2,039 research outputs found
Perceptions of physiotherapists towards research: a mixed methods study
OBJECTIVES: To explore the perceptions of physiotherapists towards the use of and participation in research.
DESIGN: Concurrent mixed methods research, combining in-depth interviews with three questionnaires (demographics, Edmonton Research Orientation Survey, visual analogue scales for confidence and motivation to participate in research).
SETTING: One physiotherapy department in a rehabilitation hospital, consisting of seven specialised areas.
PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five subjects {four men and 21 women, mean age 38 [standard deviation (SD) 11] years} who had been registered as a physiotherapist for a mean period of 15 (SD 10) years participated in this study. They were registered with the New Zealand Board of Physiotherapy, held a current practising certificate, and were working as a physiotherapist or physiotherapy/allied health manager at the hospital.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome measure was in-depth interviews and the secondary outcome measures were the three questionnaires.
RESULTS: Physiotherapists were generally positive towards research, but struggled with the concept of research, the available literature and the time to commit to research. Individual confidence and orientation towards research seemed to influence how these barriers were perceived.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that physiotherapists struggle to implement research in their daily practice and become involved in research. Changing physiotherapists' conceptions of research, making it more accessible and providing dedicated research time could facilitate increased involvement in the physiotherapy profession
On the capacity and normalisation of ISI channels
[Abstract]: We investigate the capacity of various ISI channels with additive white Gaussian noise. Previous papers showed
a minimum Eb/N0 of −4.6 dB, 3 dB below the capacity of
a flat channel, is obtained using the water-pouring capacity
formulas for the 1 + D channel. However, these papers did
not take into account that the channel power gain can be
greater than unity when water-pouring is used. We present a
generic power normalization method of the channel frequency
response, namely peak bandwidth normalisation, to facilitate the fair capacity comparison of various ISI channels. Three types of ISI channel, i.e., adder channels, RC channels and magnetic recording channels, are examined. By using our channel power gain normalization, the capacity curves of these ISI channels are shown
Decision-support system for risk management of produced water in the offshore petroleum industry
A decision-support system for produced water management
(DISSPROWM) in offshore operations is being developed. The system
determines the risk and hazards to human and marine species from
non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic pollutants, including radionuclides present
in produced water. The DISSPROWM also evaluates the best available
treatment technology for treating the produced water whose properties are
in the database. The system consists of a Windows-based Graphical User
Interface (GUI) developed with Microsoft Visual Basic, which integrates a
SQL Server database, a risk assessment model and a dilution model for
produced water contaminants. The database contains most produced water
pollutants and their important properties that are required in dispersion and risk
assessment modelling. The database also contains current produced water
regulations and information on some of the selected existing treatment
technologies with typical cost data required in the decision-support system
A Bayesian approach to the follow-up of candidate gravitational wave signals
Ground-based gravitational wave laser interferometers (LIGO, GEO-600, Virgo
and Tama-300) have now reached high sensitivity and duty cycle. We present a
Bayesian evidence-based approach to the search for gravitational waves, in
particular aimed at the followup of candidate events generated by the analysis
pipeline. We introduce and demonstrate an efficient method to compute the
evidence and odds ratio between different models, and illustrate this approach
using the specific case of the gravitational wave signal generated during the
inspiral phase of binary systems, modelled at the leading quadrupole Newtonian
order, in synthetic noise. We show that the method is effective in detecting
signals at the detection threshold and it is robust against (some types of)
instrumental artefacts. The computational efficiency of this method makes it
scalable to the analysis of all the triggers generated by the analysis
pipelines to search for coalescing binaries in surveys with ground-based
interferometers, and to a whole variety of signal waveforms, characterised by a
larger number of parameters.Comment: 9 page
Studying stellar binary systems with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna using Delayed Rejection Markov chain Monte Carlo methods
Bayesian analysis of LISA data sets based on Markov chain Monte Carlo methods
has been shown to be a challenging problem, in part due to the complicated
structure of the likelihood function consisting of several isolated local
maxima that dramatically reduces the efficiency of the sampling techniques.
Here we introduce a new fully Markovian algorithm, a Delayed Rejection
Metropolis-Hastings Markov chain Monte Carlo method, to efficiently explore
these kind of structures and we demonstrate its performance on selected LISA
data sets containing a known number of stellar-mass binary signals embedded in
Gaussian stationary noise.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted in CQG (GWDAW-13 proceedings
Ionised gas kinematics in bipolar H II regions
Stellar feedback plays a fundamental role in shaping the evolution of galaxies. Here we explore the use of ionised gas kinematics in young, bipolar H II regions as a probe of early feedback in these star-forming environments. We have undertaken a multiwavelength study of a young, bipolar H II region in the Galactic disc, G, which lies at the centre of a massive ( M) infrared-dark cloud filament. It is still accreting molecular gas as well as driving a pc ionised gas outflow perpendicular to the filament. Intriguingly, we observe a large velocity gradient ( km s pc) across the ionised gas in a direction perpendicular to the outflow. This kinematic signature of the ionised gas shows a reasonable correspondence with the simulations of young H II regions. Based on a qualitative comparison between our observations and these simulations, we put forward a possible explanation for the velocity gradients observed in G. If the velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow is caused by rotation of the ionised gas, then we infer that this rotation is a direct result of the initial net angular momentum in the natal molecular cloud. If this explanation is correct, this kinematic signature should be common in other young (bipolar) H II regions. We suggest that further quantitative analysis of the ionised gas kinematics of young H II regions, combined with additional simulations, should improve our understanding of feedback at these early stages
Negative Quasi-Probability as a Resource for Quantum Computation
A central problem in quantum information is to determine the minimal physical
resources that are required for quantum computational speedup and, in
particular, for fault-tolerant quantum computation. We establish a remarkable
connection between the potential for quantum speed-up and the onset of negative
values in a distinguished quasi-probability representation, a discrete analog
of the Wigner function for quantum systems of odd dimension. This connection
allows us to resolve an open question on the existence of bound states for
magic-state distillation: we prove that there exist mixed states outside the
convex hull of stabilizer states that cannot be distilled to non-stabilizer
target states using stabilizer operations. We also provide an efficient
simulation protocol for Clifford circuits that extends to a large class of
mixed states, including bound universal states.Comment: 15 pages v4: This is a major revision. In particular, we have added a
new section detailing an explicit extension of the Gottesman-Knill simulation
protocol to deal with positively represented states and measurement (even
when these are non-stabilizer). This paper also includes significant
elaboration on the two main results of the previous versio
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