The evidence-base for stroke education in care homes

<b>Summary.</b> <b>Research questions:</b> 1. What are registered care home nurses’ educational priorities regarding stroke care? 2. What are senior care home assistants’ educational priorities regarding stroke care? 3. How do care home nurses conceive stroke care will be delivered in 2010? <b>Study design:</b> This was a 2-year study using focus groups, stroke guidelines, professional recommendations and stroke literature for the development of a questionnaire survey for data collection. Workshops provided study feedback to participants. Data were collected in 2005–2006. <b>Study site:</b> Greater Glasgow NHS Health Board. <b>Population and sample:</b> A stratified random selection of 16 private, 3 voluntary and 6 NHS continuing care homes from which a sample of 115 trained nurses and 19 senior care assistants was drawn. <b>Results:</b> The overall response rate for care home nurses was 64.3% and for senior care assistants, 73.6%. Both care home nurses and senior care assistants preferred accredited stroke education. Care home nurses wanted more training in stroke assessment, rehabilitation and acute interventions whereas senior care assistants wanted more in managing depression, general stroke information and communicating with dysphasic residents. Senior care assistants needed more information on multidisciplinary team working while care home nurses were more concerned with ethical decision-making, accountability and goal setting. <b>Conclusions:</b> Care home staff need and want more stroke training. They are clear that stroke education should be to the benefit of their resident population. Guidelines on stroke care should be developed for care homes and these should incorporate support for continuing professional learning in relation to the resident who has had a stroke

Stroke education for healthcare professionals: making it fit for purpose

<b>Research questions:</b> 1. What are healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) educational priorities regarding stroke care? 2. Do stroke care priorities vary across the primary and secondary sectors? 3. How do HCPs conceive stroke care will be delivered in 2010? <b>Study design:</b> This was a two-year study using focus groups and interviews for instrument development, questionnaires for data collection and workshops to provide study feedback. Data were collected in 2005–06. <b>Study site:</b> One Scottish health board. <b>Inclusion criteria:</b> All National Health Service healthcare professionals working wherever stroke care occurred. <b>Population and sample:</b> Participants were drawn from 4 university teaching hospitals, 2 community hospitals, 1 geriatric medicine day hospital, 48 general practices (GPs), 12 care homes and 15 community teams. The sample comprised 155 doctors, 313 nurses, 133 therapists (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists), and 29 ‘other HCPs’ (14 dieticians, 7 pharmacists, 2 podiatrists and 6 psychologists). <b>Results:</b> HCPs prefer face-to-face, accredited education but blended approaches are required that accommodate uni- and multidisciplinary demands. Doctors and nurses are more inclined towards discipline-specific training compared to therapists and other healthcare professionals (HCPs). HCPs in primary care and stroke units want more information on the social impact of stroke while those working in stroke units in particular are concerned with leadership in the multidisciplinary team. Nurses are the most interested in teaching patients and carers. <b>Conclusions</b> Stroke requires more specialist stroke staff, the upskilling of current staff and a national education pathway given that stroke care is most effectively managed by specialists with specific clinical skills. The current government push towards a flexible workforce is welcome but should be educationally-sound and recognise the career aspirations of healthcare professionals

Monitoring Wind Turbine Loading Using Power Converter Signals

The ability to detect faults and predict loads on a wind turbine drivetrain's mechanical components cost-effectively is critical to making the cost of wind energy competitive. In order to investigate whether this is possible using the readily available power converter current signals, an existing permanent magnet synchronous generator based wind energy conversion system computer model was modified to include a grid-side converter (GSC) for an improved converter model and a gearbox. The GSC maintains a constant DC link voltage via vector control. The gearbox was modelled as a 3-mass model to allow faults to be included. Gusts and gearbox faults were introduced to investigate the ability of the machine side converter (MSC) current (I q) to detect and quantify loads on the mechanical components. In this model, gearbox faults were not detectable in the I q signal due to shaft stiffness and damping interaction. However, a model that predicts the load change on mechanical wind turbine components using I q was developed and verified using synthetic and real wind data

Evaluation of Synthetic Wind Speed Time Series for Reliability Analysis of Offshore Wind Farms

A method for synthesising wind speed time series (WSTS) from limited data is required that can be used for reliability examination of wind farms and maintenance strategies for a range of wind speed scenarios. Key characteristics of the wind resource need to be captured, including energy availability and maintenance weather windows. 4 WSTS simulators were used to produce synthetic WSTS based on benchmark data from a meteorological mast data at the offshore Egmond aan Zee wind farm in the Netherlands. These synthetic WSTS were compared with test criteria to determine their suitability for reliability analysis. This included comparing the synthetic WSTS to the benchmark data in terms of the energy availability in the wind and from a typical turbine, residence time at wind speeds, number of transitions between 1m/s wind speed bins, replication of seasonal characteristics including weather windows, and underlying statistical properties. Based on the chosen criteria, the most appropriate WSTS simulator was the modified Markov process. However, no modelling technique performed best against all criteria and none capture the autocorrelation function (ACF) as closely as desired. Therefore, there is scope for a more advanced technique for wind speed modelling for reliability analysis which combines the best aspects of the models used in this work

Impact of wind conditions on thermal loading of PMSG wind turbine power converters

Power converter reliability is critical for permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) wind turbines. Converter failures are linked to power module thermal loading but studies often neglect turbine dynamics, control and the impact of wind speed sampling rate on lifetime estimation. This paper addresses this using a 2MW direct-drive PMSG wind turbine model with a 2-level converter, and simulating junction temperatures (Tj) using a power module thermal equivalent circuit under various synthetic wind speed conditions. These synthetic wind conditions include constant and square wave profiles representing stable and gusty wind conditions. Responses to square wave wind speeds showed that the lower the gust frequency, the higher ∆Tj becomes, demonstrating that low turbulence sites have greater thermal variation in the converter. In contrast, wind speed variations with frequencies greater than 0.25Hz deliver only small increases in ∆Tj . It is concluded that reasonable approximations of Tj profiles can be made with 0.25Hz wind speed data, but that lower data rate wind measurements miss essential, damaging characteristics

Experimental Set-up for Applying Wind Turbine Operating Profiles to the Nacelle Power Converter

Studies have shown that the reliability of fully rated converters (FRC) in permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) wind turbines is critical. This paper outlines an experimental rig that applies PMSG wind turbine specific operating profiles to a machine side converter (MSC) power module. A number of test regimes have been designed to verify thermal models of the power module, validate the use of cycle life vs. Tj profile manufacturing data, and determine the wind turbine operational profiles that cause the most damage to the MSC

Biodiversity of nematode assemblages from the region of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, an area of commercial mining interest

BACKGROUND: The possibility for commercial mining of deep-sea manganese nodules is currently under exploration in the abyssal Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone. Nematodes have potential for biomonitoring of the impact of commercial activity but the natural biodiversity is unknown. We investigate the feasibility of nematodes as biomonitoring organisms and give information about their natural biodiversity. RESULTS: The taxonomic composition (at family to genus level) of the nematode fauna in the abyssal Pacific is similar, but not identical to, the North Atlantic. Given the immature state of marine nematode taxonomy, it is not possible to comment on the commonality or otherwise of species between oceans. The between basin differences do not appear to be directly linked to current ecological factors. The abyssal Pacific region (including the Fracture Zone) could be divided into two biodiversity subregions that conform to variations in the linked factors of flux to the benthos and of sedimentary characteristics. Richer biodiversity is associated with areas of known phytodetritus input and higher organic-carbon flux. Despite high reported sample diversity, estimated regional diversity is less than 400 species. CONCLUSION: The estimated regional diversity of the CCFZ is a tractable figure for biomonitoring of commercial activities in this region using marine nematodes, despite the immature taxonomy (i.e. most marine species have not been described) of the group. However, nematode ecology is in dire need of further study

Modelling and Evaluation of Wind Speed Time Series for Reliability Analysis of Offshore Wind Farms

This paper outlines proposed testing criteria for wind speed time series (WSTS) models. The objective is to assess their suitability for reliability analysis that is dependent on an accurate representation of weather patterns. Two WSTS models were analysed for their suitability against these criteria. The Markov model was found to be suitable for resource assessment, but would require modification before it could represent weather patterns, whilst the random sampling model could represent weather patterns more accurately, but could not be used for resource assessment