The strongly regular (45,12,3,3) graphs

Using two backtrack algorithms based on dierent techniques, designed and implemented independently, we were able to determine up to isomorphism all strongly regular graphs with parameters v = 45, k = 12, λ = μ = 3. It turns out that there are 78 such graphs, having automorphism groups with sizes ranging from 1 to 51840

A time-lagged analysis of the effect of authentic leadership on workplace bullying, burnout, and occupational turnover intentions

Destructive interpersonal experiences at work result in negative feelings among employees and negative work outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms through which bullying can lead to burnout and subsequent turnover is important for preventing and managing this problem. Leaders play a key role in shaping positive work environments by discouraging negative interpersonal experiences and behaviours. The aim of this study is twofold. Specifically we aim to examine the relationship between authentic leadership and new graduate nurses experiences of workplace bullying and burnout over a 1-year timeframe in Canadian healthcare settings. Furthermore we aim to examine the process from workplace bullying to subsequent burnout dimensions, and to job and career turnover intentions. Results of structural equation models on new graduate nurses working in acute care settings in Ontario (N = 205) provide support for the hypothesized model linking supervisor's authentic leadership, subsequent work-related bullying, and burnout, and these in turn to job and career turnover intentions. Thus, the more leaders were perceived to be authentic the less likely nurses’ were to experience subsequent work-related bullying and burnout and to want to leave their job and profession. The results highlight the important role of leadership in preventing negative employee and organizational outcomes

Tackling disinvestment in health care services

Rising levels of demand due to ageing populations and increases in long term conditions (White 2007), increased levels of expectation amongst patients and inflationary pressure caused by the rising cost of new technologies are amongst the explanations for the funding shortfalls in government funded health systems across the world (Newhouse 1992). The challenge facing these health systems has also been intensified by the worldwide economic downturn. Within health systems, efforts have been made to increase productivity and efficiency and to control costs without reducing quality (Garner and Littlejohns 2011) but the scale of the task necessitates further action (Donaldson et al. 2010). Beyond productivity and efficiency gains the next logical step for decision makers is disinvestment in cost-ineffective services, prioritisation of funding for one service over another or what Prasad (2012) refers to as ‘medical reversal’. The aims of this study were to explore the experiences of budget holders within the English National Health Service (NHS) in their attempts to implement programmes of disinvestment, and to consider factors which influence the success (or otherwise) of this activity. This paper begins with clarification of terminology and a summary of the current state of knowledge with regard to health service disinvestment, before presenting and discussing findings. The research suggests that disinvestment activity is varied across organisations and ranges from ‘invest to save’ schemes through to ‘true disinvestment.’ Although the majority of interviewees accept that disinvestment is necessary most had made little progress at the time of interview beyond ‘picking the low hanging fruit’. Interviewees identify a number of determinants of disinvestment such as: local/national relationships, co-ordination/ collaboration and; professional understanding and support

Magnetospheric influence on the Moon\u27s exosphere

[1] Atoms in the thin lunar exosphere are liberated from the Moon\u27s regolith by some combination of sunlight, plasma, and meteorite impact. We have observed exospheric sodium, a useful tracer species, on five nights of full Moon in order to test the effect of shielding the lunar surface from the solar wind plasma by the Earth\u27s magnetosphere. These observations, conducted under the dark sky conditions of lunar eclipses, have turned out to be tests of the differential effects of energetic particle populations that strike the Moon\u27s surface when it is in the magnetotail. We find that the brightness of the lunar sodium exosphere at full Moon is correlated with the Moon\u27s passage through the Earth\u27s magnetotail plasma sheet. This suggests that omnipresent exospheric sources (sunlight or micrometeors) are augmented by variable plasma impact sources in the solar wind and Earth\u27s magnetotail

Validation and determination of a reference interval for Canine HbA1c using an immunoturbidimetric assay

Background: Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) provides a reliable measure of glycemic control over 2–3 months in human diabetes mellitus. In dogs, presence of HbA1c has been demonstrated, but there are no validated commercial assays. Objective: The purpose of the study was to validate a commercially available automated immunoturbidimetric assay for canine HbA1c and determine an RI in a hospital population. Methods: The specificity of the assay was assessed by inducing glycosylation in vitro using isolated canine hemoglobin, repeatability by measuring canine samples 5 times in succession, long term inter-assay imprecision by measuring supplied control materials, stability using samples stored at 4°C over 5 days and −20°C over 8 weeks, linearity by mixing samples of known HbA1c in differing proportions, and the effect of anticoagulants with paired samples. An RI was determined using EDTA-anticoagulated blood samples from 60 nondiabetic hospitalized animals of various ages and breeds. Hemoglobin A1c was also measured in 10 diabetic dogs. Results: The concentration of HbA1c increased proportionally with glucose concentration in vitro. For repeat measurements, the CV was 4.08% (range 1.16–6.10%). Samples were stable for 5 days at 4°C. The assay was linear within the assessed range. Heparin- and EDTA-anticoagulated blood provided comparable results. The RI for HbA1c was 9–18.5 mmol/mol. There was no apparent effect of age or breed on HbA1c. In diabetic dogs, HbA1c ranged from 14 to 48 mmol/mol. Conclusions: The assay provides a reliable method for canine HbA1c measurement with good analytic performance

On the standing wave mode of giant pulsations

Both odd-mode and even-mode standing wave structures have been proposed for giant pulsations. Unless a conclusion is drawn on the field-aligned mode structure, little progress can be made in understanding the excitation mechanism of giant pulsations. In order to determine the standing wave mode, we have made a systematic survey of magnetic field data from the AMPTE CCE spacecraft and from ground stations located near the geomagnetic foot point of CCE. We selected time intervals when CCE was close to the magnetic equator and also magnetically close to Syowa and stations in Iceland, and when either transverse or compressional Pc 4 waves were observed at CCE. Magnetograms from the ground stations were then examined to determine if there was a giant pulsation in a given time interval. One giant pulsation was associated with a compressional wave, while no giant pulsation was observed in association with transverse wave events. The CCE magnetic field record for the giant pulsation exhibited a remarkable similarity to a giant pulsation observed from the ATS 6 geostationary satellite near the magnetic equator (Hillebrand et al., 1982). In agreement with Hillebrand et al., we conclude that the compressional nature of the giant pulsation is due to an odd-mode standing wave structure. This conclusion places a strong constraint on the generation mechanism of giant pulsations. In particular, if giant pulsations are excited through the drift bounce resonance of ions with standing Alfvén waves, ω - mωd = ±Nωb, where ω is the wave frequency, m is the azimuthal wave number, ωd is the ion drift frequency,N is an integer, and ωb is the ion bounce frequency, then the resonance must occur at an even N

Modeling radiation belt radial diffusion in ULF wave fields: 2. Estimating rates of radial diffusion using combined MHD and particle codes

[1] Quantifying radial transport of radiation belt electrons in ULF wave fields is essential for understanding the variability of the trapped relativistic electrons. To estimate the radial diffusion coefficients (DLL), we follow MeV electrons in realistic magnetospheric configurations and wave fields calculated from a global MHD code. We create idealized pressure-driven MHD simulations for controlled solar wind velocities (hereafter referred to as pressure-driven Vx simulations) with ULF waves that are comparable to GOES data under similar conditions, by driving the MHD code with synthetic pressure profiles that mimic the pressure variations of a particular solar wind velocity. The ULF wave amplitude, in both magnetic and electric fields, increases at larger radial distance and during intervals with higher solar wind velocity and pressure fluctuations. To calculate DLL as a function of solar wind velocity (Vx = 400 and 600 km/s), we follow 90 degree pitch angle electrons in magnetic and electric fields of the pressure-driven Vx simulations. DLL is higher at larger radial distance and for the case with higher solar wind velocity and pressure variations. Our simulated DLL values are relatively small compared to previous studies which used larger wave fields in their estimations. For comparison, we scale our DLL values to match the wave amplitudes of the previous studies with those of the idealized MHD simulations. After the scaling, our DLL values for Vx = 600 km/s are comparable to theDLL values derived from Polar measurements during nonstorm intervals. This demonstrates the use of MHD models to quantify the effect of pressure-driven ULF waves on radiation belt electrons and thus to differentiate the radial diffusive process from other mechanisms

AMPTE/CCE‐SCATHA simultaneous observations of substorm‐associated magnetic fluctuations

This study examines substorm-associated magnetic field fluctuations observed by the AMPTE/CCE and SCATHA satellites in the near-Earth tail. Three tail reconfiguration events are selected, one event on August 28, 1986, and two consecutive events on August 30, 1986. The fractal analysis was applied to magnetic field measurements of each satellite. The result indicates that (1) the amplitude of the fluctuation of the north-south magnetic component is larger, though not overwhelmingly, than the amplitudes of the other two components and (2) the magnetic fluctuations do have a characteristic timescale, which is several times the proton gyroperiod. In the examined events the satellite separation was less than 10 times the proton gyroradius. Nevertheless, the comparison between the AMPTE/CCE and SCATHA observations indicates that (3) there was a noticeable time delay between the onsets of the magnetic fluctuations at the two satellite positions, which is too long to ascribe to the propagation of a fast magnetosonic wave, and (4) the coherence of the magnetic fluctuations was low in the August 28, 1986, event and the fluctuations had different characteristic timescales in the first event of August 30, 1986, whereas some similarities can be found for the second event of August 30, 1986. Result 1 indicates that perturbation electric currents associated with the magnetic fluctuations tend to flow parallel to the tail current sheet and are presumably related to the reduction of the tail current intensity. Results 2 and 3 suggest that the excitation of the magnetic fluctuations and therefore the trigger of the tail current disruption is a kinetic process in which ions play an important role. It is inferred from results 3 and 4 that the characteristic spatial scale of the associated instability is of the order of the proton gyroradius or even shorter, and therefore the tail current disruption is described as a system of chaotic filamentary electric currents. However, result 4 suggests that the nature of the tail current disruption can vary from event to event

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on reporting of rape, serious sexual offences, and domestic abuse in one English police force

Research suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic reports of rapes and serious sexual offences to the authorities have declined while calls to domestic violence helplines have soared. This article focuses on the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on reporting to the police in cases of rape, serious sexual offences and domestic abuse in one police force in England. Data from the force’s crime reporting system was provided from 2018 to 2021, including over 10,000 reports of rapes and serious sexual offences and over 5,000 reports of domestic abuse. An Interrupted Time Series analysis was used to evaluate the impact of lockdown on reporting rates, with segmented regression to measure the changes in reporting before and after the start of the pandemic in March 2020. This article is the first of its kind to explore the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and domestic violence at more than an aggregate level, demonstrating how COVID-19 has had a variable impact on different groups of victims, and how stay at home orders specifically have impacted on reporting rates. These data provide novel and valuable insights into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reporting of sexual violence and domestic abuse

The strongly regular (45,12,3,3) graphs

Using two backtrack algorithms based on dierent techniques, designed and implemented independently, we were able to determine up to isomorphism all strongly regular graphs with parameters v = 45, k = 12, λ = μ = 3. It turns out that there are 78 such graphs, having automorphism groups with sizes ranging from 1 to 51840