The ConStratO model of handover: a tool to support technology design and evaluation

Handovers are a specific kind of multidisciplinary team meeting. Shift handovers and transfers are both regular features of hospital work but there is currently great variation in how such handovers are conducted, presenting a challenging for those seeking to develop technology to support handover. This paper presents the ConStratO model of handover, which captures aspects of the context that influence how the handover is conducted, a range of different handover strategies relating to different aspects of the handover, and possible outcomes of handover. The model is based on detailed data collection in a range of clinical settings. We present the model as a tool for developing and evaluating technology support for handover

Extragalactic Zeeman Detections in OH Megamasers

We have measured the Zeeman splitting of OH megamaser emission at 1667 MHz from five (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ([U]LIRGs) using the 305 m Arecibo telescope and the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. Five of eight targeted galaxies show significant Zeeman-splitting detections, with 14 individual masing components detected and line-of-sight magnetic field strengths ranging from ~0.5-18 mG. The detected field strengths are similar to those measured in Galactic OH masers, suggesting that the local process of massive star formation occurs under similar conditions in (U)LIRGs and the Galaxy, in spite of the vastly different large-scale environments. Our measured field strengths are also similar to magnetic field strengths in (U)LIRGs inferred from synchrotron observations, implying that milligauss magnetic fields likely pervade most phases of the interstellar medium in (U)LIRGs. These results provide a promising new tool for probing the astrophysics of distant galaxies.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal v680n2, June 20, 2008; corrected 2 typo

Safe use of symbols in handover documentation for medical teams

Concern has been reported about the safe use of medical abbreviations in documents such as handover sheets and medical notes, especially when information is being communicated between staff of different specialties (BBC 2008, Sheppard et al. 2008). This article describes a study to investigate whether the use of symbols in handover documentation that is shared within and between multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) has similar safety implications. We asked 19 healthcare professionals from a range of specialties to identify 45 different combinations of 38 individual symbols. The symbols and combinations of symbols were extracted from 102 handover sheets taken from 6 different healthcare contexts in 4 London hospitals. Three symbols proposed in Microsoft's Common User Interface guidelines for alert symbols were also included. Results reveal that while some symbols are well understood, many others are either ambiguous or unknown. These results have implications for the safe use of symbols in medical documents, including paper and electronic handover documents and Electronic Patient Records (EPRs), especially where teams comprise individuals from different professional backgrounds, i.e. MDTs. We offer initial suggestions for standardisation and further research

The source of topography across the Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada : differential exhumation of a North Atlantic rift flank

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Semantic categories underlying the meaning of ‘place’

This paper analyses the semantics of natural language expressions that are associated with the intuitive notion of ‘place’. We note that the nature of such terms is highly contested, and suggest that this arises from two main considerations: 1) there are a number of logically distinct categories of place expression, which are not always clearly distinguished in discourse about ‘place’; 2) the many non-substantive place count nouns (such as ‘place’, ‘region’, ‘area’, etc.) employed in natural language are highly ambiguous. With respect to consideration 1), we propose that place-related expressions should be classified into the following distinct logical types: a) ‘place-like’ count nouns (further subdivided into abstract, spatial and substantive varieties), b) proper names of ‘place-like’ objects, c) locative property phrases, and d) definite descriptions of ‘place-like’ objects. We outline possible formal representations for each of these. To address consideration 2), we examine meanings, connotations and ambiguities of the English vocabulary of abstract and generic place count nouns, and identify underlying elements of meaning, which explain both similarities and differences in the sense and usage of the various terms

Shared visiting in Equator city

In this paper we describe an infrastructure and prototype system for sharing of visiting experiences across multiple media. The prototype supports synchronous co-visiting by physical and digital visitors, with digital access via either the World Wide Web or 3-dimensional graphics

Step-wise development of resilient ambient campus scenarios

This paper puts forward a new approach to developing resilient ambient applications. In its core is a novel rigorous development method supported by a formal theory that enables us to produce a well-structured step-wise design and to ensure disciplined integration of error recovery measures into the resulting implementation. The development method, called AgentB, uses the idea of modelling database to support a coherent development of and reasoning about several model views, including the variable, event, role, agent and protocol views. This helps system developers in separating various modelling concerns and makes it easier for future tool developers to design a toolset supporting this development. Fault tolerance is systematically introduced during the development of various model views. The approach is demonstrated through the development of several application scenarios within an ambient campus case study conducted at Newcastle University (UK) as part of the FP6 RODIN project. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg