20,226 research outputs found
"There's no place like home" A pilot study of perspectives of international health and social care professionals working in the UK
Background
Many countries are reporting health workforce shortages across a range of professions at a time of relatively high workforce mobility. Utilising the global market to supply shortage health skills is now a common recruitment strategy in many developed countries. At the same time a number of countries report a 'brain drain' resulting from professional people leaving home to work overseas. Many health and social care professionals make their way to the UK from other countries. This pilot study utilises a novel 'e-survey' approach to explore the motives, experiences and perspectives of non-UK health and social care professionals who were working or had worked in the UK. The study aims to understand the contributions of international health and social care workers to the UK and their 'home' countries. The purpose of the pilot study is also in part to test the appropriateness of this methodology for undertaking a wider study.
Results
A 24-item questionnaire with open-ended and multiple choice questions was circulated via email to 10 contacts who were from a country outside the UK, had trained outside the UK and had email access. These contacts were requested to forward the email to other contacts who met these criteria (and so on). The email was circulated over a one month pilot period to 34 contacts. Responses were from physiotherapists (n = 11), speech therapists (n = 4), social workers (n = 10), an occupational therapist (n = 1), podiatrists (n = 5), and others (n = 3). Participants were from Australia (n = 20), South Africa (n = 10), New Zealand (n = 3) and the Republic of Ireland (n = 1). Motives for relocating to the UK included travel, money and career opportunities. Participants identified a number of advantages and disadvantages of working in the UK compared to working in their home country health system. Respondents generally reported that by working in the UK, they had accumulated skills and knowledge that would allow them to contribute more to their profession and health system on their return home.
Conclusion
This pilot study highlights a range of issues and future research questions for international learning and comparison for the health and social care professions as a result of international workforce mobility. The study also highlights the usefulness of an e-survey technique for capturing information from a geographically diverse and mobile group of professionals
Galaxy Clusters Selected via the SunyaevâZel'dovich Effect in the SPTpol 100-square-degree Survey
We present a catalog of galaxy cluster candidates detected in 100 square degrees surveyed with the SPTpol receiver on the South Pole Telescope. The catalog contains 89 candidates detected with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 4.6. The candidates are selected using the SunyaevâZel'dovich effect at 95 and 150 GHz. Using both space- and ground-based optical and infrared telescopes, we have confirmed 81 candidates as galaxy clusters. We use these follow-up images and archival images to estimate photometric redshifts for 66 galaxy clusters and spectroscopic observations to obtain redshifts for 13 systems. An additional two galaxy clusters are confirmed using the overdensity of near-infrared galaxies only and are presented without redshifts. We find that 15 candidates (18% of the total sample) are at redshift z â„ 1.0, with a maximum confirmed redshift of z_(max) = 1.38±0.10. We expect this catalog to contain every galaxy cluster with M_(500c) > 2.6Ă10ÂčâŽMâhâ»Âčââ and z > 0.25 in the survey area. The mass threshold is approximately constant above z = 0.25, and the complete catalog has a median mass of approximately M_(500c) > 2.7Ă10ÂčâŽMâhâ»Âčââ. Compared to previous SPT works, the increased depth of the millimeter-wave data (11.2 and 6.5 ÎŒK-arcmin at 95 and 150 GHz, respectively) makes it possible to find more galaxy clusters at high redshift and lower mass
Environmental Effects in the Evolution of Galactic Bulges
We investigate possible environmental trends in the evolution of galactic
bulges over the redshift range 0<z<0.6. For this purpose, we construct the
Fundamental Plane (FP) for cluster and field samples at redshifts =0.4 and
=0.54 using surface photometry based on HST imaging and velocity dispersions
based on Keck spectroscopy. As a reference point for our study we include data
for pure ellipticals, which we model as single-component Sersic profiles;
whereas for multi-component galaxies we undertake decompositions using Sersic
and exponential models for the bulge and disk respectively. Although the FP for
both distant cluster and field samples are offset from the local relation,
consistent with evolutionary trends found in earlier studies, we detect
significant differences in the zero point of ~=0.2 dex between the field and
cluster samples at a given redshift. For both clusters, the
environmentally-dependent offset is in the sense expected for an accelerated
evolution of bulges in dense environments. By matching the mass range of our
samples, we confirm that this difference does not arise as a result of the
mass-dependent downsizing effects seen in larger field samples. Our result is
also consistent with the hypothesis that - at fixed mass and environment - the
star formation histories of galactic bulges and pure spheroids are
indistinguishable, and difficult to reconcile with the picture whereby the
majority of large bulges form primarily via secular processes within spiral
galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the 500 degÂČ SPTPOL Lensing Power Spectrum
We present cosmological constraints based on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential power spectrum measurement from the recent 500 degÂČ SPTPOL survey, the most precise CMB lensing measurement from the ground to date. We fit a flat ÎCDM model to the reconstructed lensing power spectrum alone and in addition with other data sets: baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), as well as primary CMB spectra from Planck and SPTPOL. The cosmological constraints based on SPTPOL and Planck lensing band powers are in good agreement when analyzed alone and in combination with Planck full-sky primary CMB data. With weak priors on the baryon density and other parameters, the SPTPOL CMB lensing data alone provide a 4% constraint on ÏâΩ^(0.25)_m = 0.593 ± 0.025. Jointly fitting with BAO data, we find Ïâ = 0.779±0.023, Ω_m = 0.368^(+0.032)_(â0.037), and Hâ = 72.0^(+2.1)_(â2.5)kmsâ»Âč Mpcâ»Âč, up to 2Ï away from the central values preferred by Planck lensing + BAO. However, we recover good agreement between SPTPOL and Planck when restricting the analysis to similar scales. We also consider single-parameter extensions to the flat ÎCDM model. The SPTPOL lensing spectrum constrains the spatial curvature to be Ω_K = â0.0007±0.0025 and the sum of the neutrino masses to be âm_Îœ < 0.23 eV at 95% C.L. (with Planck primary CMB and BAO data), in good agreement with the Planck lensing results. With the differences in the signal-to-noise ratio of the lensing modes and the angular scales covered in the lensing spectra, this analysis represents an important independent check on the full-sky Planck lensing measurement
Hidden Markov model tracking of continuous gravitational waves from a neutron star with wandering spin
Gravitational wave searches for continuous-wave signals from neutron stars
are especially challenging when the star's spin frequency is unknown a priori
from electromagnetic observations and wanders stochastically under the action
of internal (e.g. superfluid or magnetospheric) or external (e.g. accretion)
torques. It is shown that frequency tracking by hidden Markov model (HMM)
methods can be combined with existing maximum likelihood coherent matched
filters like the F-statistic to surmount some of the challenges raised by spin
wandering. Specifically it is found that, for an isolated, biaxial rotor whose
spin frequency walks randomly, HMM tracking of the F-statistic output from
coherent segments with duration T_drift = 10d over a total observation time of
T_obs = 1yr can detect signals with wave strains h0 > 2e-26 at a noise level
characteristic of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave
Observatory (Advanced LIGO). For a biaxial rotor with randomly walking spin in
a binary orbit, whose orbital period and semi-major axis are known
approximately from electromagnetic observations, HMM tracking of the
Bessel-weighted F-statistic output can detect signals with h0 > 8e-26. An
efficient, recursive, HMM solver based on the Viterbi algorithm is
demonstrated, which requires ~10^3 CPU-hours for a typical, broadband (0.5-kHz)
search for the low-mass X-ray binary Scorpius X-1, including generation of the
relevant F-statistic input. In a "realistic" observational scenario, Viterbi
tracking successfully detects 41 out of 50 synthetic signals without spin
wandering in Stage I of the Scorpius X-1 Mock Data Challenge convened by the
LIGO Scientific Collaboration down to a wave strain of h0 = 1.1e-25, recovering
the frequency with a root-mean-square accuracy of <= 4.3e-3 Hz
BIOMECHANICS OF RUNNING - Electromyographic Analysis of the Hip during Jogging, Running and Sprinting
The patterns of muscle action during human locomotion have
been investigated for several decades. Lower extremity
electromyographic activity in walking was investigated by Bartholomew and the Prosthetic Research Group at Berkeley in 1953. (1) Others investigated the actions of specific muscles during various leg movements. Basmajian and LeBan et al. (6) examined the electromyographic action of the iliopsoas muscle. These studies have led to the investigation of running. Saito et aI., (10) presented temporal data on the gait cycle of running. James and Brubaker (5) presented a descriptive analysis of running. Other researchers have directed their work toward sprinting: Fenn (4) investigated frictional and kinetic factors in 1930, and Dillman (3) and Ralph Mann (7) used kinetic analysis. Mann and Hagy (9) and Mann et aI. (8) investigated temporal and electromyographic patterns of walking, running and sprinting. This study investigates and describes the electromyographic activity ofthe lower extrJmities and trunk musculature duringjogging, running, and sprinting
Non deterministic polynomial optimization problems and their approximations
AbstractA unified and general framework for the study of nondeterministic polynomial optimization problems (NPOP) is presented and some properties of NPOP's are investigated. A characterization of NPOP's with regard to their approximability properties is given by proving necessary and sufficient conditions for two approximability schemes. Known approximability results are shown to fit within the general frame developed in the paper. Finally NPOP's are classified and studied with regard to the possibility or impossibility of âreducingâ certain types of NPOP's to other types in a sense specified in the text
Reconciling taxonomy and phylogenetic inference: formalism and algorithms for describing discord and inferring taxonomic roots
Although taxonomy is often used informally to evaluate the results of
phylogenetic inference and find the root of phylogenetic trees, algorithmic
methods to do so are lacking. In this paper we formalize these procedures and
develop algorithms to solve the relevant problems. In particular, we introduce
a new algorithm that solves a "subcoloring" problem for expressing the
difference between the taxonomy and phylogeny at a given rank. This algorithm
improves upon the current best algorithm in terms of asymptotic complexity for
the parameter regime of interest; we also describe a branch-and-bound algorithm
that saves orders of magnitude in computation on real data sets. We also
develop a formalism and an algorithm for rooting phylogenetic trees according
to a taxonomy. All of these algorithms are implemented in freely-available
software.Comment: Version submitted to Algorithms for Molecular Biology. A number of
fixes from previous versio
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