4,425 research outputs found
Stafford Beer in memoriam â âan argument of changeâ three decades on.
Purpose
This paper is written in memory of the late Stafford Beer. The paper engages with only one dimension of the whole man: Stafford Beer as the diagnostician and prognostician of the social conditions that he so keenly observed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper revisits a talk that Stafford Beer gave, over three decades ago, to administrators of the UK National Health Service (NHS). It uses the content of the talk, entitled âHealth and Quiet Breathingâ, to diagnose the problems that have been encountered in the development of NHS information management strategies. The paper concludes with some brief personal recollections of Stafford Beer as a friend and as a teacher.
Findings
The paper finds Stafford Beerâs managerial cybernetics to be a useful tool in understanding many of the problems that have beset NHS information management strategies: lack of operational research, problems in the commodification of information, financial scandal, and bureaucracy. In its examination of these issues, the paper recognises Stafford Beerâs status as a legatee of not only Norbert Wiener, but also of the great philosophers.
Value
The paper demonstrates how the problem-orientation of Stafford Beerâs managerial cybernetics continues to be fresh and relevant to todayâs society and provides a brief portrait of him both as a friend and as a teacher
On the Equivalence of Geometric and Analytic K-Homology
We give a proof that the geometric K-homology theory for finite CW-complexes
defined by Baum and Douglas is isomorphic to Kasparov's K-homology. The proof
is a simplification of more elaborate arguments which deal with the geometric
formulation of equivariant K-homology theory.Comment: 29 pages, v4: corrected definition of E in proof of Prop 3.
Imagining an ideal school for wellbeing: Locating student voice
ePublications@SCU is an electronic repository administered by Southern Cross University Library. Its goal is to capture and preserve the intellectual output of Southern Cross University authors and researchers, and to increase visibility and impact through open access to researchers around the world. For further information please contac
Dust in stationary and flowing plasmas
This thesis contains work of a computational and theoretical nature. The floating
potential of dust grains immersed in plasma is investigated via particle-in-cell
simulation for a range of parameters. In particular, work is focused on the charging
of grains large with respect to the electron Debye length. Numerical fits are given for
the floating potential of large grains in stationary and flowing plasma. A modified
version of the well known orbit-motion-limited (OML) theory is developed for large
dust grains. The modified OML theory is shown to be in good agreement with
simulation. This modified theory is then adapted for use with flowing plasmas. In
the case of flowing plasma, for low ion temperatures and flow speeds upwards of
Mach 1, interesting and unexpected effects are seen in the potential and density
distribution around dust grains, these are investigated and discussed. Finally, the
application of this work is outlined with particular focus on dust grains in a
tokamak plasma environment
A qualitative study of parents' experiences using family support services: applying the concept of surface and depth
UK policy and practice endorses family support for child well-being. Achieving such support requires multi-agency approaches, that consider all aspects of parentsâ and childrenâs lives and which offer practical, social and emotional help. The potential for services to make a positive impact on parents and their families will depend in part on the level and nature of engagement. In this paper a case is made for the application of the two-part âsurface and depthâ concept for understanding how practitioners engage with families and how they might improve the chances of supporting sustainable differences for parents and families. To illustrate, qualitative data from a review of family centre support provided by a north of England local authority, are presented. The review was commissioned to explore why families often need to re-engage with intensive support services. Data are drawn from interviews with parents (n=18, recruited following a survey of all those registered with the service during April â May 2009) and discussions with family centre support workers (n=4) and following thematic analysis three dominant themes emerged: âresources availableâ, âstaff approachâ and âreal lifeâ, were appraised in light of the âsurface and depthâ concept. Much of the work with parents effectively dealt with pressing needs. This felt gratifying for both parent and worker and supported immediate service engagement. However, each noted that the more complex issues in parentsâ lives went unchallenged and thus the sustainability of progress in terms of parenting practice was questionable. A âstrengths focusedâ approach by staff, that understood needs in the context of parentsâ âreal lifeâ circumstances was important to parent engagement. Thus, longer term benefits from family support requires practitioners to work with parents to problem solve immediate issues whilst also digging deeper to acknowledge and seek to resolve the more complex challenges parents face in their real lives
Daniel Royot, lâHumour et la culture amĂ©ricaine
Daniel Royot, lâHumour et la culture amĂ©ricain
Topological tunneling with Dynamical overlap fermions
Tunneling between different topological sectors with dynamical chiral
fermions is difficult because of a poor mass scaling of the pseudo-fermion
estimate of the determinant. For small fermion masses it is virtually
impossible using standard methods. However, by projecting out the small Wilson
eigenvectors from the overlap operator, and treating the correction determinant
exactly, we can significantly increase the rate of topological sector tunneling
and reduce substantially the auto-correlation time. We present and compare a
number of different approaches, and advocate a method which allows topological
tunneling even at low mass with little addition to the computational cost.Comment: 17 pages; v2 as accepted in computer Physics Communication
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