295 research outputs found
An inside story: tracking experiences, challenges and successes in a joint specialist performing arts college
In England the government’s specialist schools initiative is transforming the nature of secondary education. A three-year longitudinal case study tracked the effects of specialist performing arts college status on two schools. The sites were a mainstream school drawing pupils from an area of high social deprivation and disadvantage, and a special school catering for pupils with profound and \ud
multiple learning difficulties, which were awarded joint performing arts college status. The government’s \ud
preferred criterion for judging the success of specialist schools is improvement in whole-school examination results. The authors argue that this is a crude and inappropriate measure for these case study schools and probably others. Using questionnaires, interviews and documentation they tell an ‘inside story’ of experiences, challenges and achievements, from the perspectives of the schools’ mangers, staff and pupils. Alternative ‘value-added’ features emerged that were positive indicators of enrichment and success in both schools
Prepyramid-to-pyramid transition of SiGe islands on Si(001)
The morphology of the first three-dimensional islands appearing during
strained growth of SiGe alloys on Si(001) was investigated by scanning
tunneling microscopy. High resolution images of individual islands and a
statistical analysis of island shapes were used to reconstruct the evolution of
the island shape as a function of size. As they grow, islands undergo a
transition from completely unfacetted rough mounds (prepyramids) to partially
{105} facetted islands and then they gradually evolve to {105} facetted
pyramids. The results are in good agreement with the predictions of a recently
proposed theoretical model
The Role of Entrepreneur-Venture Fit in Online Home-based Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review
Home-based businesses and their founders represent an important, but under-researched facet of entrepreneurship. Far from being small, hobby-businesses with little economic impact, home-based business make significant contribution to national economies in terms of both turnover and employment. Online home-based businesses have been recognised as an important and distinct sector of the home-based business domain, offering unique opportunity for innovation and business diversity. The paper presents a systematic literature review of extant research on online home-based entrepreneurs and their businesses. The findings of the review are structured and discussed using the theoretical lens of entrepreneur-venture fit. Use of this lens allows the study to bring coherence to previously fragmented extant studies, providing a basis for future research in this domain. The study also develops a novel model of entrepreneur-venture fit in the specific case of online home-based businesses. This allows us to suggest five positive interactions between entrepreneurial and venture characteristics. It also allows us to suggest a number of previously unidentified negative interactions, which may result in entrepreneurs becoming ‘locked-in’ and suffering multiple sources of stress
Dislocation Free Island Formation in Heteroepitaxial Growth: An Equilibrium Study
We investigate the equilibrium properties of strained heteroepitaxial
systems, incorporating the formation and the growth of a wetting film,
dislocation free island formation, and ripening. The derived phase diagram
provides a detailed characterization of the possible growth modes in terms of
the island density, equilibrium island size, and wetting layer thickness.
Comparing our predictions with experimental results we discuss the growth
conditions that can lead to stable islands as well as ripening.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 3 ps figure
Chemical Characterisation of the Fracture Surfaces of Polyester Resin and a Polyester-Based Nanocomposite
The influence of surface stress on the equilibrium shape of strained quantum dots
The equilibrium shapes of InAs quantum dots (i.e., dislocation-free, strained
islands with sizes >= 10,000 atoms) grown on a GaAs (001) substrate are studied
using a hybrid approach which combines density functional theory (DFT)
calculations of microscopic parameters, surface energies, and surface stresses
with elasticity theory for the long-range strain fields and strain relaxations.
In particular we report DFT calculations of the surface stresses and analyze
the influence of the strain on the surface energies of the various facets of
the quantum dot. The surface stresses have been neglected in previous studies.
Furthermore, the influence of edge energies on the island shapes is briefly
discussed. From the knowledge of the equilibrium shape of these islands, we
address the question whether experimentally observed quantum dots correspond to
thermal equilibrium structures or if they are a result of the growth kinetics.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B (February 2, 1998).
Other related publications can be found at
http://www.rz-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
The Care Homes Use of Medicines Study: prevalence, causes and potential harm of medication errors in care homes for older people
Introduction: Care home residents are at particular risk from medication errors, and our objective was to determine the prevalence and potential harm of prescribing, monitoring, dispensing and administration errors in UK care homes, and to identify their causes.
Methods: A prospective study of a random sample of residents within a purposive sample of homes in three areas. Errors were identified by patient interview, note review, observation of practice and examination of dispensed items. Causes were understood by observation and from theoretically framed interviews with home staff, doctors and pharmacists. Potential harm from errors was assessed by expert judgement.
Results: The 256 residents recruited in 55 homes were taking a mean of 8.0 medicines. One hundred and seventy-eight (69.5%) of residents had one or more errors. The mean number per resident was 1.9 errors. The mean potential harm from prescribing, monitoring, administration and dispensing errors was 2.6, 3.7, 2.1 and 2.0 (0 = no harm, 10 = death), respectively. Contributing factors from the 89 interviews included doctors who were not accessible, did not know the residents and lacked information in homes when prescribing; home staff’s high workload, lack of medicines training and drug round interruptions; lack of team work among home, practice and pharmacy; inefficient ordering systems; inaccurate medicine records and prevalence of verbal communication; and difficult to fill (and check) medication administration systems.
Conclusions: That two thirds of residents were exposed to one or more medication errors is of concern. The will to improve exists, but there is a lack of overall responsibility. Action is required from all concerned
An orbital-free molecular dynamics study of melting in K_20, K_55, K_92, K_142, Rb_55 and Cs_55 clusters
The melting-like transition in potasium clusters K_N, with N=20, 55, 92 and
142, is studied by using an orbital-free density-functional constant-energy
molecular dynamics simulation method, and compared to previous theoretical
results on the melting-like transition in sodium clusters of the same sizes.
Melting in potasium and sodium clusters proceeds in a similar way: a surface
melting stage develops upon heating before the homogeneous melting temperature
is reached. Premelting effects are nevertheless more important and more easily
established in potasium clusters, and the transition regions spread over
temperature intervals which are wider than in the case of sodium. For all the
sizes considered, the percentage melting temperature reduction when passing
from Na to K clusters is substantially larger than in the bulk. Once those two
materials have been compared for a number of different cluster sizes, we study
the melting-like transition in Rb_55 and Cs_55 clusters and make a comparison
with the melting behavior of Na_55 and K_55. As the atomic number increases,
the height of the specific heat peaks decreases, their width increases, and the
melting temperature decreases as in bulk melting, but in a more pronounced way.Comment: LaTeX file. 6 pages with 17 pictures. Final version with minor
change
Equilibrium shapes and energies of coherent strained InP islands
The equilibrium shapes and energies of coherent strained InP islands grown on
GaP have been investigated with a hybrid approach that has been previously
applied to InAs islands on GaAs. This combines calculations of the surface
energies by density functional theory and the bulk deformation energies by
continuum elasticity theory. The calculated equilibrium shapes for different
chemical environments exhibit the {101}, {111}, {\=1\=1\=1} facets and a (001)
top surface. They compare quite well with recent atomic-force microscopy data.
Thus in the InP/GaInP-system a considerable equilibration of the individual
islands with respect to their shapes can be achieved. We discuss the
implications of our results for the Ostwald ripening of the coherent InP
islands. In addition we compare strain fields in uncapped and capped islands.Comment: 10 pages including 6 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. Related
publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
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