2,493 research outputs found
Some effects of ultraviolet radiation on the pathogenicity of Botrytis fabae, Uromyces fabae and Erysiphe graminis
RESP-378
Lessons from the evaluation of the UK's NHS R&D Implementation Methods Programme
Background: Concern about the effective use of research was a major factor behind the creation
of the NHS R&D Programme in 1991. In 1994, an advisory group was established to identify
research priorities in research implementation. The Implementation Methods Programme (IMP)
flowed from this, and its commissioning group funded 36 projects. In 2000 responsibility for the
programme passed to the National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and
Organisation R&D, which asked the Health Economics Research Group (HERG), Brunel University,
to conduct an evaluation in 2002. By then most projects had been completed. This evaluation was
intended to cover: the quality of outputs, lessons to be learnt about the communication strategy
and the commissioning process, and the benefits from the projects.
Methods: We adopted a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods. They included:
documentary analysis, interviews with key actors, questionnaires to the funded lead researchers,
questionnaires to potential users, and desk analysis.
Results: Quantitative assessment of outputs and dissemination revealed that the IMP funded useful
research projects, some of which had considerable impact against the various categories in the
HERG payback model, such as publications, further research, research training, impact on health
policy, and clinical practice.
Qualitative findings from interviews with advisory and commissioning group members indicated
that when the IMP was established, implementation research was a relatively unexplored field. This
was reflected in the understanding brought to their roles by members of the advisory and
commissioning groups, in the way priorities for research were chosen and developed, and in how
the research projects were commissioned. The ideological and methodological debates associated
with these decisions have continued among those working in this field. The need for an effective
communication strategy for the programme as a whole was particularly important. However, such
a strategy was never developed, making it difficult to establish the general influence of the IMP as a
programme.
Conclusion: Our findings about the impact of the work funded, and the difficulties faced by those
developing the IMP, have implications for the development of strategic programmes of research in
general, as well as for the development of more effective research in this field
A Local Moment Approach to magnetic impurities in gapless Fermi systems
A local moment approach is developed for the single-particle excitations of a
symmetric Anderson impurity model (AIM), with a soft-gap hybridization
vanishing at the Fermi level with a power law r > 0. Local moments are
introduced explicitly from the outset, and a two-self-energy description is
employed in which the single-particle excitations are coupled dynamically to
low-energy transverse spin fluctuations. The resultant theory is applicable on
all energy scales, and captures both the spin-fluctuation regime of strong
coupling (large-U), as well as the weak coupling regime. While the primary
emphasis is on single particle dynamics, the quantum phase transition between
strong coupling (SC) and (LM) phases can also be addressed directly; for the
spin-fluctuation regime in particular a number of asymptotically exact results
are thereby obtained. Results for both single-particle spectra and SC/LM phase
boundaries are found to agree well with recent numerical renormalization group
(NRG) studies. A number of further testable predictions are made; in
particular, for r < 1/2, spectra characteristic of the SC state are predicted
to exhibit an r-dependent universal scaling form as the SC/LM phase boundary is
approached and the Kondo scale vanishes. Results for the `normal' r = 0 AIM are
moreover recovered smoothly from the limit r -> 0, where the resultant
description of single-particle dynamics includes recovery of Doniach-Sunjic
tails in the Kondo resonance, as well as characteristic low-energy Fermi liquid
behaviour.Comment: 52 pages, 19 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matte
The demand for sports and exercise: Results from an illustrative survey
Funding from the Department of Health policy research programme was used in this study.There is a paucity of empirical evidence on the extent to which price and perceived benefits affect the level of participation in sports and exercise. Using an illustrative sample of 60 adults at Brunel University, West London, we investigate the determinants of demand for sports and exercise. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews that covered indicators of sports and exercise behaviour; money/time price and perceived benefits of participation; and socio- economic/demographic details. Count, linear and probit regression models were fitted as appropriate. Seventy eight per cent of the sample participated in sports and exercise and spent an average of £27 per month and an average of 20 min travelling per occasion of sports and exercise. The demand for sport and exercise was negatively associated with time (travel or access time) and ‘variable’ price and positively correlated with ‘fixed’ price. Demand was price inelastic, except in the case of meeting the UK government’s recommended level of participation, which is time price elastic (elasticity = −2.2). The implications of data from a larger nationally representative sample as well as the role of economic incentives in influencing uptake of sports and exercise are discussed.This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund
The information sources and journals consulted or read by UK paediatricians to inform their clinical practice and those which they consider important: a questionnaire survey
Background: Implementation of health research findings is important for medicine to be
evidence-based. Previous studies have found variation in the information sources thought to be of greatest importance to clinicians but publication in peer-reviewed journals is the traditional route for dissemination of research findings. There is debate about whether the impact made on clinicians should be considered as part of the evaluation of research outputs. We aimed to determine first which information sources are generally most consulted by paediatricians to inform their clinical practice, and which sources they considered most important, and second, how many and which peer-reviewed journals they read.
Methods: We enquired, by questionnaire survey, about the information sources and academic
journals that UK medical paediatric specialists generally consulted, attended or read and
considered important to their clinical practice.
Results: The same three information sources – professional meetings & conferences, peerreviewed
journals and medical colleagues – were, overall, the most consulted or attended and ranked the most important. No one information source was found to be of greatest importance to all groups of paediatricians. Journals were widely read by all groups, but the proportion ranking them first in importance as an information source ranged from 10% to 46%. The number of journals read varied between the groups, but Archives of Disease in Childhood and BMJ were the most read
journals in all groups. Six out of the seven journals previously identified as containing best paediatric evidence are the most widely read overall by UK paediatricians, however, only the two most prominent are widely read by those based in the community.
Conclusion: No one information source is dominant, therefore a variety of approaches to
Continuing Professional Development and the dissemination of research findings to paediatricians should be used. Journals are an important information source. A small number of key ones can be identified and such analysis could provide valuable additional input into the evaluation of clinical research outputs
Specific heat of Ce_{0.8}La_{0.2}Al_{3} in magnetic fields: a test of the anisotropic Kondo picture
The specific heat C of Ce_{0.8}La_{0.2}Al_{3} has been measured as a function
of temperature T in magnetic fields up to 14 T. A large peak in C at 2.3 K has
recently been ascribed to an anisotropic Kondo effect in this compound. A 14-T
field depresses the temperature of the peak by only 0.2 K, but strongly reduces
its height. The corresponding peak in C/T shifts from 2.1 K at zero field to
1.7 K at 14 T. The extrapolated specific heat coefficient C/T(T->0) increases
with field over the range studied. We show that these trends are inconsistent
with the anisotropic Kondo model.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, ReVTeX + eps
Attention-dependent modulation of cortical taste circuits revealed by granger causality with signal-dependent noise
We show, for the first time, that in cortical areas, for example the insular, orbitofrontal, and lateral prefrontal cortex, there is signal-dependent noise in the fMRI blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) time series, with the variance of the noise increasing approximately linearly with the square of the signal. Classical Granger causal models are based on autoregressive models with time invariant covariance structure, and thus do not take this signal-dependent noise into account. To address this limitation, here we describe a Granger causal model with signal-dependent noise, and a novel, likelihood ratio test for causal inferences. We apply this approach to the data from an fMRI study to investigate the source of the top-down attentional control of taste intensity and taste pleasantness processing. The Granger causality with signal-dependent noise analysis reveals effects not identified by classical Granger causal analysis. In particular, there is a top-down effect from the posterior lateral prefrontal cortex to the insular taste cortex during attention to intensity but not to pleasantness, and there is a top-down effect from the anterior and posterior lateral prefrontal cortex to the orbitofrontal cortex during attention to pleasantness but not to intensity. In addition, there is stronger forward effective connectivity from the insular taste cortex to the orbitofrontal cortex during attention to pleasantness than during attention to intensity. These findings indicate the importance of explicitly modeling signal-dependent noise in functional neuroimaging, and reveal some of the processes involved in a biased activation theory of selective attention
Comparing cancer mortality and GDP health expenditure in England and Wales with other major developed countries from 1979 to 2006
AirConstellations: In-Air Device Formations for Cross-Device Interaction via Multiple Spatially-Aware Armatures
AirConstellations supports a unique semi-fixed style of cross-device interactions via multiple self-spatially-aware armatures to which users can easily attach (or detach) tablets and other devices. In particular, AirConstellations affords highly flexible and dynamic device formations where the users can bring multiple devices together in-air - with 2-5 armatures poseable in 7DoF within the same workspace - to suit the demands of their current task, social situation, app scenario, or mobility needs. This affords an interaction metaphor where relative orientation, proximity, attaching (or detaching) devices, and continuous movement into and out of ad-hoc ensembles can drive context-sensitive interactions. Yet all devices remain self-stable in useful configurations even when released in mid-air. We explore flexible physical arrangement, feedforward of transition options, and layering of devices in-air across a variety of multi-device app scenarios. These include video conferencing with flexible arrangement of the person-space of multiple remote participants around a shared task-space, layered and tiled device formations with overview+detail and shared-to-personal transitions, and flexible composition of UI panels and tool palettes across devices for productivity applications. A preliminary interview study highlights user reactions to AirConstellations, such as for minimally disruptive device formations, easier physical transitions, and balancing "seeing and being seen"in remote work
Exactly solvable toy models of unconventional magnetic alloys: Bethe Ansatz versus Renormalization Group method
We propose toy models of unconventional magnetic alloys, in which the density
of band states, , and hybridization, , are energy
dependent; it is assumed, however, that
, and hence an effective
electron-impurity coupling is
energy independent. In the renormalization group approach, the physics of the
system is assumed to be governed by only rather than by
separate forms of and . However, an exact Bethe
Ansatz solution of the toy Anderson model demonstrates a crucial role of a form
of inverse band dispersion .Comment: A final version. A previous one has been sent to Archive because of
my technical mistake. Sorr
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