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Future outlook of people living alone with early-stage dementia and their non-resident relatives and friends who support them
Little is known about the experiences of people living alone with dementia in the community and their non-resident relatives and friends who support them. In this paper, we explore their respective attitudes and approaches to the future, particularly regarding the future care and living arrangements of those living with dementia. The study is based on a qualitative secondary analysis of interviews with 24 people living alone with early-stage dementia in North Wales, United Kingdom, and one of their relatives or friends who supported them. All but four of the dyads were interviewed twice over 12 months (a total of 88 interviews). In the analysis, it was observed that several people with dementia expressed the desire to continue living at home for ‘as long as possible’. A framework approach was used to investigate this theme in more depth, drawing on concepts from the existing studies of people living with dementia and across disciplines. Similarities and differences in the future outlook and temporal orientation of the participants were identified. The results support previousresearchsuggestingthat the future outlookofpeoplelivingwithearly-stagedementia can be interpreted in part as a response to their situation and a way of coping with the threats that it is perceived to present, and not just an impaired view of time. Priorities for future research are highlighted in the discussion
Implementation fidelity of a computer-assisted intervention for children with speech sound disorders
© 2017 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Background: Implementation fidelity refers to the degree to which an intervention or programme adheres to its original design. This paper examines implementation fidelity in the Sound Start Study, a clustered randomised controlled trial of computer-assisted support for children with speech sound disorders (SSD). Method: Sixty-three children with SSD in 19 early childhood centres received computer-assisted support (Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter [PFSS]–Australian version). Educators facilitated the delivery of PFSS targeting phonological error patterns identified by a speech-language pathologist. Implementation data were gathered via (1) the computer software, which recorded when and how much intervention was completed over 9 weeks; (2) educators’ records of practice sessions; and (3) scoring of fidelity (intervention procedure, competence and quality of delivery) from videos of intervention sessions. Result: Less than one-third of children received the prescribed number of days of intervention, while approximately one-half participated in the prescribed number of intervention plays. Computer data differed from educators’ data for total number of days and plays in which children participated; the degree of match was lower as data became more specific. Fidelity to intervention procedures, competency and quality of delivery was high. Conclusion: Implementation fidelity may impact intervention outcomes and so needs to be measured in intervention research; however, the way in which it is measured may impact on data
Magnetic and charge structures in itinerant-electron magnets: Coexistence of multiple SDW and CDW
A theory of Kondo lattices is applied to studying possible magnetic and
charge structures of itinerant-electron antiferromagnets. Even helical spin
structures can be stabilized when the nesting of the Fermi surface is not sharp
and the superexchange interaction, which arises from the virtual exchange of
pair excitations across the Mott-Hubbard gap, is mainly responsible for
magnetic instability. Sinusoidal spin structures or spin density waves (SDW)
are only stabilized when the nesting of the Fermi surface is sharp enough and a
novel exchange interaction arising from that of pair excitations of
quasi-particles is mainly responsible for magnetic instability. In particular,
multiple SDW are stabilized when their incommensurate ordering wave-numbers
are multiple; magnetizations of different components
are orthogonal to each other in double and triple SDW when magnetic anisotropy
is weak enough. Unless are commensurate, charge density waves
(CDW) with coexist with SDW with . Because the
quenching of magnetic moments by the Kondo effect depends on local numbers of
electrons, the phase of CDW or electron densities is such that magnetic moments
are large where the quenching is weak. It is proposed that the so called stipe
order in cuprate-oxide high-temperature superconductors must be the coexisting
state of double incommensurate SDW and CDW.Comment: 10 pages, no figure
Spin-Lattice Relaxation in Si Quantum Dots
We consider spin-lattice relaxation processes for electrons trapped in
lateral Si quantum dots in a inversion layer. Such dots are
characterized by strong confinement in the direction perpendicular to the
surface and much weaker confinement in the lateral direction. The spin
relaxation is assumed to be due to the modulation of electron -factor by the
phonon-induced strain, as was shown previously for the shallow donors. The
results clearly indicate that the specific valley structure of the ground
electron state in Si quantum dots causes strong anisotropy for both the
one-phonon and two-phonon spin relaxation rates. In addition, it gives rise to
a partial suppression of the two-phonon relaxation in comparison to the spin
relaxation of donor electrons.Comment: RevTex file, 3 PS figure
Electronic properties of ordered and disordered linear clusters of atoms and molecules
The electronic properties of one-dimensional clusters of N atoms or molecules
have been studied. The model used is similar to the Kronig-Penney model with
the potential offered by each ion being approximated by an attractive delta
function. The energy eigenvalues, the eigenstates and the density of states are
calculated exactly for a linear cluster of N atoms or molecules. The dependence
of these quantities on the various parameters of the problem show interesting
behavior. Effects of random distribution of the positions of the atoms and
random distribution of the strengths of the potential have also been studied.
The results obtained in this paper can have direct applications for linear
chain of atoms produced on metal surfaces or artificially created chain of
atoms by using scanning tunneling microscope or in studying molecular
conduction of electrons across one-dimensional barriers.Comment: A shorter version of this paper to be published in Physica
Aquatic food security:insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment
Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand
Variational and DMRG studies of the Frustrated Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg S=1 Quantum Spin Chain
We study a frustrated antiferromagnetic isotropic Heisenberg chain
using a variational ansatz and the DMRG. At , there is a
disorder point of the second kind, marking the onset of incommensurate
correlations in the chain. At there is a Lifshitz point,
at which the excitation spectrum develops a doubly degenerate structure. These
points are the quantum remnants of the transition from antiferromagnetic to
spiral order in the classical frustrated chain. At there
is a first order phase transition from an AKLT phase to a next-nearest neighbor
generalization of the AKLT model. At the transition, the string order parameter
shows a discontinuous jump of 0.085 to 0; the correlation length and the gap
are both finite at the transition. The problem of edge states in open
frustrated chains is discussed at length.Comment: 37 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.
Prospects for Constraining Cosmology with the Extragalactic Cosmic Microwave Background Temperature
Observers have demonstrated that it is now feasible to measure the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) temperature at high redshifts. We explore the
possible constraints on cosmology which might ultimately be derived from such
measurements. Besides providing a consistency check on standard and alternative
cosmologies, possibilities include: constraints on the inhomogeneity and
anisotropy of the universe at intermediate redshift ; an
independent probe of peculiar motions with respect to the Hubble flow; and
constraining the epoch of reionization. We argue that the best possibility is
as a probe of peculiar motions. We show, however, that the current measurement
uncertainty (K) in the local present absolute CMB
temperature imposes intrinsic limits on the use of such CMB temperature
measurements as a cosmological probe. At best, anisotropies at intermediate
redshift could only be constrained at a level of and peculiar
motions could only be determined to an uncertainty of km
s. If the high CMB temperature can only be measured with a precision
comparable to the uncertainty of the local interstellar CMB temperature, then
peculiar motions could be determined to an uncertainty of .Comment: 8 pages 2 Figures, PRD Submitte
Helioseismology of Sunspots: A Case Study of NOAA Region 9787
Various methods of helioseismology are used to study the subsurface
properties of the sunspot in NOAA Active Region 9787. This sunspot was chosen
because it is axisymmetric, shows little evolution during 20-28 January 2002,
and was observed continuously by the MDI/SOHO instrument. (...) Wave travel
times and mode frequencies are affected by the sunspot. In most cases, wave
packets that propagate through the sunspot have reduced travel times. At short
travel distances, however, the sign of the travel-time shifts appears to depend
sensitively on how the data are processed and, in particular, on filtering in
frequency-wavenumber space. We carry out two linear inversions for wave speed:
one using travel-times and phase-speed filters and the other one using mode
frequencies from ring analysis. These two inversions give subsurface wave-speed
profiles with opposite signs and different amplitudes. (...) From this study of
AR9787, we conclude that we are currently unable to provide a unified
description of the subsurface structure and dynamics of the sunspot.Comment: 28 pages, 18 figure
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