836 research outputs found
The Economic Costs and Benefits of Dental Education: An Empirical Analysis
The rising costs associated with obtaining a dental education have caused some to question the financial benefit of pursuing a dental degree. There is a concern that recent graduates may have difficulty finding professional opportunities that provide the income necessary to service their accumulated educational debt. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trends in educational costs to aid in making an accurate appraisal of the financial benefit of a dental education. Adjusted into constant dollar terms, data from a variety of sources were collected for economic variables such as tuition, fees, student indebtedness, and dentists’ earnings. These variables were then analyzed to determine the true costs and benefits of obtaining a dental education. The results showed that, over the course of the last decade, educational costs increased faster than the real net income of practicing dentists, which led to a decline in the return on investment in dental education. However, regardless of an applicant’s choice of public or private dental school, there continues to be a positive economic return on students’ commitment of both financial resources and time to receive a dental education
Beef production: potential and output in mid-Canterbury
Climate and pasture production in mid-Canterbury have
been discussed by Rickard (1968). Under “dryland” farming
conditions, pasture
of some 110 to 130 aBys when production is very low
reduction is-limited by (1) winters
and (2) dry periods of variable incidence and duration
during the remainder of the year. These latter not only
restrict output every year but also result in a large “between
years ’ variation in annual pasture production. However,
adequate irrigation eliminates the dry periods and
results in pasture production characterized by :
(1) A higher annual production of some 9,000 to 10,000
lb D.M. per acre.
(2) A very low variability between years.
(3) Well-spread production within the growing season.
(4) Approximately half of total growth occurring after January 1.
For the livestock farmer, the implications of these changes
are very great.
The pattern of irrigated pasture reduction was shown
to coincide more closely with the feed requirements of a
beef-breeding herd than with those of a prime-lamb ewe
flock. However, as more calves become available from increased
cow herds in the foothills and high country, and
these are augmented by calves bred on dairy farms, it
seems probable that beef production on the easier country
will become concentrated on finishing, rather than on
breeding. This paper outlines experimental work into
finishing beef cattle at Winchmore Irrigation Research
Station and considers the potential for beef production
in mid-Canterbury in the light of the results obtained
The VOICE Study: Valuing Opinions, Individual Communication and Experience: Building the evidence base for undertaking patient-centred family meetings in palliative care - a mixed methods study
Background: Despite family meetings being widely used to facilitate discussion among patients, families, and clinicians in palliative care, there is limited evidence to support their use. This study aims to assess the acceptability and feasibility of Patient-Centred Family Meetings in specialist inpatient palliative care units for patients, families, and clinicians and determine the suitability and feasibility of validated outcome measures from the patient and family perspectives.
Methods: The study is a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design with pre-planned Patient-Centred Family Meetings at the intervention site. The patient will set the meeting agenda a priori allowing an opportunity for their issues to be prioritised and addressed. At the control site, usual care will be maintained which may include a family meeting. Each site will recruit 20 dyads comprising a terminally ill inpatient and their nominated family member. Pre- and post-test administration of the Distress Thermometer, QUAL-EC, QUAL-E, and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 will assess patient and family distress and satisfaction with quality of life. Patient, family, and clinician interviews post-meeting will provide insights into the meeting feasibility and outcome measures. Recruitment percentages and outcome measure completion will also inform feasibility. Descriptive statistics will summarise pre- and post-meeting data generated by the outcome measures. SPSS will analyse the quantitative data. Grounded theory will guide the qualitative data analysis.
Discussion: This study will determine whether planned Patient-Centred Family Meetings are feasible and acceptable and assess the suitability and feasibility of the outcome measures. It will inform a future phase III randomised controlled trial.
Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12616001083482 on 11 August 201
Lagrangian multiform structure for the lattice Gel'fand-Dikii hierarchy
The lattice Gel'fand-Dikii hierarchy was introduced by Nijhoff, Papageorgiou,
Capel and Quispel in 1992 as the family of partial difference equations
generalizing to higher rank the lattice Korteweg-de Vries systems, and includes
in particular the lattice Boussinesq system. We present a Lagrangian for the
generic member of the lattice Gel'fand-Dikii hierarchy, and show that it can be
considered as a Lagrangian 2-form when embedded in a higher dimensional
lattice, obeying a closure relation. Thus the multiform structure proposed in
arXiv:0903.4086v2 [nlin.SI] is extended to a multi-component system.Comment: 12 page
Effects of Self-field and Low Magnetic Fields on the Normal-Superconducting Phase Transition
Researchers have studied the normal-superconducting phase transition in the
high- cuprates in a magnetic field (the vortex-glass or Bose-glass
transition) and in zero field. Often, transport measurements in "zero field"
are taken in the Earth's ambient field or in the remnant field of a magnet. We
show that fields as small as the Earth's field will alter the shape of the
current vs. voltage curves and will result in inaccurate values for the
critical temperature and the critical exponents and , and can
even destroy the phase transition. This indicates that without proper screening
of the magnetic field it is impossible to determine the true zero-field
critical parameters, making correct scaling and other data analysis impossible.
We also show, theoretically and experimentally, that the self-field generated
by the current flowing in the sample has no effect on the current vs. voltage
isotherms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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