An exploration of the influences on under-representation of male pre-registration nursing students

Background:- Worldwide, men are under-represented in the nursing profession. In Scotland less than 10% of pre-registration nursing students are male. Reasons for this imbalance need to be understood. Objectives:- To explore the views of male pre-registration nursing students, nursing lecturers and school teachers about this imbalance. Design:- Mixed methods study using focus groups and online survey. Settings:- Focus groups in four locations across Scotland. Online survey sent to teachers across Scotland. Participants and methods:- Eight focus groups with 33 male nursing students; four focus groups with 21 university and college nursing lecturers; 46 school teachers returned the online survey. Results:- Although nursing was considered a worthwhile career with job stability and many opportunities, it was also viewed as not being a career for men. Assumptions about the profession and femininity were challenging for men and use of the term ‘male nurse’ was felt to be anomalous. In some circumstances the provision of intimate care to particular patient groups caused difficulty. Positive encouragement from others, a positive role model or knowledge of nursing from significant others could be helpful. However concerns about low earning potential and negative media publicity about the NHS could be a disincentive. Being mature and having resilience were important to cope with being a male nursing student in a mainly female workplace. Some more ‘technical’ specialties were felt to be more attractive to men. Conclusions:- Nursing is viewed as a worthwhile career choice for men, but the gendered assumptions about the feminine nature of nursing can be a deterrent

Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation in children and adolescents with asthma: impact of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and evaluation of potential effect of thirteen-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Background: The main aim of this study was to evaluate Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage in a group of school-aged children and adolescents with asthma because these results might indicate the theoretical risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) of such patients and the potential protective efficacy of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13). Methods: Oropharyngeal samples were obtained from 423 children with documented asthma (300 males, 70.9%), and tested for the autolysin-A-encoding (lytA) and the wzg (cpsA) gene of S. pneumoniae by means of real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: S. pneumoniae was identified in the swabs of 192 subjects (45.4%): 48.4% of whom were aged <10years, 46.9% aged 10-14 years, and 4.7% aged ≥15years (p < 0.001). Carriage was significantly less frequent among the children who had received recent antibiotic therapy (odds ratio [OR 0.41]; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.22-0.76). Multivariate analyses showed no association between carriage and vaccination status, with ORs of 1.05 (95% CI 0.70-1.58) for carriers of any pneumococcal serotype, 1.08 (95% CI 0.72-1.62) for carriers of any of the serotypes included in 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), and 0.76 (95% CI 0.45-1.28) for carriers of any of the six additional serotypes of PCV13. Serotypes 19F, 4 and 9V were the most frequently identified serotypes in vaccinated subjects. Conclusions: These results showed that carriage of S. pneumoniae is relatively common in all school-aged children and adolescents with asthma, regardless of the severity of disease and the administration of PCV7 in the first years of life. This highlights the problem of the duration of the protection against colonisation provided by pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, and the importance of re-colonization by the same pneumococcal serotypes included in the previously used vaccine

Development And Experimental Validation Of A Numerical Thermal Model For The Evaluation Of The Depth Of Laser Treated Zone In The Laser Transformation Hardening Process

The aim of this work is to develop a mathematical model to predict the depth of laser treated zone in the LTH process. The Fourier equation of heat conduction was solved by using the Finite Difference Method in cylindrical coordinates in order to study the temperature distribution produced in a workpiece and hence to obtain the depth to which hardening occurs. The theoretical simulations were compared with results produced experimentally by a CO2 laser operating in continuous wave, showing good agreement.423-425707712Damborenea, J., (1998) Surface Coat. Tech., 100-101, pp. 377-382Ion, J.C., Shercliff, H.R., Ashby, M.F., (1992) Acta Metall. Mater., 40, pp. 1539-1551Monson, P.J.E., Steen, W.M., (1990) Surface Eng., 6, pp. 185-193Ashby, M.F., Easterling, K.E., (1984) Acta Metall. Mater., 32, pp. 1935-1948Woo, H.G., Cho, H.S., (1998) Surface Coat. Tech., 102, pp. 205-217Bokota, A., Iskierka, S., (1996) Acta Mater., 44, pp. 445-450Kumar, S., Meech, J.A., Samarasekera, I.V., Brimacombe, J.K., (1993) I&SM, pp. 29-36Filipic, B., Sarler, B., (1998) Proceedings os the 6th European Congress on Intelligent Techniques and Soft Computing, , (Aachen, Germany)Cheung, N., Ierardi, M.C.F., Garcia, A., Vilar, R., (2000) Lasers Eng., 10, pp. 275-291Cheung, N., Garcia, A., (2001) Eng. Appl. Artificial Intelligence, 14, pp. 229-238Merling, J., Renard, C., Bignonnet, A., Li, J., (1992) Matériaux et Techniques Été, 92, pp. 6-8Putatunda, S.K., Nambiar, M., Clark, N., (1997) Surface Eng., 13, pp. 407-414Shiue, R.K., Chen, C., (1991) Scripta Metall. Mater., 25, pp. 1889-1894Shiue, R.K., Chen, C., (1992) Metall. Trans. A, 23, pp. 163-170Yang, L.J., Jana, S., Tam, S.C., (1990) J. Mater. Process. Tech., 23, pp. 133-147Yang, L.J., Jana, S., Tam, S.C., Lim, L.E.N., (1994) Mater. Manuf. Process, 9, p. 475Reti, T., Bagyinski, G., Felde, I., Verö, B., Bell, T., (1999) Comp. Mater. Sci., 15, p. 101Ruiz, J., Fernández, B.J., Ma. Belló, J., (1990) Key Eng. Mat., 46-47, pp. 161-174Shang, H.M., (1990) J. Mater. Process. Tech., 23, pp. 65-72Davis, M., Kapadia, P., Dowden, J., Steen, W.M., Courtney, C.H.G., (1986) J. Appl. Phys. D, 19, pp. 1981-1996Zubair, S.M., Aslam Chaudhry, M., (1996) Int J Heat Mass. Tran., 39, pp. 3067-3074Incropera, F.P., Dewitt, D.P., (1990) Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, , (John Wiley & Sons, New York)Jansson, B., Rolfson, M., Thuvander, A., Melander, A., Wullimann, C., (1991) Materials Science and Technology, 7, pp. 118-127Ruddle, R.W., (1957) The Solidification of Castings, , (Institute of Metals, Series NO. 7)Atkins, M., (1980) Atlas of Continuous Cooling Transformation Diagrams for Engineering Steels, , (British Steel Corp., ASM, Metals Park)Dardel, Y., (1964) Edition de la Revue de Metalurgi

Characterization Of Laser Cladding Wc-co Composite Coatings [caracterização De Revestimentos Compósitos Wc-co Depositados Por Fusão A Laser]

A number of works have shown that, if a proper selection of the operating parameters is made, laser cladding enables for the production of composite coatings with an homogeneous distribution of hard particles in a tough matrix free from defects, such as porosity or cracks. In the present work WC-Co composite coatings were produced by this technique. A powder mixture with 70%wt. of WC and 30%wt. of Co was used to produce the coating and an AISI 1045 steel was used as substrate. The microstructural characterization was made by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (with EDS microprobe) and X-ray diffraction. Vickers microhardness tests were made in the cross section of the coatings. The microstructure of the coatings is essentially formed by a cobalt rich matrix with WC and Co3W3C carbide particles. Nevertheless, it was found that small local changes in the chemical composition results in different solidification paths that leads to dramatic modifications of the morphologies of the microstructural components. This results are discussed and analyzed on the basis of the C-Co-W ternary phase diagram.34213430Jeng, M.C., Yan, L.Y., Doong, J.L., Wear behaviour of cobalt-based alloys in laser surface cladding (1991) Surface and Coatings Technology, 48, pp. 225-231Zhenda, C., Chew, L.L., Ming, Q., Laser cladding of WC-Ni composite (1996) Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 62, pp. 321-323Hidouci, A., Microstructural and mechanical characteristics of laser coatings (2000) Surface and Coatings Technology, 123, pp. 17-23Przybylowicz, J., Kusinski, J., Structure of laser cladded tungsten carbide composite coatings (2001) Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 109, pp. 154-160Xi-Chen, Y., Laser cladding of WC-Co powder (1991) Proceedings of SPIE ICALEO'90, 1601, pp. 130-136. , Laser Materials ProcessingBoas, M., Bamberger, M., Structural characterization of laser-processed WC/Co layer (1993) Thin Solid Films, 235, pp. 142-148Li, Q., Leit, C., Chen, W.Z., Microstructural characterization of WCp reinforced Ni-Cr-B-Si-C composite coatings (1999) Surface and Coatings Technology, 114, pp. 285-291Yang, Y., Man, H.C., Microstructure evolution of laser clad layers of W-C-Co alloy powders (2000) Surface and Coatings Technology, 132, pp. 130-136Gassmann, R., Laser cladding of hard particles rich alloys (1992) Proceedings of SPIE - ICALEO 92, 1990, pp. 288-299Amende, W., Nowak, G., Hard phase particles in laser processed cobalt rich claddings (1990) Proceedings of ECLAT'90, pp. 417-428. , Surface Treatments - Liquid StateLuft, A., Microstructures and dissolution of carbides occurring during the laser cladding of steel with tungsten carbide reinforced Ni- and Co-hard alloys (1995) Praktische Metallographie, 32 (5), pp. 235-247Cadenas, M., Wear behaviour of laser cladded and plasma sprayed WC-Co coatings (1997) Wear, 212, pp. 244-253Zong, High-power laser cladding stellite 6 + WC with various volume rates (2001) Journal of Laser Applications, 13 (6), pp. 247-251. , DecRautala, P., Norton, J.T., (1995) Handbook of Ternary Alloy Phase Diagrams, 5, p. 6588. , ASM International, Ed. P.Villars, A. Prince, H. OkamotoBasu, S.N., Sarin, V.K., Oxidation behavior of WC-Co (1996) Materials Science and Engineering A, A209, pp. 206-212Vinayo, M.E., Plasma sprayed WC-Co coatings - Influence of spray conditions (atmospheric and low-pressure plasma spraying) on the crystal-structure, porosity, and hardness (1985) Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A - Vacuum Surfaces and Films, A3 (6), pp. 2479-2482Guilemany, J.M., Characterization of the W2C phase formed during the high velocity oxygen fuel spraying of a WC + 12 pet Co powder (1999) Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 30 A, pp. 1913-1921. , AugustRiabkina-Fishman, M., Laser produced functionally graded tungsten carbide coatings on M2 high-scpeed tool steel (2001) Materials Science and Engineering A, A302, pp. 106-114Guillermet, A.F., (1995) Handbook of Ternary Alloy Phase Diagrams, 7, p. 8361. , ASM International, Ed. P.Villars, A. Prince, H. OkamotoScussel, H.J., Friction and Wear of Cemented Carbides (1992) ASM Handbook, 18, p. 795. , ASM Internationa

Numerical Simulation And Experimental Analysis Of Laser Surface Remelting Of Aisi 420 Stainless Steel Samples

The aim of this work is to develop a heat transfer mathematical model based on the finite difference method in order to simulate temperature fields in the laser surface remelting process. Convective heat transfer in the remelted pool is taken into account by using the effective thermal conductivity approach. Experiments of laser surface remelting of AISI 420 stainless steel samples were carried out in the present investigation, and numerical simulations were applied for the laser machine operating parameters. The work also encompasses the analysis of microstructural and microhardness variations throughout the resulting treated and unmolten zones. © 2009 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.59265268Watkins, K.G., McMahon, M.A., Steen, W.M., (1997) Mater. Sci. Eng, A231, p. 55Cheung, N., Ierardi, M.C.F., Garcia, A., Vilar, R., (2000) Lasers Eng, 10, p. 275Hsu, S.C., Kou, S., Mehrabian, R., (1980) Metall Trans B, 11, p. 29Sekhar, J.A., Kou, S., Mehrabian, R., (1984) Metall Trans A, 14, p. 1169Chan, C., Mazumder, J., Chen, M.M., (1984) Metall Trans A, 15, p. 2175Kou, S., Wang, Y.H., (1986) Metall Trans A, 17, p. 2265Hoadley, A.F.A., Rappaz, M., Zimmerman, M., (1991) Metall Trans B, 22, p. 101Davies, G.J., Laki, R.S., Saucedo, I.G., Shin, Y.K., (1984) Perspectives in Metallurgical Development, p. 123. , University of Sheffield, SheffieldApps, R.L., Milner, D.R., (1963) British Welding Journal, p. 348F. P. Incropera, D. P. Dewitt Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer (John Wiley & Sons, New York 1990)R. W. Ruddle, The Solidification of Castings. (Institute of Metals, Series No. 7 1957)Pehlke, R.D., Jeyarajan, A., Wada, H., (1980) Summary of thermal properties for casting alloys and mold materials, , Ann Arbor, University of MichiganGill, S.C., Zimmermann, M., Kurz, W., (1992) Acta Metall Mater, 40, p. 289