Orientation to mission: Assessing the perceptions of effectiveness of an in-house orientation program focussed on mission, vision and values within a large-scale, not-for-profit, private hospital

St John of God Healthcare (SJGHC), as a large Catholic, not-for-profit, healthcare provider, has explicit statements which reflect the Mission, Vision and Values of the organisation. New employees receive a comprehensive induction and orientation program, part of which includes ensuring new recruits are conversant with the Mission, Vision and Values. This program is deemed as formation, rather than training, to reflect a desire for the input to have a direct and personal impact on new employees, to increase their motivation and engagement with the ideals of the organisation. This research attempted to measure the perceived efficacy of the Mission component of Orientation at one particular SJGHC site, the hospital located in Subiaco, Western Australia, through both participant surveys and interviews. The results of 120 surveys were analysed and 16 semi-structured interviews were used to validate and probe information obtained from the participant surveys. Importantly, the research demonstrated that the session was perceived as valuable by participants and showed an increase in knowledge. This research has led to further ongoing research to determine if the perceptions of patients and their visitors align with staff perceptions of the way Mission is integrated in to the life of this hospital. The latter work will provide an important adjunct to this project since the work of hospital staff is ultimately not measured by individual staff members’ knowledge, attitude or intentions, but by how their work impacts on the patients and their visitors

Infrared Photometry and Dust Absorption in Highly Inclined Spiral Galaxies

We present JHK surface photometry of 15 highly inclined, late-type (Sab-Sc) spirals and investigate the quantitative effects of dust extinction. Using the (J - H, H - K) two-color diagram, we compare the color changes along the minor axis of each galaxy to the predictions from different models of radiative transfer. Models in which scattering effects are significant and those with more than a small fraction of the light sources located near the edge of the dust distribution do not produce enough extinction to explain the observed color gradients across disk absorption features. The optical depth in dust near the plane as deduced from the color excess depends sensitively on the adopted dust geometry, ranging from tau = 4 to 15 in the visual band. This suggests that a realistic model of the dust distribution is required, even for infrared photometry, to correct for dust extinction in the bulges of nearly edge-on systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in the March 1996 AJ. LaTex source which generates 27 pages of text and tables (no figures). Complete (text + figs) compressed Postscript preprint is also available at ftp://bessel.mps.ohio-state.edu/pub/terndrup/inclined.ps.Z (854 Mbyte

The geomorphological setting of some of Scotland's east coast freshwater mills: a comment on Downward and Skinner (2005) ‘Working rivers: the geomorphological legacy...’

Many of the water mills on Scotland's east coast streams, unlike those discussed recently by Downward and Skinner (2005 Area 37 138–47), are found in predominantly bedrock reaches immediately downstream of knickpoints (i.e. bedrock steps). Bedrock knickpoints in the lower reaches of Scottish rivers are a widespread fluvial response to the glacio-isostatic rebound of northern Britain. These steps in the river profile propagate headward over time, but for intervals of a few centuries or so they are sufficiently stable to be exploited for the elevational fall necessary to power the mill wheel. Many of these mills were apparently powered by ‘run-of-the-river’, as are some today that formerly had mill dams. The typical lack of sediment storage along the erosional lower reaches of many Scottish rivers means that failure of mill structures in Scotland will probably have less dramatic geomorphological and management implications than those suggested by Downward and Skinner for southern English rivers

Exclusion process for particles of arbitrary extension: Hydrodynamic limit and algebraic properties

The behaviour of extended particles with exclusion interaction on a one-dimensional lattice is investigated. The basic model is called $\ell$-ASEP as a generalization of the asymmetric exclusion process (ASEP) to particles of arbitrary length $\ell$. Stationary and dynamical properties of the $\ell$-ASEP with periodic boundary conditions are derived in the hydrodynamic limit from microscopic properties of the underlying stochastic many-body system. In particular, the hydrodynamic equation for the local density evolution and the time-dependent diffusion constant of a tracer particle are calculated. As a fundamental algebraic property of the symmetric exclusion process (SEP) the SU(2)-symmetry is generalized to the case of extended particles

Mathematical modelling of ethanol metabolism in normal subjects and chronic alcohol misusers

The time course of ethanol disappearance from the blood has been examined in normal males and females and in alcohol misusers. Blood alcohol estimations were made over a period of 3 hr, following an oral dose of ethanol (0.8 g/kg body weight) administered in the form of whisky. Attempts were made to fit the data to zero order, first order and mixed zero + first order kinetics. In the majority (75%) of normal females the blood ethanol concentration was still increasing at 30 min. This was only seen in 50% of normal males and in 50% of non-dependent alcohol misusers, but not in dependent alcohol misusers. In all of the normal females the disappearance of ethanol could be adequately described by zero order kinetics. However, in the normal male group only 20% could be described by zero order kinetics, 10% fitted first order kinetics and the remainder required a mixed model of zero + first order. The rate constant for the zero order component of the control male group was identical to zero order rate constant obtained for the female control group. In the female alcohol misuser group, 40% of the curves could not be described by zero order kinetics and fitted best to a mixed model. The zero order component of the entire group was significantly increased (by 35%) compared to that obtained for the female control group. In the male dependent and non-dependent alcohol misuser groups, all blood alcohol concentration curves fitted best to mixed zero and first order kinetics. However, no significant differences were noted in the values of the kinetic parameters when compared with the male control group. It is suggested that the zero order component of the blood alcohol concentration curves is due to the action of liver alcohol dehydrogenase and the first order component represents redistribution to the tissues. The presence or absence of a first order component is attributed to differences in absorption rates from the gut

Decadal trends in aerosol chemical composition at Barrow, Alaska: 1976–2008

Aerosol measurements at Barrow, Alaska during the past 30 years have identified the long range transport of pollution associated with Arctic Haze as well as ocean-derived aerosols of more local origin. Here, we focus on measurements of aerosol chemical composition to assess (1) trends in Arctic Haze aerosol and implications for source regions, (2) the interaction between pollution-derived and ocean-derived aerosols and the resulting impacts on the chemistry of the Arctic boundary layer, and (3) the response of aerosols to a changing climate. Aerosol chemical composition measured at Barrow, AK during the Arctic haze season is compared for the years 1976–1977 and 1997–2008. Based on these two data sets, concentrations of non-sea salt (nss) sulfate (SO<sub>4</sub><sup>=</sup>) and non-crustal (nc) vanadium (V) have decreased by about 60% over this 30 year period. Consistency in the ratios of nss SO<sub>4</sub><sup>=</sup>/ncV and nc manganese (Mn)/ncV between the two data sets indicates that, although emissions have decreased in the source regions, the source regions have remained the same over this time period. The measurements from 1997–2008 indicate that, during the haze season, the nss SO<sub>4</sub><sup>=</sup> aerosol at Barrow is becoming less neutralized by ammonium (NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>) yielding an increasing sea salt aerosol chloride (Cl<sup>−</sup>) deficit. The expected consequence is an increase in the release of Cl atoms to the atmosphere and a change in the lifetime of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including methane. In addition, summertime concentrations of biogenically-derived methanesulfonate (MSA<sup>−</sup>) and nss SO<sub>4</sub><sup>=</sup> are increasing at a rate of 12 and 8% per year, respectively. Further research is required to assess the environmental factors behind the increasing concentrations of biogenic aerosol

The Local Effects of Cosmological Variations in Physical 'Constants' and Scalar Fields I. Spherically Symmetric Spacetimes

We apply the method of matched asymptotic expansions to analyse whether cosmological variations in physical `constants' and scalar fields are detectable, locally, on the surface of local gravitationally bound systems such as planets and stars, or inside virialised systems like galaxies and clusters. We assume spherical symmetry and derive a sufficient condition for the local time variation of the scalar fields that drive varying constants to track the cosmological one. We calculate a number of specific examples in detail by matching the Schwarzschild spacetime to spherically symmetric inhomogeneous Tolman-Bondi metrics in an intermediate region by rigorously construction matched asymptotic expansions on cosmological and local astronomical scales which overlap in an intermediate domain. We conclude that, independent of the details of the scalar-field theory describing the varying `constant', the condition for cosmological variations to be measured locally is almost always satisfied in physically realistic situations. The proof of this statement provides a rigorous justification for using terrestrial experiments and solar system observations to constrain or detect any cosmological time variations in the traditional `constants' of Nature.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures; corrected typo

The Case for an Accelerating Universe from Supernovae

The unexpected faintness of high-redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), as measured by two teams, has been interpreted as evidence that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. We review the current challenges to this interpretation and seek to answer whether the cosmological implications are compelling. We discuss future observations of SNe Ia which could offer extraordinary evidence to test acceleration.Comment: To appear as an Invited Review for PASP 20 pages, 13 figure