination of restoration activities with the predicted favourable conditions in order to improve the success of restoration activities
The mapping class group and the Meyer function for plane curves
For each d>=2, the mapping class group for plane curves of degree d will be
defined and it is proved that there exists uniquely the Meyer function on this
group. In the case of d=4, using our Meyer function, we can define the local
signature for 4-dimensional fiber spaces whose general fibers are
non-hyperelliptic compact Riemann surfaces of genus 3. Some computations of our
local signature will be given.Comment: 24 pages, typo adde
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Quantitative elemental mapping of granulite-facies monazite: Textural insights and implications for petrochronology
Texturally complex monazite grains contained in two granulite-facies pelitic migmatites from southern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada, were mapped by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (using spot sizes < 5 µm) to quantitatively determine the spatial variation in trace element chemistry (with up to 1883 analyses per grain). The maps highlight the chemical complexity of monazite grains that have experienced multiple episodes of growth, resorption and chemical modification by dissolution-precipitation during high-grade metamorphism. Following detailed chemical characterisation of monazite compositional zones, a related U-Pb dataset is re-interpreted, allowing petrologically-significant ages to be extracted from a continuum of concordant data. Synthesis of these data with pseudosection modelling of prograde and peak conditions allows for the temporal evolution of monazite trace element chemistry to be placed in the context of the evolving P-T conditions and major phase assemblage. This approach enables a critical evaluation of three commonly used petrochronological indicators: linking Y to garnet abundance, the Eu anomaly to feldspar content, and Th/U to anatectic processes. Europium anomalies and Th/U behave in a relatively systematic fashion, suggesting that they are reliable petrochronological witnesses. However, Y systematics are variable, both within domains interpreted to have grown in a single event, between grains interpreted to be part of the same age population, and between samples that experienced similar metamorphic conditions and mineral assemblages. These observations caution against generalised petrological interpretations on the basis of Y content, as it suggests Y concentrations in monazite are controlled by domainal equilibria. The results reveal a ~45 Myr interval between prograde metamorphism and retrograde melt crystallisation in the study area, emphasising the long-lived nature of heat flow in high-grade metamorphic terranes. Such long timescales of metamorphism would be assisted by the growth, retention and dominance of high-Th suprasolidus monazite, as observed in this study, contributing to the radiogenic heating budget of mid- to lower-crustal environments. Careful characterisation of monazite grains suggests that continuum-style U-Pb datasets can be decoded to provide insights into the duration of metamorphic processes.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Visiting Fellowship
Isaac Newton Trust Research Grant (RG74916
Measurement of the Transverse Polarization of Electrons Emitted in Free Neutron Decay
Both components of the transverse polarization of electrons emitted in the
beta-decay of polarized, free neutrons have been measured. The T-odd, P-odd
correlation coefficient quantifying the component perpendicular to the decay
plane defined by neutron polarization and electron momentum, was found to be
R=0.008 +/- 0.015 +/-0.005. This value is consistent with time reversal
invariance, and significantly improves limits on the relative strength of
imaginary scalar couplings in the weak interaction. The value obtained for the
correlation coefficient associated with the electron polarization component
contained within the decay plane N=0.056 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.005, agrees with the
Standard Model expectation, providing an important sensitivity test of the
experimental setup.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
EM wave propagation in two-dimensional photonic crystals: a study of anomalous refractive effects
We systematically study a collection of refractive phenomena that can
possibly occur at the interface of a two-dimensional photonic crystal, with the
use of the wave vector diagram formalism. Cases with a single propagating beam
(in the positive or the negative direction) as well as cases with birefringence
were observed. We examine carefully the conditions to obtain a single
propagating beam inside the photonic crystal lattice. Our results indicate,
that the presence of multiple reflected beams in the medium of incidence is
neither a prerequisite nor does it imply multiple refracted beams. We
characterize our results in respect to the origin of the propagating beam and
the nature of propagation (left-handed or not). We identified four distinct
cases that lead to a negatively refracted beam. Under these findings, the
definition of phase velocity in a periodic medium is revisited and its physical
interpretation discussed. To determine the ``rightness'' of propagation, we
propose a wedge-type experiment. We discuss the intricate details for an
appropriate wedge design for different types of cases in triangular and square
structures. We extend our theoretical analysis, and examine our conclusions as
one moves from the limit of photonic crystals with high index contrast between
the constituent dielectrics to photonic crystals with low modulation of the
refractive index. Finally, we examine the ``rightness'' of propagation in the
one-dimensional multilayer medium, and obtain conditions that are different
from those of two-dimensional systems.Comment: 65 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Making Deception Fun: Teaching Autistic Individuals How to PlayFriendly Tricks
Perspective taking is a critical repertoire for navigating social relationships and consists of a variety of complex verbalskills, including socially adaptive forms of deception. Detecting and being able to use socially adaptive deception likelyhas many practical uses, including defending oneself against bullying, telling white lies to avoid hurting others’ feelings,keeping secrets and bluffing during games, and playing friendly tricks on others. Previous research has documented thatsome Autistic1 children have challenges identifying deception and playfully deceiving others (Reinecke et al., 1997). Thecurrent study employed a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the use of multiple exemplar training, rules,modeling, practice, and feedback for teaching four Autistic children and adolescents to use deception to play friendly trickson others. The procedure was successful for all participants, and generalization was achieved across novel, untrained tricks
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Reduction of the self-reference effect in younger and older adults
Relating information to the self improves memory. However, this self-reference effect (SRE) is typically studied through explicit self-judgments on individual trials. The current study assessed whether a self-referential mode of thought, induced through a writing task, also induced an SRE on a later task. The study also tested the effects of aging on the SRE, given that a long-lasting mnemonic strategy may be especially relevant for this group. Ninety-two younger adults and 60 older adults were assigned to different writing conditions and then completed an unrelated SRE task. Across younger and older adults, the classic SRE effect was observed in the narrative writing condition, reduced in the semantic self-reference condition, and further reduced in the episodic self-reference condition. These results support the induction of a self-referential mode of thought, but this mode does not enhance memory. The classic SRE effect can be reduced after thinking about the self by reflecting on autobiographical memories. Results argue for a single shared self-referential mechanism that can be accessed through self-focused writing or the classic SRE task
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