Comments on diffraction processes and total cross sections

Some controversial aspects of diffraction dissociation are discussed in the light of some recent results. Evidence is presented that the $A_1$ , $A_3$ , $Q$ and $L$ mass enhancements are not single resonant states and that an N* (l400) is not required. It is suggested that the cross section for diffraction dissociation is almost equal to that for diffraction elastic scattering and both are slowly rising as does the total inelastic cross section, i.e., as $s^+$ 0.04 or (log s)$^+$ 0.4. The Reggeon exchange part of pp elastic scattering then falls as $s^l$

Inter-professional Learning: Innovation in Teaching and Learning for Pre-registration Student Nurses and Midwives

A requirement for all health care professionals is to work collaboratively in the provision of safe and effective care. However despite this students are not routinely involved in inter-professional learning, and are often taught in isolation within professional groupings. There is added value in inter-professional teaching and learning- evident from a resource that was developed by lecturers in nursing and midwifery. This was piloted live on an audience of pre registration nursing and midwifery students, as an mock fitness for practice hearing. Inter-professional group activities provided reflection, debate and discussion with students voting on sanctions and taking part in the panel summary and close. Feedback from both lecturers/participants (n=8) and students (n=31) indicated this was a highly valued experience. It is an innovative inter-professional learning resource, in pre-registration education for students in nursing and midwifery and will extend to post registration health care education

A Peer-to-Peer Agent Auction

In this work we examine a peer-to-peer agent continuous double auction. We compare agents trading using peer-to-peer communications with agents using the same trading strategy in an auction that makes use of a centralized auctioneer to disseminate information. We present simulation data for these two auctions running with 2,500 to 160,000 agents. We find that the peer-to-peer auction is able to display price convergence behavior similar to that of the centralized auction. Further, the data shows that the peer-to-peer system has a constant cost in the number of message rounds needed to find the market equilibrium price as the number of traders is increased, in contrast to the linear cost incurred by the central auctioneer. Considering the above message costs, the peer-to-peer system outperformed the simple central auction by at least 100 times in our simulations. We further calculate that for a distributed hierarchical set of auctioneers, for which the message rounds cost of finding equilibrium are reduced to logarithmic in the number of traders, the peer-to-peer system will still produce better performance for systems with more than 5,000 traders

A Method for Decentralized Clustering in Large Multi-Agent Systems

This paper examines a method of clustering within a fully decentralized multi-agent system. Our goal is to group agents with similar objectives or data without first collecting their details in a central database. Instead we connect agents in a random network and have them search in a peer-to-peer fashion for other similar agents. In this way we aim to tackle the basic clustering problem on an Internet scale, and create a method by which agents themselves can be grouped, forming coalitions. This paper presents a number of simulation experiments in which each agent represents a two-dimensional point, and makes a comparison between our method's clustering ability and that of the k-means clustering algorithm. The generated data sets examined contain 2,500 to 160,000 points (agents) grouped in 25 to 1,600 clusters. Our agent method produces a better clustering than the k-means algorithm, quickly placing 95% to 99% of points correctly. The time increases with system size depends on the quality of solution required; a fairly good solution is quickly converged on, and a slower tail behavior improves the solution. Our experiments indicate that the time to find a particular quality of solution is less than linear

Focus on Research: A podiatry intervention to reduce falls in care home residents: development, feasibility and acceptability study with exploratory randomised controlled trial

Aims1. To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a podiatry intervention to reduce falls in care home (CH) residents.2. To develop the intervention for use in an exploratory randomised controlled trial to establish its potential effectiveness in terms of falls reduction and other falls-related outcomes.Project Outline/MethodologyPart 1: We wanted to examine how easy or difficult it was for CH residents to participate in the podiatry intervention (foot/ankle exercises, and the use of special insoles and footwear). We ran a 12 week feasibility study with 8 CH residents and associated CH staff. We then conducted interviews to gain partipants’ views on their experiences of the intervention, and what improvements would be helpful. We also wanted to look at some of the methods we might employ in our subsequent exploratory randomised controlled trial, for example, the feasibility of recruiting CH residents and the selection of the best measures to use to assess the impact of the intervention. Part 2: We conducted the exploratory randomised controlled trial (RCT) with 43 CH residents randomised to receive either the podiatry intervention or usual care. The RCT was designed to assess potentially beneficial effects on falls rates and frequencies. We followed CH residents for 6 months after the end of the intervention period.Key ResultsPart 1. CH residents and their carers found the podiatry intervention straightforward to particpate in. CH staff delivered the exercise component of the intervention, which meant they received training from members of the research team. Varying shift patterns and high CH staff turnover meant it was difficult to access all relevent members of CH staff so we developed an online training resource that could be accessed by CH staff at a time which suited them. It was difficult to recruit CH residents who met our inclusion criteria for the first part of our study, so we amended the criteria for the RCT part of our study. Recruitment was also difficult because there were more CH residents with profound cognitive impairment than we anticipated; this meant we had to visit more CHs than originally planned in order to recruit sufficient numbers of residents to the RCT. Part 2. The RCT showed fewer average falls for the podiatry intervention group (2.3) compared to the control group (2.7) Maximum benefit was seen at the end of the intervention, but this was not sustained 6 months later. The time taken to experience a fall was also longer in the intervention group compared to the control group. There were minimal changes in balance, mobilty and quality of life between to the two groups, and so the mechanism by which intervention makes an impact remains unclear. Logbooks of exercise completion were not well completed so the proportion of participants fully adhering to the intervention exercise programme was unclear. ConclusionsA podiatry intervention to reduce CH falls as part of an RCT is feasible. Our results suggest a benefical effect on the number of falls, which may be more substantial if adherence to the exercises was improved, and if we recruited larger numbers of CH residents.What does this study add to the field?A trial of a podiatry intervention to reduce CH falls will recruit well and may confer benefits to its recipients. Implications for Practice or PolicyWe cannot make a definite statement as to the effectiveness of the intervention, since this study was not desiged to tell us that, but the results are enough to judge a large trial to definitively test effectivess to be worthwhile.Where to next? We will apply for funding to conduct a large multicentre RCT. This will be designed to include CH residents with significant cognitive imparment.Further details from: Gavin Wylie [email protected]<br/