A first order iteration process for simultaneous equations

First order iteration process for solutions of simultaneous equation

Perspectives on financial incentives to health service providers for increasing breast feeding and smoking quit rates during pregnancy: a mixed methods study

Objective: To explore the acceptability, mechanisms and consequences of provider incentives for smoking cessation and breast feeding as part of the Benefits of Incentives for Breastfeeding and Smoking cessation in pregnancy (BIBS) study. Design: Cross-sectional survey and qualitative interviews. Setting: Scotland and North West England. Participants: Early years professionals: 497 survey respondents included 156 doctors; 197 health visitors/maternity staff; 144 other health staff. Qualitative interviews or focus groups were conducted with 68 pregnant/postnatal women/family members; 32 service providers; 22 experts/decision-makers; 63 conference attendees. Methods: Early years professionals were surveyed via email about the acceptability of payments to local health services for reaching smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding targets. Agreement was measured on a 5-point scale using multivariable ordered logit models. A framework approach was used to analyse free-text survey responses and qualitative data. Results: Health professional net agreement for provider incentives for smoking cessation targets was 52.9% (263/497); net disagreement was 28.6% (142/497). Health visitors/maternity staff were more likely than doctors to agree: OR 2.35 (95% CI 1.51 to 3.64; p<0.001). Net agreement for provider incentives for breastfeeding targets was 44.1% (219/497) and net disagreement was 38.6% (192/497). Agreement was more likely for women (compared with men): OR 1.81 (1.09 to 3.00; p=0.023) and health visitors/maternity staff (compared with doctors): OR 2.54 (95% CI 1.65 to 3.91; p<0.001). Key emergent themes were 'moral tensions around acceptability', 'need for incentives', 'goals', 'collective or divisive action' and 'monitoring and proof'. While provider incentives can focus action and resources, tensions around the impact on relationships raised concerns. Pressure, burden of proof, gaming, box-ticking bureaucracies and health inequalities were counterbalances to potential benefits. Conclusions: Provider incentives are favoured by non-medical staff. Solutions which increase trust and collaboration towards shared goals, without negatively impacting on relationships or increasing bureaucracy are required

Prevention of corn oats smut

Since the admirable experiments of Jensen in Denmark, Dr . J. C. Arthur, of Indiana,1 and Profs. Kellerman and Swingle in Kansas,2 there is no longer any doubt as to the advisability of treating to prevent oats smut and bunt of wheat with hot water. Kellerman and Swingle3 have shown that loose smut of wheat cannot be prevented by treating the seed. They also conducted a series of experiments to determine whether com smut can be prevented by treating the seed. Their results show that the treated contained as much smut as the check. The same year Pammel4 reported an experiment with corn in which the results were also of a negative character. This was in line with results of Brefeld’s5 investigations, but overlooked by the writer at that time. Brefeld’s work indicates that smut of corn can enter any merismatic or growing tissue

Specific gravity and weight of wheat seeds.

Little work has been done in this country on the specific weights of our seeds. Such studies have been made of European wheats by Harz1, Nobbe2, Koemicke and Werner3, and others. Our work was started primarily to determine the influence latitude and climate had on the germination of seeds, but as there appeared to be so much difference in the size of wheat, it occurred to us that a study of the specific gravity and number of seeds per pound and bushel might be of interest

Statistical properties of an ensemble of vortices interacting with a turbulent field

We develop an analytical formalism to determine the statistical properties of a system consisting of an ensemble of vortices with random position in plane interacting with a turbulent field. We calculate the generating functional by path-integral methods. The function space is the statistical ensemble composed of two parts, the first one representing the vortices influenced by the turbulence and the second one the turbulent field scattered by the randomly placed vortices.Comment: Third version; Important corrections in the normalization for the gas of vortices, et

Properties of Intercalated 2H-NbSe2, 4Hb-TaS2 and 1T-TaS2

The layered compounds 2H-NbSe, 24Hb-TaS, 2and 1T-TaS2 have been intercalated with organic molecules; and the resulting crystal structure, heat capacity, conductivity, and superconductivity have been studied. The coordination in the disulfide layers was found to be unchanged in the product phase. Resistance minima appear and the superconducting transition temperature is reduced in the NbSe2 complex. Conversely, superconductivity is induced in the 4Hb-TaS2 complex. Corresponding evidence of a large change of the density of states, negative for 2H-NbSe2 and positive for 4Hb-TaS2, was also observed upon intercalation. The transport properties of all the intercalation complexes show a pronounced dependence upon the coordination of the transition metal

The romantic movement in French literature: traced by a series of texts

xi, 249 p

Non-Linear N-Parameter Spacetime Perturbations: Gauge Transformations

We introduce N-parameter perturbation theory as a new tool for the study of non-linear relativistic phenomena. The main ingredient in this formulation is the use of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula. The associated machinery allows us to prove the main results concerning the consistency of the scheme to any perturbative order. Gauge transformations and conditions for gauge invariance at any required order can then be derived from a generating exponential formula via a simple Taylor expansion. We outline the relation between our novel formulation and previous developments.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, RevTeX 4.0. Revised version to match version published in PR

The D153del mutation in GNB3 gene causes tissue specific signalling patterns and an abnormal renal morphology in rge chickens

Background The GNB3 gene is expressed in cone but not rod photoreceptors of vertebrates, where it acts as the β transducin subunit in the colour visual transduction process. A naturally occurring mutation ‘D153del’ in the GNB3 gene causes the recessively inherited blinding phenotype retinopathy globe enlarged (rge) disease in chickens. GNB3 is however also expressed in most other vertebrate tissues suggesting that the D153del mutation may exert pathological effects that outlie from eye. Principal Findings Recombinant studies in COS-7 cells that were transfected with normal and mutant recombinant GNB3 constructs and subjected to cycloheximide chase showed that the mutant GNB3d protein had a much shorter half life compared to normal GNB3. GNB3 codes for the Gβ3 protein subunit that, together with different Gγ and Gα subunits, activates and regulates phosphorylation cascades in different tissues. As expected, the relative levels of cGMP and cAMP secondary messengers and their activated kinases such as MAPK, AKT and GRK2 were also found to be altered significantly in a tissue specific manner in rge chickens. Histochemical analysis on kidney tissue sections, from rge homozygous affected chickens, showed the chickens had enlargement of the glomerular capsule, causing glomerulomegaly and tubulointerstitial inflammation whereas other tissues (brain, heart, liver, pancreas) were unaffected. Significance These findings confirm that the D153del mutation in GNB3 gene targets GNB3 protein to early degradation. Lack of GNB3 signalling causes reduced phosphorylation activity of ERK2 and AKT leading to severe pathological phenotypes such as blindness and renal abnormalities in rge chickens