The molecular structure of isocyanic acid from microwave and infra-red absorption spectra

Experimental investigations of the infra-red and microwave spectra of the slightly asymmetric rotor, HNCO, have been made, and the structure of the molecule has been determined

Dipole Moment and Electric Quadrupole Effects in HNCO and HNCS

Interaction of the electric quadrupole moment of the nitrogen nucleus with the molecular electric fields of isocyanic and isothiocyanic acids results in a hyperfine splitting of the rotational trnasitions

PROTECTED-UK – Clinical pharmacist interventions in the UK critical care unit: exploration of relationship between intervention, service characteristics and experience level

PURPOSE: Clinical pharmacist (CP) interventions from the PROTECTED-UK cohort, a multi-site critical care interventions study, were further analysed to assess effects of: time on critical care, number of interventions, CP expertise and days of week, on impact of intervention and ultimately contribution to patient care. METHODS: Intervention data were collected from 21 adult critical care units over 14 days. Interventions could be error, optimisation or consults, and were blind-coded to ensure consistency, prior to bivariate analysis. Pharmacy service demographics were further collated by investigator survey. KEY FINDINGS: Of the 20 758 prescriptions reviewed, 3375 interventions were made (intervention rate 16.1%). CPs spent 3.5 h per day (mean, ±SD 1.7) on direct patient care, reviewed 10.3 patients per day (±SD 4.2) and required 22.5 min (±SD 9.5) per review. Intervention rate had a moderate inverse correlation with the time the pharmacist spent on critical care (P = 0.05; r = 0.4). Optimisation rate had a strong inverse association with total number of prescriptions reviewed per day (P = 0.001; r = 0.7). A consultant CP had a moderate inverse correlation with number of errors identified (P = 0.008; r = 0.6). No correlation existed between the presence of electronic prescribing in critical care and any intervention rate. Few centres provided weekend services, although the intervention rate was significantly higher on weekends than weekdays. CONCLUSIONS: A CP is essential for safe and optimised patient medication therapy; an extended and developed pharmacy service is expected to reduce errors. CP services should be adequately staffed to enable adequate time for prescription review and maximal therapy optimisation

COVID-19 and non-COVID ARDS patients demonstrate a distinct response to low dose steroids- A retrospective observational study

Patients with COVID-19 ARDS have distinct physiological and immunological phenotypes compared to patients with non-COVID ARDS. Patients with COVID-19 ARDS (n = 32) had a significant improvement in PaO2: FiO2 ratio (p = 0.046) following low-dose steroid treatment, unlike patients with non-COVID ARDS (n = 16) (p = 0.529). Patients with COVID-19 ARDS had a greater fall in CRP compared to patients with non-COVID ARDS, albeit not statistically significant (p = 0.07). Our novel findings highlight differences in the underlying physiological and immunological phenotypes between COVID-19 and non-COVID ARDS, with implications for future ARDS studies

AQFT from n-functorial QFT

There are essentially two different approaches to the axiomatization of quantum field theory (QFT): algebraic QFT, going back to Haag and Kastler, and functorial QFT, going back to Atiyah and Segal. More recently, based on ideas by Baez and Dolan, the latter is being refined to "extended" functorial QFT by Freed, Hopkins, Lurie and others. The first approach uses local nets of operator algebras which assign to each patch an algebra "of observables", the latter uses n-functors which assign to each patch a "propagator of states". In this note we present an observation about how these two axiom systems are naturally related: we demonstrate under mild assumptions that every 2-dimensional extended Minkowskian QFT 2-functor ("parallel surface transport") naturally yields a local net. This is obtained by postcomposing the propagation 2-functor with an operation that mimics the passage from the Schroedinger picture to the Heisenberg picture in quantum mechanics. The argument has a straightforward generalization to general pseudo-Riemannian structure and higher dimensions.Comment: 39 pages; further examples added: Hopf spin chains and asymptotic inclusion of subfactors; references adde

Why 'scaffolding' is the wrong metaphor : the cognitive usefulness of mathematical representations.

The metaphor of scaffolding has become current in discussions of the cognitive help we get from artefacts, environmental affordances and each other. Consideration of mathematical tools and representations indicates that in these cases at least (and plausibly for others), scaffolding is the wrong picture, because scaffolding in good order is immobile, temporary and crude. Mathematical representations can be manipulated, are not temporary structures to aid development, and are refined. Reflection on examples from elementary algebra indicates that Menary is on the right track with his ‘enculturation’ view of mathematical cognition. Moreover, these examples allow us to elaborate his remarks on the uniqueness of mathematical representations and their role in the emergence of new thoughts.Peer reviewe