27,958 research outputs found
Stroke units: The implementation of a complex intervention
This article reports on selected findings from an action research study that looked at the lessons learnt from setting up a new in-patient stroke service in a London teaching hospital. Key participants in the design and evaluation of this 2-year study included members of the multi-professional stroke team and support staff within the unit, the hospital management team and representatives of patients and carers. Mixed methods (focus groups, indepth interviews, audits, documentary analysis, participant observation field notes) were used to generate data. Findings demonstrated positive change overtime with four main themes emerging from the process: building a team; developing practice-based knowledge and skills in stroke; valuing the central role of the nurse in stroke care; and creating an organisational climate for supporting change. The interplay of these non-linear, but interrelated factors is supported by complexity theory, which includes exploration of how the sum of a whole can be more than its constituent parts. Findings are likely to be of interest to practitioners, managers and policy makers interested in supporting change in a learning organisation
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Multimodal and ubiquitous computing systems: supporting independent-living older users
We document the rationale and design of a multimodal interface to a pervasive/ubiquitous computing system that supports independent living by older people in their own homes. The Millennium Home system involves fitting a residentâs home with sensors â these sensors can be used to trigger sequences of interaction with the resident to warn them about dangerous events, or to check if they need external help. We draw lessons from the design process and conclude the paper with implications for the design of multimodal interfaces to ubiquitous systems developed for the elderly and in healthcare, as well as for more general ubiquitous computing applications
Koszul-Tate Cohomology For an Sp(2)-Covariant Quantization of Gauge Theories with Linearly Dependent Generators
The anti-BRST transformation, in its Sp(2)-symmetric version, for the general
case of any stage-reducible gauge theories is implemented in the usual BV
approach. This task is accomplished not by duplicating the gauge symmetries but
rather by duplicating all fields and antifields of the theory and by imposing
the acyclicity of the Koszul-Tate differential. In this way the Sp(2)-covariant
quantization can be realised in the standard BV approach and its equivalence
with BLT quantization can be proven by a special gauge fixing procedure.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, To Be Published in International Journal of Modern
Physics
Analytic Treatment of Positronium Spin Splittings in Light-Front QED
We study the QED bound-state problem in a light-front hamiltonian approach.
Starting with a bare cutoff QED Hamiltonian, , with matrix elements
between free states of drastically different energies removed, we perform a
similarity transformation that removes the matrix elements between free states
with energy differences between the bare cutoff, , and effective
cutoff, \lam (\lam < \Lam). This generates effective interactions in the
renormalized Hamiltonian, . These effective interactions are derived
to order in this work, with . is renormalized
by requiring it to satisfy coupling coherence. A nonrelativistic limit of the
theory is taken, and the resulting Hamiltonian is studied using bound-state
perturbation theory (BSPT). The effective cutoff, \lam^2, is fixed, and the
limit, 0 \longleftarrow m^2 \alpha^2\ll \lam^2 \ll m^2 \alpha \longrightarrow
\infty, is taken. This upper bound on \lam^2 places the effects of
low-energy (energy transfer below \lam) emission in the effective
interactions in the sector. This lower bound on \lam^2
insures that the nonperturbative scale of interest is not removed by the
similarity transformation. As an explicit example of the general formalism
introduced, we show that the Hamiltonian renormalized to reproduces
the exact spectrum of spin splittings, with degeneracies dictated by rotational
symmetry, for the ground state through . The entire calculation is
performed analytically, and gives the well known singlet-triplet ground state
spin splitting of positronium, . We discuss remaining
corrections other than the spin splittings and how they can be treated in
calculating the spectrum with higher precision.Comment: 46 pages, latex, 3 Postscript figures included, section on remaining
corrections added, title changed, error in older version corrected, cutoff
placed in a windo
Embedding generic employability skills in an accounting degree: development and impediments
This paper explores and analyses the views of, and effects on, students of a project that integrated the development of employability skills within the small group classes of two compulsory courses in the first year of an accounting degree at a UK university. The project aimed to build, deliver and evaluate course materials designed to encourage the development of a broad range of employability skills: skills needed for life-long learning and a successful business career. By analysing students' opinions gathered from a series of focus groups spread throughout the year, three prominent skill areas of interest were identified: time management, modelling, and learning to learn. Further analysis highlighted the complex nature of skills development, and brought to light a range of impediments and barriers to both students' development of employability skills and their subject learning. The analysis suggests the need for accounting educators to see skills development as being an essential element of the path to providing a successful accounting education experience
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