The accessibility of research-based knowledge for nurses in United Kingdom acute care settings

Background. The successful dissemination of the results of the National Health Service (NHS) research and development strategy and the development of evidence based approaches to health care rely on clinicians having access to the best available evidence; evidence fit for the purpose of reducing the uncertainties associated with clinical decisions. Aim. To reveal the accessibility of those sources of information actually used by nurses, as well as those which they say they use. Design. Mixed method case site, using interview, observational, Q sort and documentary audit data in medical, surgical and coronary care units (CCUs) in three acute hospitals. Results. Three perspectives on accessibility were identified: (a) the humanist-in which human sources of information were the most accessible; (b) local information for local needs-in which locally produced resources were seen as the most accessible and (c) moving towards technology-in which information technology begins to be seen as accessible. Nurses' experience in a clinical specialty is positively associated with a perception that human sources such clinical nurse specialists, link nurses, doctors and experienced clinical colleagues are more accessible than text based sources. Clinical specialization is associated with different approaches to accessing research knowledge. Coronary care unit nurses were more likely perceive local guidelines, protocols and on-line databases as more accessible than their counterparts in general medical and surgical wards. Only a third of text-based resources available to nurses oil the wards had any explicit research base. These, and the remainder were Out of date (mean age of textbooks 11 years), and authorship hard to ascertain. Conclusion. A strategy to increase the use of research evidence by nurses should harness the influence of clinical nurse specialists, link nurses and those engaged in practice development. These roles Could act as 'conduits' through which research-based messages for practice, and information for clinical decision making, could flow. This role should be explored and enhanced

Angular momentum I ground state probabilities of boson systems interacting by random interactions

In this paper we report our systematic calculations of angular momentum $I$ ground state probabilities ($P(I)$) of boson systems with spin $l$ in the presence of random two-body interactions. It is found that the P(0) dominance is usually not true for a system with an odd number of bosons, while it is valid for an even number of bosons, which indicates that the P(0) dominance is partly connected to the even number of identical particles. It is also noticed that the $P(I_{max})$'s of bosons with spin $l$ do not follow the 1/N ($N=l+1$, referring to the number of independent two-body matrix elements) relation. The properties of the $P(I)$'s obtained in boson systems with spin $l$ are discussed.Comment: 8 pages and 3 figure

Ergodicity of the Δ3\Delta_3 statistic and purity of neutron resonance data

The $\Delta_3(L)$ statistic characterizes the fluctuations of the number of levels as a function of the length of the spectral interval. It is studied as a possible tool to indicate the regular or chaotic nature of underlying dynamics, detect missing levels and the mixing of sequences of levels of different symmetry, particularly in neutron resonance data. The relation between the ensemble average and the average over different fragments of a given realization of spectra is considered. A useful expression for the variance of $\Delta_3(L)$ which accounts for finite sample size is discussed. An analysis of neutron resonance data presents the results consistent with a maximum likelihood method applied to the level spacing distribution.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures, 1 tabl

National child measurement programme: detailed analysis of the 2007/08 national dataset

This report presents detailed secondary analyses to further our understanding of the epidemiology of child height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) across England. It attempts to explain some of the findings presented in the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care 2007/08 NCMP report. The report provides analysis of PCT participation levels and investigates data quality issues in the collection of the 2007/08 NCMP dataset. Data on prevalence of underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity are analysed, comparing the 2007/08 data to the 2006/07, and the 1990 baseline. Analyses by deprivation and ethnic group are also included. The report further examines how the distribution of BMI differs by age and sex of the child sample population, and investigates changes since the 1990 baseline. It looks at the association between obesity prevalence and characteristics of the individual children and the PCTs in which they were measured using regression analysis

General pairing interactions and pair truncation approximations for fermions in a single-j shell

We investigate Hamiltonians with attractive interactions between pairs of fermions coupled to angular momentum J. We show that pairs with spin J are reasonable building blocks for the low-lying states. For systems with only a J = Jmax pairing interaction, eigenvalues are found to be approximately integers for a large array of states, in particular for those with total angular momenta I le 2j. For I=0 eigenstates of four fermions in a single-j shell we show that there is only one non-zero eigenvalue. We address these observations using the nucleon pair approximation of the shell model and relate our results with a number of currently interesting problems.Comment: a latex text file and 2 figures, to be publishe

Number of states with fixed angular momentum for identical fermions and bosons

We present in this paper empirical formulas for the number of angular momentum I states for three and four identical fermions or bosons. In the cases with large I we prove that the number of states with the same ${\cal M}$ and n but different J is identical if $I \ge (n-2)J - {1/2} (n-1)(n-2)$ for fermions and $I \ge (n-2)J$ for bosons, and that the number of states is also identical for the same ${\cal M}$ but different n and J if ${\cal M} \le$min(n, 2J+1 - n) for fermions and for ${\cal M} \le$min(n, 2J) for bosons. Here ${\cal M} =I_{max}-I$, n is the particle number, and J refers to the angular momentum of a single-particle orbit for fermions, or the spin L carried by bosons.Comment: 9 pages, no figure

Tracking system analytic calibration activities for the Mariner Mars 1969 mission

Calibration activity of Deep Space Network in support of Mars encounter phase of Mariner Mars 1969 missio

Ground state spin 0+^+ dominance of many-body systems with random interactions and related topics

In this talk we shall show our recent results in understanding the spin$^{\rm parity}$ 0$^+$ ground state (0 g.s.) dominance of many-body systems. We propose a simple approach to predict the spin $I$ g.s. probabilities which does not require the diagonalization of a Hamiltonian with random interactions. Some findings related to the 0 g.s. dominance will also be discussed.Comment: 11 pages and 4 figure

Many-body Systems Interacting via a Two-body Random Ensemble (I): Angular Momentum distribution in the ground states

In this paper, we discuss the angular momentum distribution in the ground states of many-body systems interacting via a two-body random ensemble. Beginning with a few simple examples, a simple approach to predict P(I)'s, angular momenta I ground state (g.s.) probabilities, of a few solvable cases, such as fermions in a small single-j shell and d boson systems, is given. This method is generalized to predict P(I)'s of more complicated cases, such as even or odd number of fermions in a large single-j shell or a many-j shell, d-boson, sd-boson or sdg-boson systems, etc. By this method we are able to tell which interactions are essential to produce a sizable P(I) in a many-body system. The g.s. probability of maximum angular momentum $I_{max}$ is discussed. An argument on the microscopic foundation of our approach, and certain matrix elements which are useful to understand the observed regularities, are also given or addressed in detail. The low seniority chain of 0 g.s. by using the same set of two-body interactions is confirmed but it is noted that contribution to the total 0 g.s. probability beyond this chain may be more important for even fermions in a single-j shell. Preliminary results by taking a displaced two-body random ensemble are presented for the I g.s. probabilities.Comment: 39 pages and 8 figure