Acute care nurses' perceptions of barriers to using research information in clinical decision-making

Aim. To examine the barriers that nurses feel prevent them from using research in the decisions they make. Background. A sizeable research literature focusing on research utilization in nursing has developed over the past 20 years. However, this literature is characterized by a number of weaknesses: self-reported utilization behaviour; poor response rates and small, nonrandom sampling strategies. Design. Cross-case analysis involving anonymised qualitative interviews, observation, documentary audit and Q methodological modelling of shared subjectivities amongst nurses. The case sites were three large acute hospitals in the north of England. One hundred and eight nurses were interviewed, 61 of whom were also observed for a total of 180 h, and 122 nurses were involved in the Q modelling exercise (response rate of 64%). Results. Four perspectives were isolated that encompassed the characteristics associated with barriers to research use. These related to the individual, organization, nature of research information itself and environment. Nurses clustered around four main perspectives on the barriers to research use: (1) Problems in interpreting and using research products, which were seen as too complex, 'academic' and overly statistical; (2) Nurses who felt confident with research-based information perceived a lack of organizational support as a significant block; (3) Many nurses felt that researchers and research products lack clinical credibility and that they fail to offer the desired level of clinical direction; (4) Some nurses lacked the skills and, to a lesser degree, the motivation to use research themselves. These individuals liked research messages passed on to them by a third party and sought to foster others' involvement in research-based practice, rather than becoming directly involved themselves. Conclusions. Rejection of research knowledge is not a barrier to its application. Rather, the presentation and management of research knowledge in the workplace represent significant challenges for clinicians, policy-makers and the research community

A Far-Infrared Survey of Molecular Cloud Cores

We present a catalogue of molecular cloud cores drawn from high latitude, medium opacity clouds, using the all-sky IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) images at 60 and 100~$\mu$m. The typical column densities of the cores are $N(H_2)\sim 3.8 \times 10^{21}$cm$^{-2}$ and the typical volume densities are $n(H_2) \sim 2 \times 10^3$cm$^{-3}$. They are therefore significantly less dense than many other samples obtained in other ways. Those cloud cores with IRAS point sources are seen to be already forming stars, but this is found to be only a small fraction of the total number of cores. The fraction of the cores in the protostellar stage is used to estimate the prestellar timescale - the time until the formation of a hydrostatically supported protostellar object. We argue, on the basis of a comparison with other samples, that a trend exists for the prestellar lifetime of a cloud core to decrease with the mean column density and number density of the core. We compare this with model predictions and show that the data are consistent with star formation regulated by the ionisation fraction.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

The accessibility of research-based knowledge for nurses in United Kingdom acute care settings

Background. The successful dissemination of the results of the National Health Service (NHS) research and development strategy and the development of evidence based approaches to health care rely on clinicians having access to the best available evidence; evidence fit for the purpose of reducing the uncertainties associated with clinical decisions. Aim. To reveal the accessibility of those sources of information actually used by nurses, as well as those which they say they use. Design. Mixed method case site, using interview, observational, Q sort and documentary audit data in medical, surgical and coronary care units (CCUs) in three acute hospitals. Results. Three perspectives on accessibility were identified: (a) the humanist-in which human sources of information were the most accessible; (b) local information for local needs-in which locally produced resources were seen as the most accessible and (c) moving towards technology-in which information technology begins to be seen as accessible. Nurses' experience in a clinical specialty is positively associated with a perception that human sources such clinical nurse specialists, link nurses, doctors and experienced clinical colleagues are more accessible than text based sources. Clinical specialization is associated with different approaches to accessing research knowledge. Coronary care unit nurses were more likely perceive local guidelines, protocols and on-line databases as more accessible than their counterparts in general medical and surgical wards. Only a third of text-based resources available to nurses oil the wards had any explicit research base. These, and the remainder were Out of date (mean age of textbooks 11 years), and authorship hard to ascertain. Conclusion. A strategy to increase the use of research evidence by nurses should harness the influence of clinical nurse specialists, link nurses and those engaged in practice development. These roles Could act as 'conduits' through which research-based messages for practice, and information for clinical decision making, could flow. This role should be explored and enhanced

MARKET DEMANDS FOR BAGGED, REFRIGERATED SALADS

Sales of newly introduced bagged, refrigerated salads grew at over 50% annually, during 1994-95. Consumption of bagged salads displayed marked seasonality despite year-round availability and uniform quality at more stable prices than head lettuce. Using scanner data from 44 areas, a single-equation demand model incorporating the effects of weather on seasonal consumption is estimated. Statistical tests of aggregation indicate that weather-induced seasonality varies significantly across areas, as do own- and cross- price elasticities. Econometric results suggest more seasonality in eating by people living in more northern latitudes, a pattern also observed by psychiatrists studying eating disorders.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

TIME INTEGRATION: AGRIBUSINESS STRUCTURE FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Agribusiness,

Design of optimized three-dimensional thrust nozzle contours

Design of optimized three-dimensional thrust nozzle contour

Fully Coherent X-ray Pulses from a Regenerative Amplifier Free Electron Laser

We propose and analyze a novel regenerative amplifier free electron laser (FEL) to produce fully coherent x-ray pulses. The method makes use of narrow-bandwidth Bragg crystals to form an x-ray feedback loop around a relatively short undulator. Self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) from the leading electron bunch in a bunch train is spectrally filtered by the Bragg reflectors and is brought back to the beginning of the undulator to interact repeatedly with subsequent bunches in the bunch train. The FEL interaction with these short bunches not only amplifies the radiation intensity but also broadens its spectrum, allowing for effective transmission of the x-rays outside the crystal bandwidth. The spectral brightness of these x-ray pulses is about two to three orders of magnitude higher than that from a single-pass SASE FEL.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

On the nature of QPO in the tail of SGR giant flares

A model is presented for the quasiperiodic component of magnetar emission during the tail phase of giant flares. The model invokes modulation of the particle number density in the magnetosphere. The magnetospheric currents are modulated by torsional motion of the surface and we calculate that the amplitude of neutron star surface oscillation should be ~1% of the NS radius in order to produce the observed features in the power spectrum. Using an axisymmetric analytical model for structure of the magnetosphere of an oscillating NS, we calculate the angular distribution of the optical depth to the resonant Compton scattering. The anisotropy of the optical depth may be why QPO are observed only at particular rotational phases.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, emulateapj styl

Spinor Dynamics-Driven Formation of a Dual-Beam Atom Laser

We demonstrate a novel dual-beam atom laser formed by outcoupling oppositely polarized components of an F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate whose Zeeman sublevel populations have been coherently evolved through spin dynamics. The condensate is formed through all-optical means using a single-beam running-wave dipole trap. We create a condensate in the field-insensitive $m_F=0$ state, and drive coherent spin-mixing evolution through adiabatic compression of the initially weak trap. Such dual beams, number-correlated through the angular momentum-conserving reaction $2m_0\leftrightharpoons m_{+1}+m_{-1}$, have been proposed as tools to explore entanglement and squeezing in Bose-Einstein condensates, and have potential use in precision phase measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Optical waveguide arrays: quantum effects and PT symmetry breaking

Over the last two decades, advances in fabrication have led to significant progress in creating patterned heterostructures that support either carriers, such as electrons or holes, with specific band structure or electromagnetic waves with a given mode structure and dispersion. In this article, we review the properties of light in coupled optical waveguides that support specific energy spectra, with or without the effects of disorder, that are well-described by a Hermitian tight-binding model. We show that with a judicious choice of the initial wave packet, this system displays the characteristics of a quantum particle, including transverse photonic transport and localization, and that of a classical particle. We extend the analysis to non-Hermitian, parity and time-reversal ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric Hamiltonians which physically represent waveguide arrays with spatially separated, balanced absorption or amplification. We show that coupled waveguides are an ideal candidate to simulate $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonians and the transition from a purely real energy spectrum to a spectrum with complex conjugate eigenvalues that occurs in them.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, Invited Review for European Physics Journal - Applied Physic