55,309 research outputs found
A visible difference: an evaluation of the second phase of the Police Community Support Officers in West Yorkshire
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Therapies in the Treatment of Meniere's Syndrome: Illness Narratives
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Therapies in the Treatment of Meniere's Syndrome: Illness Narratives
Colonnade interior, glass wall, from above, depicting brise-soleil; The building today commonly referred to as the Old City Hall was the building that served as Ottawa's city hall from 1958 to 2000. Today it is officially known as 111 Sussex Drive and is owned by the Federal Government of Canada. The building is located on Green Island at the point where the Rideau River empties into the Ottawa. The International Style building was opened on August 2, 1958 by Princess Margaret as a member of the Canadian Royal Family. It is noted for the first building in Ottawa to be fully air conditioned. It was designed by John Bland of the firm of Rother, Bland and Trudeau and is considered one of the most important International Style buildings in Canada. Winning the Massey Medal for design in 1959, modifications were made by Moshe Safdie in 1992-1993. Today the building mainly houses foreign affairs employees. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 1/10/2008
Exploring the evidence base for acupuncture in the treatment of Meniereās Syndrome ā A systematic review
Meniereās syndrome is a long-term, progressive disease that damages the balance and hearing
parts of the inner ear. To address the paucity of information on which evidence-based treatment
decisions should be made, a systematic review of acupuncture for Meniereās syndrome was
undertaken. The method used was a systematic review of English and Chinese literature, from
six databases for randomized, non-randomized and observational studies. All studies were
critically appraised and a narrative approach to data synthesis was adopted. Twenty-seven
studies were included in this review (9 in English and 18 in Chinese languages): three randomized
controlled trials, three non-randomized controlled studies and four pre-test, post-test
designs. All but one of the studies was conducted in China. The studies covered body acupuncture,
ear acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, fluid acupuncture point injection and moxibustion.
The studies were of varying quality. The weight of evidence, across all study types, is of beneficial
effect from acupuncture, for those in an acute phase or those who have had Meniereās
syndrome for a number of years. The review reinforces the importance of searching for studies
from English and Chinese literature. The transferability of the findings from China to a
Western context needs confirmation. Further research is also needed to clarify questions
around the appropriate frequency and number of treatment/courses of acupuncture. The
weight of evidence suggests a potential benefit of acupuncture for persons with Meniereās
disease, including those in an acute phase and reinforces the importance of searching for
published studies in the Chinese language
Direct frequency comb laser cooling and trapping
Continuous wave (CW) lasers are the enabling technology for producing
ultracold atoms and molecules through laser cooling and trapping. The resulting
pristine samples of slow moving particles are the de facto starting point for
both fundamental and applied science when a highly-controlled quantum system is
required. Laser cooled atoms have recently led to major advances in quantum
information, the search to understand dark energy, quantum chemistry, and
quantum sensors. However, CW laser technology currently limits laser cooling
and trapping to special types of elements that do not include highly abundant
and chemically relevant atoms such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Here, we demonstrate that Doppler cooling and trapping by optical frequency
combs may provide a route to trapped, ultracold atoms whose spectra are not
amenable to CW lasers. We laser cool a gas of atoms by driving a two-photon
transition with an optical frequency comb, an efficient process to which every
comb tooth coherently contributes. We extend this technique to create a
magneto-optical trap (MOT), an electromagnetic beaker for accumulating the
laser-cooled atoms for further study. Our results suggest that the efficient
frequency conversion offered by optical frequency combs could provide a key
ingredient for producing trapped, ultracold samples of nature's most abundant
building blocks, as well as antihydrogen. As such, the techniques demonstrated
here may enable advances in fields as disparate as molecular biology and the
search for physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
The magnetic structure of Gd_2Ti_2O_7
We attempt to solve the magnetic structure of the gadolinium analogue of
`spin-ice', using a mixture of experimental and theoretical assumptions. The
eventual predictions are essentially consistent with both the Mossbauer and
neutron measurements but are unrelated to previous proposals. We find two
possible distinct states, one of which is coplanar and the other is fully
three-dimensional. We predict that close to the initial transition the
preferred state is coplanar but that at the lowest temperature the ground-state
becomes fully three-dimensional. Unfortunately the energetics are consequently
complicated. There is a dominant nearest-neighbour Heisenberg interaction but
then a compromise solution for lifting the final degeneracy resulting from a
competition between longer-range Heisenberg interactions and direct dipolar
interactions on similar energy scales.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figure
Plan stability: replanning versus plan repair
The ultimate objective in planning is to construct plans for execution. However, when a plan is executed in a real environment it can encounter differences between the expected and actual context of execution. These differences can manifest as divergences between the expected and observed states of the world, or as a change in the goals to be achieved by the plan. In both cases, the old plan must be replaced with a new one. In replacing the plan an important consideration is plan stability. We compare two alternative strategies for achieving the {em stable} repair of a plan: one is simply to replan from scratch and the other is to adapt the existing plan to the new context. We present arguments to support the claim that plan stability is a valuable property. We then propose an implementation, based on LPG, of a plan repair strategy that adapts a plan to its new context. We demonstrate empirically that our plan repair strategy achieves more stability than replanning and can produce repaired plans more efficiently than replanning
3D Simulation of the Effects of Surface Defects on Field Emitted Electrons
The evĀer-growĀing deĀmand for highĀer beam enĀerĀgies has draĀmatĀiĀcalĀly inĀcreased the risk of RF breakĀdown, limĀitĀing the maxĀiĀmum achievĀable acĀcelĀerĀatĀing graĀdiĀent. Field emisĀsion is the most freĀquentĀly enĀcounĀtered RF breakĀdown where it ocĀcurs at reĀgions of loĀcalĀly enĀhanced elecĀtric field. ElecĀtrons acĀcelĀerĀatĀed across the cavĀiĀty as they tunĀnel through the surĀface in the presĀence of miĀcroĀscopĀic deĀfects. Upon ImĀpact, most of the kiĀnetĀic enĀerĀgy is conĀvertĀed into heat and stress. This can inĀflict irĀreĀversible damĀage to the surĀface, creĀatĀing adĀdiĀtionĀal field emisĀsion sites. This work aims to inĀvesĀtiĀgate, through simĀuĀlaĀtion, the physics inĀvolved durĀing both emisĀsion and imĀpact of elecĀtrons. A newly deĀvelĀoped 3D field model of an 805 MHz cavĀiĀty is genĀerĀatĀed by COMĀSOL MulĀtiĀphysics. ElecĀtron trackĀing is perĀformed using a MatĀlab based code, calĀcuĀlatĀing the relĀeĀvant paĀramĀeĀters needĀed by emĀployĀing fourth Order Runge Kutta inĀteĀgraĀtion. By studyĀing such beĀhaviours in 3D, it is posĀsiĀble to idenĀtiĀfy how the cavĀiĀty surĀface can alter the local RF field and lead to breakĀdown and subĀseĀquent damĀages. The ulĀtiĀmate aim is to inĀtroĀduce new surĀface stanĀdards to enĀsure betĀter cavĀiĀty perĀforĀmance
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