2,080 research outputs found
Perceptions of physiotherapists towards research: a mixed methods study
OBJECTIVES: To explore the perceptions of physiotherapists towards the use of and participation in research.
DESIGN: Concurrent mixed methods research, combining in-depth interviews with three questionnaires (demographics, Edmonton Research Orientation Survey, visual analogue scales for confidence and motivation to participate in research).
SETTING: One physiotherapy department in a rehabilitation hospital, consisting of seven specialised areas.
PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five subjects {four men and 21 women, mean age 38 [standard deviation (SD) 11] years} who had been registered as a physiotherapist for a mean period of 15 (SD 10) years participated in this study. They were registered with the New Zealand Board of Physiotherapy, held a current practising certificate, and were working as a physiotherapist or physiotherapy/allied health manager at the hospital.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome measure was in-depth interviews and the secondary outcome measures were the three questionnaires.
RESULTS: Physiotherapists were generally positive towards research, but struggled with the concept of research, the available literature and the time to commit to research. Individual confidence and orientation towards research seemed to influence how these barriers were perceived.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that physiotherapists struggle to implement research in their daily practice and become involved in research. Changing physiotherapists' conceptions of research, making it more accessible and providing dedicated research time could facilitate increased involvement in the physiotherapy profession
Inference on gravitational waves from coalescences of stellar-mass compact objects and intermediate-mass black holes
Gravitational waves from coalescences of neutron stars or stellar-mass black
holes into intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) of solar masses
represent one of the exciting possible sources for advanced gravitational-wave
detectors. These sources can provide definitive evidence for the existence of
IMBHs, probe globular-cluster dynamics, and potentially serve as tests of
general relativity. We analyse the accuracy with which we can measure the
masses and spins of the IMBH and its companion in intermediate-mass ratio
coalescences. We find that we can identify an IMBH with a mass above with confidence provided the massive body exceeds . For source masses above , the best measured
parameter is the frequency of the quasi-normal ringdown. Consequently, the
total mass is measured better than the chirp mass for massive binaries, but the
total mass is still partly degenerate with spin, which cannot be accurately
measured. Low-frequency detector sensitivity is particularly important for
massive sources, since sensitivity to the inspiral phase is critical for
measuring the mass of the stellar-mass companion. We show that we can
accurately infer source parameters for cosmologically redshifted signals by
applying appropriate corrections. We investigate the impact of uncertainty in
the model gravitational waveforms and conclude that our main results are likely
robust to systematics.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
A Novel Method for Depositing Precious Metal Films on Difficult Surfaces
A guanidine-based vehicle was developed to deposit precious metal coatings on surfaces known to be difficult to coat. To demonstrate this method, a platinum coating was deposited on alumina fibers using a guanidine-platinum solution. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the only species present in the coating was platinum and that all of the carbon species had been removed upon heat treatment. SEM results showed that some porosity was present but that the coatings uniformly covered the fiber surface and adhered well to the finer
Compact cavity-dumped Q-switched Er: YAG laser
Published 13 September 2016Abstract not availableLachlan Harris, Myles Clark, Peter Veitch, and David Ottawa
Negative Quasi-Probability as a Resource for Quantum Computation
A central problem in quantum information is to determine the minimal physical
resources that are required for quantum computational speedup and, in
particular, for fault-tolerant quantum computation. We establish a remarkable
connection between the potential for quantum speed-up and the onset of negative
values in a distinguished quasi-probability representation, a discrete analog
of the Wigner function for quantum systems of odd dimension. This connection
allows us to resolve an open question on the existence of bound states for
magic-state distillation: we prove that there exist mixed states outside the
convex hull of stabilizer states that cannot be distilled to non-stabilizer
target states using stabilizer operations. We also provide an efficient
simulation protocol for Clifford circuits that extends to a large class of
mixed states, including bound universal states.Comment: 15 pages v4: This is a major revision. In particular, we have added a
new section detailing an explicit extension of the Gottesman-Knill simulation
protocol to deal with positively represented states and measurement (even
when these are non-stabilizer). This paper also includes significant
elaboration on the two main results of the previous versio
Children\u27s perceptions of the factors helping them to be resilient to sedentary lifestyles
Despite the increased risk of sedentary lifestyles associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, some children living in disadvantaged areas display 'resilience' to unhealthy behaviours whereby they manage to engage in regular physical activity and avoid high levels of screen time. It is important to understand what is helping these children to do well. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of 'resilient' children regarding factors that assist them to engage in high levels of physical activity and low screen time. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 38 children (7-13 years) living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in urban and rural areas of Victoria, Australia. Themes that emerged relating to physical activity included: parental support and encouragement of physical activity, having a supportive physical environment and having friends to be active with. Themes relating to screen time included: individual preferences to be active, knowledge of health risks associated with sedentary behaviour, having a home environment supportive of physical activity and parental rules. The results provide valuable insights regarding factors that may help children living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods to be physically active and reduce their screen time and may inform future studies targeting this important population group.Jenny Veitch, Lauren Arundell, Clare Hume and Kylie Bal
Feedback control of thermal lensing in a high optical power cavity
This paper reports automatic compensation of strong thermal lensing in a suspended 80 m optical cavity with sapphire test mass mirrors. Variation of the transmitted beam spot size is used to obtain an error signal to control the heating power applied to the cylindrical surface of an intracavity compensation plate. The negative thermal lens created in the compensation plate compensates the positive thermal lens in the sapphire test mass, which was caused by the absorption of the high intracavity optical power. The results show that feedback control is feasible to compensate the strong thermal lensing expected to occur in advanced laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Compensation allows the cavity resonance to be maintained at the fundamental mode, but the long thermal time constant for thermal lensing control in fused silica could cause difficulties with the control of parametric instabilities.This research was supported by the Australian
Research Council and the Department of Education,
Science and Training and by the U.S. National Science Foundation,
through LIGO participation in the HOPF
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