3,243 research outputs found
Medical graduates, tertiary hospitals, and burnout: a longitudinal cohort study
Background: Burnout among junior doctors can affect patient care. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study designed to explore the incidence of burnout in medical interns and to examine the changes in burnout during the course of the intern year. Methods: Interns were recruited at two tertiary hospitals in Brisbane, Australia (n=180). Participants completed surveys at four time points during their internship year. All interns (100%) completed the baseline survey during their orientation. Response rates were 85%, 88%, and 79%, respectively, at 5-week, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up. Results: Interns reported high levels of personal and work-related burnout throughout the year that peaked at 6 months with mean scores of 42.53 and 41.81, respectively. Increases of 5.1 points (confidence interval [CI] 2.5, 7.7; P=0.0001) and 3.5 points (CI 1.3, 5.6; P=0.0015) were seen at 6 months for personal and work-related burnout, respectively. The mean score for patientrelated burnout at 12 months was 25.57, and this number had increased significantly by 5.8 points (CI 3.2, 8.5;
Semi-naive dimensional renormalization
We propose a treatment of in dimensional regularization which is
based on an algebraically consistent extension of the Breitenlohner-Maison-'t
Hooft-Veltman (BMHV) scheme; we define the corresponding minimal
renormalization scheme and show its equivalence with a non-minimal BMHV scheme.
The restoration of the chiral Ward identities requires the introduction of
considerably fewer finite counterterms than in the BMHV scheme. This scheme is
the same as the minimal naive dimensional renormalization in the case of
diagrams not involving fermionic traces with an odd number of , but
unlike the latter it is a consistent scheme. As a simple example we apply our
minimal subtraction scheme to the Yukawa model at two loops in presence of
external gauge fields.Comment: 28 pages, 3 figure
Unraveling the genomic mosaic of a ubiquitous genus of marine cyanobacteria
Background: The picocyanobacterial genus Synechococcus occurs over wide oceanic expanses, having colonized most
available niches in the photic zone. Large scale distribution patterns of the different Synechococcus clades (based on 16S rRNA gene markers) suggest the occurrence of two major lifestyles ('opportunists'/'specialists'), corresponding to two distinct broad habitats ('coastal'/'open ocean'). Yet, the genetic basis of niche partitioning is still poorly understood in this
ecologically important group.
Results: Here, we compare the genomes of 11 marine Synechococcus isolates, representing 10 distinct lineages.
Phylogenies inferred from the core genome allowed us to refine the taxonomic relationships between clades by revealing a clear dichotomy within the main subcluster, reminiscent of the two aforementioned lifestyles. Genome size is strongly correlated with the cumulative lengths of hypervariable regions (or 'islands'). One of these, encompassing most genes encoding the light-harvesting phycobilisome rod complexes, is involved in adaptation to changes in light quality and has clearly been transferred between members of different Synechococcus lineages. Furthermore, we observed that two strains (RS9917 and WH5701) that have similar pigmentation and physiology have an unusually high number of genes in common, given their phylogenetic distance.
Conclusion: We propose that while members of a given marine Synechococcus lineage may have the same broad geographical distribution, local niche occupancy is facilitated by lateral gene transfers, a process in which genomic islands
play a key role as a repository for transferred genes. Our work also highlights the need for developing picocyanobacterial systematics based on genome-derived parameters combined with ecological and physiological data
Threatened but not conserved: flying-fox roosting and foraging habitat in Australia
Conservation relies upon a primary understanding of changes in a species' population size, distribution, and habitat use. Bats represent about one in five mammal species in the world, but understanding for most species is poor. For flying-foxes, specifically the 66 Pteropus species globally, 31 are classified as threatened (Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered) on the IUCN Red List. Flying-foxes typically aggregate in colonies of thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals at their roost sites, dispersing at sunset to forage on floral resources (pollen, nectar, and fruit) in nearby environments. However, understanding of flying-fox roosting habitat preferences is poor, hindering conservation efforts in many countries. In this study, we used a database of 654 known roost sites of the four flying-fox species that occur across mainland Australia to determine the land-use categories and vegetation types in which roost sites were found. In addition, we determined the land-use categories and vegetation types found within the surrounding 25 km radius of each roost, representing primary foraging habitat. Surprisingly, for the four species most roosts occurred in urban areas (42-59%, n = 4 species) followed by agricultural areas (21-31%). Critically, for the two nationally listed species, only 5.2% of grey-headed and 13.9% of spectacled flying-fox roosts occurred in habitat within protected areas. Roosts have previously been reported to predominantly occur in rainforest, mangrove, wetland, and dry sclerophyll vegetation types. However, we found that only 20-35% of roosts for each of the four species occurred in these habitats. This study shows that flying-fox roosts overwhelmingly occurred within human-modified landscapes across eastern Australia, and that conservation reserves inadequately protect essential habitat of roosting and foraging flying-foxes
A cluster Monte Carlo algorithm with a conserved order parameter
We propose a cluster simulation algorithm for statistical ensembles with
fixed order parameter. We use the tethered ensemble, which features Helmholtz's
effective potential rather than Gibbs's free energy, and in which canonical
averages are recovered with arbitrary accuracy. For the D = 2,3 Ising model our
method's critical slowing down is comparable to that of canonical cluster
algorithms. Yet, we can do more than merely reproduce canonical values. As an
example, we obtain a competitive value for the 3D Ising anomalous dimension
from the maxima of the effective potential.Comment: 4 pages, 2 color figures. Minor improvements and update of table
Quantum Gravity and Inflation
Using the Ashtekar-Sen variables of loop quantum gravity, a new class of
exact solutions to the equations of quantum cosmology is found for gravity
coupled to a scalar field, that corresponds to inflating universes. The scalar
field, which has an arbitrary potential, is treated as a time variable,
reducing the hamiltonian constraint to a time-dependent Schroedinger equation.
When reduced to the homogeneous and isotropic case, this is solved exactly by a
set of solutions that extend the Kodama state, taking into account the time
dependence of the vacuum energy. Each quantum state corresponds to a classical
solution of the Hamiltonian-Jacobi equation. The study of the latter shows
evidence for an attractor, suggesting a universality in the phenomena of
inflation. Finally, wavepackets can be constructed by superposing solutions
with different ratios of kinetic to potential scalar field energy, resolving,
at least in this case, the issue of normalizability of the Kodama state.Comment: 18 Pages, 2 Figures; major corrections to equations but prior results
still hold, updated reference
On Critical Exponents and the Renormalization of the Coupling Constant in Growth Models with Surface Diffusion
It is shown by the method of renormalized field theory that in contrast to a
statement based on a mathematically ill-defined invariance transformation and
found in most of the recent publications on growth models with surface
diffusion, the coupling constant of these models renormalizes nontrivially.
This implies that the widely accepted supposedly exact scaling exponents are to
be corrected. A two-loop calculation shows that the corrections are small and
these exponents seem to be very good approximations.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 2 postscript figures, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let
Near-Equilibrium Dynamics of Crystalline Interfaces with Long-Range Interactions in 1+1 Dimensional Systems
The dynamics of a one-dimensional crystalline interface model with long-range
interactions is investigated. In the absence of randomness, the linear response
mobility decreases to zero when the temperature approaches the roughening
transition from above, in contrast to a finite jump at the critical point in
the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition. In the presence of substrate disorder,
there exists a phase transition into a low-temperature pinning phase with a
continuously varying dynamic exponent . The expressions for the non-linear
response mobility of a crystalline interface in both cases are also derived.Comment: 14 Pages, Revtex3.0, accepted to be published in Phys. Rev. E Rapid
Communicatio
Tris(oxamide dioxime-κ2 N,N′)nickel(II) sulfate pentahydrate
The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Ni(C2H6N4O2)3]SO4·5H2O, contains two complex cations, two sulfate anions and ten lattice water molecules. In both independent cations, the central NiII ion adopts a distorted octahedral coordination involving six imino N atoms of three bidentate oxamide dioxime ligands. The bulk structure is achieved by a three-dimensional network of O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds which interlink the ionic partners and some water molecules in such a manner that the lattice framework thus formed defines channels parallel to [100]. The other water molecules are lodged inside these channels. Two of the ten water molecules in the asymmetric unit are disordered over three sites, in 0.356 (3):0.324 (5):0.320 (5) and 0.247 (3):0.293 (6):0.460 (6) occupancy ratios, and one O atom of a sulfate ion is also disordered over two sites, with occupancies of 0.621 (5) and 0.379 (5)
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