22,677 research outputs found
Self monitoring of blood glucose - a survey of Diabetes UK members with type 2 diabetes who use SMBG
Background: aim - to survey members of Diabetes UK who had Type 2 diabetes and who used self monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), to elicit their views on its usefulness in the management of their diabetes, and how they used the results. A questionnaire was developed for the Diabetes UK website. The questionnaire was posted on the Diabetes UK website until over 500 people had responded. Questions asked users to specify the benefits gained from SMBG, and how these benefits were achieved. We carried out both quantitative analysis and a thematic analysis for the open ended free-text questions.Findings: 554 participants completed the survey, of whom 289 (52.2%) were male. 20% of respondents were recently diagnosed (< 6 months). Frequency of SMBG varied, with 43% of participants testing between once and four times a day and 22% testing less than once a month or for occasional periods.80% of respondents reported high satisfaction with SMBG, and reported feeling more 'in control' of their diabetes management using it. The most frequently reported use of SMBG was to make adjustments to food intake or confirm a hyperglycaemic episode.Women were significantly more likely to report feelings of guilt or self-chastisement associated with out of range readings (p = < .001).Conclusion: SMBG was clearly of benefit to this group of confirmed users, who used the results to adjust diet, physical activity or medications. However many individuals (particularly women) reported feelings of anxiety and depression associated with its use.<br/
Learning policies through argumentation-derived evidence (extended abstract)
(c) IFAAMASPublisher PD
The Temperature Evolution of the Spectral Peak in High Temperature Superconductors
Recent photoemission data in the high temperature cuprate superconductor
Bi2212 have been interpreted in terms of a sharp spectral peak with a
temperature independent lifetime, whose weight strongly decreases upon heating.
By a detailed analysis of the data, we are able to extract the temperature
dependence of the electron self-energy, and demonstrate that this intepretation
is misleading. Rather, the spectral peak loses its integrity above Tc due to a
large reduction in the electron lifetime.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 4 encapsulated postscript figure
Dynamic nuclear polarization from current-induced electron spin polarization
Current-induced electron spin polarization is shown to produce nuclear
hyperpolarization through dynamic nuclear polarization. Saturated fields of
several millitesla are generated upon the application of electric field over a
timescale of a hundred seconds in InGaAs epilayers and measured using optical
Larmor magnetometry. The dependence on temperature, external magnetic field,
and applied voltage is investigated. We find an asymmetry in which the
saturation nuclear field depends on the relative alignment of the electrically
generated spin polarization and the external magnetic field, which we attribute
to an interplay between various electron spin dynamical processes.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Sequentially evaporated thin Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor films: Composition and processing effects
Thin films of YBa2Cu3O(7-beta) have been grown by sequential evaporation of Cu, Y, and BaF2 on SrTiO3 and MgO substrates. The onset temperatures were as high as 93 K while T sub c was 85 K. The Ba/Y ratio was varied from 1.9 to 4.0. The Cu/Y ratio was varied from 2.8 to 3.4. The films were then annealed at various times and temperatures. The times ranged from 15 min to 3 hr, while the annealing temperatures used ranged from 850 C to 900 C. A good correlation was found between transition temperature (T sub c) and the annealing conditions; the films annealed at 900 C on SrTiO3 had the best T sub c's. There was a weaker correlation between composition and T sub c. Barium poor films exhibitied semiconducting normal state resistance behavior while barium rich films were metallic. The films were analyzed by resistance versus temperature measurements and scanning electron microscopy. The analysis of the films and the correlations are reported
Making the user more efficient: Design for sustainable behaviour
User behaviour is a significant determinant of a product’s environmental impact; while engineering advances permit increased efficiency of product operation, the user’s decisions and habits ultimately have a major effect on the energy or other resources used by the product. There is thus a need to change users’ behaviour. A range of design techniques developed in diverse contexts suggest opportunities for engineers, designers and other stakeholders working in the field of sustainable innovation to affect users’ behaviour at the point of interaction with the product or system, in effect ‘making the user more efficient’. Approaches to changing users’ behaviour from a number of fields are reviewed and discussed, including: strategic design of affordances and behaviour-shaping constraints to control or affect energyor other resource-using interactions; the use of different kinds of feedback and persuasive technology techniques to encourage or guide users to reduce their environmental impact; and context-based systems which use feedback to adjust their behaviour to run at optimum efficiency and reduce the opportunity for user-affected inefficiency. Example implementations in the sustainable engineering and ecodesign field are suggested and discussed
Inconsistency in 9 mm bullets : correlation of jacket thickness to post-impact geometry measured with non-destructive X-ray computed tomography
Fundamental to any ballistic armour standard is the reference projectile to be defeated. Typically, for certification purposes, a consistent and symmetrical bullet geometry is assumed, however variations in bullet jacket dimensions can have far reaching consequences. Traditionally, characteristics and internal dimensions have been analysed by physically sectioning bullets – an approach which is of restricted scope and which precludes subsequent ballistic assessment. The use of a non-destructive X-ray computed tomography (CT) method has been demonstrated and validated Kumar et al., 2011); the authors now apply this technique to correlate bullet impact response with jacket thickness variations. A set of 20 bullets (9 mm DM11) were selected for comparison and an image-based analysis method was employed to map jacket thickness and determine the centre of gravity of each specimen. Both intra- and inter-bullet variations were investigated, with thickness variations of the order of 200 um commonly found along the length of all bullets and angular variations of up to 50 um in some. The bullets were subsequently impacted against a rigid flat plate under controlled conditions (observed on a high-speed video camera) and the resulting deformed projectiles were re-analysed. The results of the experiments demonstrate a marked difference in ballistic performance between bullets from different manufacturers and an asymmetric thinning of the jacket is observed in regions of pre-impact weakness. The conclusions are relevant for future soft armour standards and provide important quantitative data for numerical model correlation and development. The implications of the findings of the work on the reliability and repeatability of the industry standard V50 ballistic test are also discussed
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