Complexity and coherence

Leslie Topp traces the emergence of the asylum mortuary as an architectural challenge. Drawing on new archival research, Complexity and Coherence: The Challenge of the Asylum Mortuary in Central Europe, 1898–1908 unpacks the highly fraught combination of scientific practices, death rituals, and psychiatric strategies that made up the mortuary's program. Topp analyzes three mortuary buildings in new psychiatric institutions at Vienna, Mauer-Öhling (Lower Austria), and Kroměříž (Moravia). Far from conforming to an established type, each building represents a radically different approach to the challenge of rendering the program's abrupt juxtapositions meaningful and coherent. In each case the building is conceived within the force field of Wagner School modernism, but the contrasting built results show the diversity of that modernism pushed to its limits by the complexity of the program's requirements and associations

Potential economic gains from using forage legumes in organic livestock systems in northern Europe

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference of the Colloquium of Organic Researchers (COR). Forage legumes, with their ability to fix nitrogen biologically, seem especially attractive for organic livestock production. In an attempt to assess their true potential, this study draws on a four-year trial conducted at 12 sites in northern Europe with four different forage legumes. One third of the sites were managed as organic systems, with the harvested forage being fed as silage to dairy cows. Based on the trial results, an economic assessment has been made of the potential of forage legumes to improve the competitive edge of organic dairy systems, relative to conventional grass-based ones. Although the results suggest that the organic milk price premium plays a major role in determining the comparative profitability of organic dairy systems, the use of forage legumes also gives a significant cost advantage to organic production

Understanding Stress In The Operating Room: A Step Toward Improving The Work Environment

Job-related stress is an important factor predicting staff satisfaction and position turnover among nursing staff, particularly in the operating room. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived amount of stress elicited by events in the perioperative environment, the frequency of those events, and the impact of those events on the perceived stress of operating room nurses (ORNs) and operating room technologists (ORTs). The Survey on Stress in the OR instrument, which was used to query the subjects, exhibited high internal consistency of all items. The findings indicated that the ORNs and the ORTs exhibited remarkable similarities between stressful events perceived as high and low impact. The two groups agreed that the highest impact stressful event was pressure to work more quickly. Using the results of this study, OR administrators may be able to redesign the OR environment to minimize the impact of stressful events and thereby improve job satisfaction and minimize nursing staff turnover

Steady-state thermodynamics of non-interacting transport beyond weak coupling

We investigate the thermodynamics of simple (non-interacting) transport models beyond the scope of weak coupling. For a single fermionic or bosonic level -- tunnel-coupled to two reservoirs -- exact expressions for the stationary matter and energy current are derived from the solutions of the Heisenberg equations of motion. The positivity of the steady-state entropy production rate is demonstrated explicitly. Finally, for a configuration in which particles are pumped upwards in chemical potential by a downward temperature gradient, we demonstrate that the thermodynamic efficiency of this process decreases when the coupling strength between system and reservoirs is increased, as a direct consequence of the loss of a tight coupling between energy and matter currents.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in EP

Implementation of a Virtual Journal Club in a Clinical Nursing Setting

Healthcare practice is increasingly focused on delivering care that is based on published research evidence. Staff development nurses can institute journal clubs to teach nursing staff critical appraisal of research articles and ways to translate research findings into clinical practice. Unfortunately, attending meetings regularly is often a challenge for nurses, and relatively few have the knowledge and expertise to adequately critique research articles. One way to bridge the limitations of accessibility and limited research expertise of journal club members is to establish a virtual journal club. This article describes one hospital\u27s experience with developing a virtual journal club

Modelling Agricultural Diffuse Pollution: CAP – WFD Interactions and Cost Effectiveness of Measures

Within the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the design of effective and sustainable agricultural and water resources management policies presents multiple challenges. This paper presents a methodological framework that will be used to identify synergies and trade-offs between the CAP and the WFD in relation to their economic and water resources environmental effects, and to assess the cost-effectiveness of measures to control water pollution, in a representative case study catchment in Scotland. The approach is based on the combination of a biophysical simulation model (CropSyst) with a mathematical programming model (FSSIM-MP), so as to provide a better understanding and representation of the economic and agronomic/environmental processes that take place within the agricultural system.Bio-economic Modelling, Water Framework Directive, Common Agricultural Policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,