1,083 research outputs found
The impact of participation in research for speech and language therapy departments and their patients: a case example of the Big CACTUS multicentre trial of selfâmanaged computerized aphasia therapy
Background
In order to conduct research that is meaningful to speech and language therapy services and their patients, it is often desirable to conduct the research within routine clinical services. This can require considerable time and commitment from speech and language therapists (SLTs). It is therefore important to understand the impact that such participation in research can have.
Aims
To explore the impact of research participation in the Big CACTUS study of self-managed computerized aphasia therapy conducted in 21 UK NHS speech and language therapy departments.
Methods & Procedures
An online survey was sent to SLTs who took the lead role for the study at their NHS Trust to evaluate the impact of study participation in three domains: capacity-building, research development and health services. The questionnaire, based on the VICTOR framework for evaluating research impact, included Likert scale statements and closed and open-ended questions. The results from open-ended questions were coded and analysed using framework analysis in NVivo 12 and the data from closed questions were analysed descriptively.
Outcomes & Results
A total of 12 SLTs returned the survey. Nine codes were identified from open-ended questions and 20 predefined from the literature. Analysis of the responses demonstrated the perceived impact including improvements in practices and access to therapy, investments in infrastructure, increased SLT profile, and impact on research culture among SLTs. The usefulness of the intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic was also highlighted.
Conclusions & Implications
The results suggest participation in Big CACTUS has resulted in improvements in patient care and SLT research capacity and culture in speech and language therapy departments.
What This Paper Adds
What is already known on the subject
Practice-based research is encouraged to assist with the clinical relevance of the research findings. Participation in research can be seen as an activity that is additional to the core business of patient care and it can be difficult to secure time to participate or conduct research in clinical settings. Impact evaluation initiatives of individual trials facilitate early identification of benefits beyond the trial.
What this paper adds to existing knowledge
This study describes specific examples of the impact on services, staff and patients from SLT participation and leadership in the Big CACTUS speech and language therapy trial in clinical settings.
What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this study?
Clinical services participating in research may benefit from improved clinical care for patients both during and after the study, an improved professional reputation, and increased research capacity and culture within the clinical settings
Energetic impact of size-selected metal cluster ions on graphite
We have investigated the impact of size-selected metal cluster ions (Agn-) on a covalently bonded substrate (graphite) over the energy range 15â1500 eV by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. The key result is that the fate of the cluster (penetration into the surface versus diffusion and aggregation on the surface), at intermediate energies, depends on the lateral localization of the cluster kinetic energy at specific surface sites and thus, for small clusters, on the orientation of the cluster and the target substrate site
Probing for the Charm Content of and Mesons
A slow bump exists in the inclusive spectrum,
while the softness of spectrum in decay
is in strong contrast with expectations from color octet mechanism. We propose
{\it intrinsic} charm as the explanation:the former is due to ,with three charm quarks in the final state; the latter is just a small
fraction of "jet" events, where the
slow moving system evolves into pairs. Experimental search
for these phenomena at B Factories and the Tevatron is strongly urged, as the
implications go beyond QCD.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX, 10 eps figures included. Major revision with more
discussions on the rescattering background, and a reappraisal of the
Upsilon(1S) decay in the presence of intrinsic charm, leading to a change in
Titl
Field-Driven Transitions in the Dipolar Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet GdTiO
We present a mean-field theory for magnetic field driven transitions in
dipolar coupled gadolinium titanate GdTiO pyrochlore system. Low
temperature neutron scattering yields a phase that can be regarded as a 8
sublattice antiferromagnet, in which long-ranged ordered moments and
fluctuating moments coexist. Our theory gives parameter regions where such a
phase is realized, and predicts several other phases, with transitions amongst
them driven by magnetic field as well as temperature. We find several instances
of {\em local} disorder parameters describing the transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. v2: longer version with 2 add.fig., to appear in
PR
Shallow implantation of 'size-selected' Ag clusters into graphite
We have investigated the implantation of AgN (N = 20â200) clusters into a graphite substrate over the range of energies (E) 0.75â6 keV using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that after implantation the silver clusters remain coherent, albeit amorphous, and rest at the bottom of an open tunnel in the graphite created by the impact. It is found that the implantation depth of the clusters varies linearly as E/N2/3. We conclude that the cluster is decelerated by a constant force proportional to its cross-sectional area. We also identify a threshold energy for surface penetration associated with elastic compression of the graphite substrate
Effects of Wind Field Inhomogeneities on Doppler Beam Swinging Revealed by an Imaging Radar
In this work, the accuracy of the Doppler beam-swinging (DBS) technique for wind measurements is studied using an imaging radarâthe turbulent eddy profiler (TEP) developed by the University of Mas- sachusetts, with data collected in summer 2003. With up to 64 independent receivers, and using coherent radar imaging (CRI), several hundred partially independent beams can be formed simultaneously within the volume defined by the transmit beam. By selecting a subset of these beams, an unprecedented number of DBS configurations with varying zenith angle, azimuth angle, and number of beams can be investigated. The angular distributions of echo power and radial velocity obtained by CRI provide a unique opportunity to validate the inherent assumption in the DBS method of homogeneity across the region defined by the beam directions. Through comparison with a reference wind field, calculated as the optimal uniform wind field derived from all CRI beams with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the accuracy of the wind estimates for various DBS configurations is statistically analyzed. It is shown that for a three-beam DBS configura- tion, although the validity of the homogeneity assumption is enhanced at smaller zenith angles, the root- mean-square (RMS) error increases because of the ill-conditioned matrix in the DBS algorithm. As ex- pected, inhomogeneities in the wind field produce large bias for the three-beam DBS configuration for large zenith angles. An optimal zenith angle, in terms of RMS error, of approximately 9°â10° was estimated. It is further shown that RMS error can be significantly reduced by increasing the number of off-vertical beams used for the DBS processing
Basal topographic controls on rapid retreat of Humboldt Glacier, northern Greenland
Discharge from marine-terminating outlet glaciers accounts for up to half the recent mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet, yet the causal factors are not fully understood. Here we assess the factors controlling the behaviour of Humboldt Glacier (HG), allowing us to evaluate the influence of basal topography on outlet glacier response to external forcing since part of HGâs terminus occupies a large overdeepening. HGâs retreat accelerated dramatically after 1999, coinciding with summer atmospheric warming of up to 0.19°C aâ1 and sea-ice decline. Retreat was an order of magnitude greater in the northern section of the terminus, underlain by a major basal trough, than in the southern section, where the bedrock is comparatively shallow. Velocity change following retreat was spatially non-uniform, potentially due to a pinning point near HGâs northern lateral margin. Consistent with observations, numerical modelling demonstrates an order-of-magnitude greater sensitivity to sea-ice buttressing and crevasse depth (used as a proxy for atmospheric warming) in the northern section. The trough extends up to 72 km inland, so it is likely to facilitate sustained retreat and ice loss from HG during the 21st century
Distinctive diets of eutherian predators in Australia
Introduction of the domestic cat and red fox has devastated Australian native fauna. We synthesized Australian diet analyses to identify traits of prey species in cat, fox and dingo diets, which prey were more frequent or distinctive to the diet of each predator, and quantified dietary overlap. Nearly half (45%) of all Australian terrestrial mammal, bird and reptile species occurred in the diets of one or more predators. Cat and dingo diets overlapped least (0.64 ± 0.27, n = 24 location/time points) and cat diet changed little over 55 years of study. Cats were more likely to have eaten birds, reptiles and small mammals than foxes or dingoes. Dingo diet remained constant over 53 years and constituted the largest mammal, bird and reptile prey species, including more macropods/potoroids, wombats, monotremes and bandicoots/bilbies than cats or foxes. Fox diet had greater overlap with both cats (0.79 ± 0.20, n = 37) and dingoes (0.73 ± 0.21, n = 42), fewer distinctive items (plant material, possums/gliders) and significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity over 69 years, suggesting the opportunity for prey switching (especially of mammal prey) to mitigate competition. Our study reinforced concerns about mesopredator impacts upon scarce/threatened species and the need to control foxes and cats for fauna conservation. However, extensive dietary overlap and opportunism, as well as low incidence of mesopredators in dingo diets, precluded resolution of the debate about possible dingo suppression of foxes and cats
Fermions from Half-BPS Supergravity
We discuss collective coordinate quantization of the half-BPS geometries of
Lin, Lunin and Maldacena (hep-th/0409174). The LLM geometries are parameterized
by a single function on a plane. We treat this function as a collective
coordinate. We arrive at the collective coordinate action as well as path
integral measure by considering D3 branes in an arbitrary LLM geometry. The
resulting functional integral is shown, using known methods (hep-th/9309028),
to be the classical limit of a functional integral for free fermions in a
harmonic oscillator. The function gets identified with the classical limit
of the Wigner phase space distribution of the fermion theory which satisfies u
* u = u. The calculation shows how configuration space of supergravity becomes
a phase space (hence noncommutative) in the half-BPS sector. Our method sheds
new light on counting supersymmetric configurations in supergravity.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures, epsf;(v3) eq. (3.3) clarified and notationally
simplified; version to appear in JHE
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