791 research outputs found
Plate versus bulk trolley food service in a hospital: comparison of patients’ satisfaction
Objective
The aim of this research was to compare plate with bulk trolley food service in hospitals in terms of patient satisfaction. Key factors distinguishing satisfaction with each system would also be identified.
Methods
A consumer opinion card (n = 180), concentrating on the quality indicators of core foods, was used to measure patient satisfaction and compare two systems of delivery, plate and trolley. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to build a model that would predict food service style on the basis of the food attributes measured. Further investigation used multinomial logistic regression to predict opinion for the assessment of each food attribute within food service style.
Results
Results showed that the bulk trolley method of food distribution enables all foods to have a more acceptable texture, and for some foods (potato, P = 0.007; poached fish, P = 0.001; and minced beef, P ≤ 0.0005) temperature, and for other foods (broccoli, P ≤ 0.0005; carrots, P ≤ 0.0005; and poached fish, P = 0.001) flavor, than the plate system of delivery, where flavor is associated with bad opinion or dissatisfaction. A model was built indicating patient satisfaction with the two service systems.
Conclusion
This research confirms that patient satisfaction is enhanced by choice at the point of consumption (trolley system); however, portion size was not the controlling dimension. Temperature and texture were the most important attributes that measure patient satisfaction with food, thus defining the focus for hospital food service managers. To date, a model predicting patient satisfaction with the quality of food as served has not been proposed, and as such this work adds to the body of knowledge in this field. This report brings new information about the service style of dishes for improving the quality of food and thus enhancing patient satisfaction
Surface layering of liquids: The role of surface tension
Recent measurements show that the free surfaces of liquid metals and alloys
are always layered, regardless of composition and surface tension; a result
supported by three decades of simulations and theory. Recent theoretical work
claims, however, that at low enough temperatures the free surfaces of all
liquids should become layered, unless preempted by bulk freezing. Using x-ray
reflectivity and diffuse scattering measurements we show that there is no
observable surface-induced layering in water at T=298 K, thus highlighting a
fundamental difference between dielectric and metallic liquids. The
implications of this result for the question in the title are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B. 69 (2004
Mind, rationality, and cognition: an interdisciplinary debate
This article features an interdisciplinary debate and dialogue about the nature of mind, perception, and rationality. Scholars from a range of disciplines—cognitive science, applied and experimental psychology, behavioral economics, and biology—offer critiques and commentaries of a target article by Felin, Koenderink, and Krueger (2017): “Rationality, Perception, and the All-Seeing Eye,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. The commentaries raise a number of criticisms and issues concerning rationality and the all-seeing-eye argument, including the nature of judgment and reasoning, biases versus heuristics, organism–environment relations, perception and situational construal, equilibrium analysis in economics, efficient markets, and the nature of empirical observation and the scientific method. The debated topics have far-reaching consequences for the rationality literature specifically, as well as for the cognitive, psychological, and economic sciences more broadly. The commentaries are followed by a response from the authors of the target article. Their response is organized around three central issues: (1) the problem of cues; (2) what is the question?; and (3) equilibria, $500 bills, and the axioms of rationality
BF models, Duality and Bosonization on higher genus surfaces
The generating functional of two dimensional field theories coupled to
fermionic fields and conserved currents is computed in the general case when
the base manifold is a genus g compact Riemann surface. The lagrangian density
is written in terms of a globally defined 1-form and a
multi-valued scalar field . Consistency conditions on the periods of
have to be imposed. It is shown that there exist a non-trivial dependence of
the generating functional on the topological restrictions imposed to . In
particular if the periods of the field are constrained to take values , with any integer, then the partition function is independent of the
chosen spin structure and may be written as a sum over all the spin structures
associated to the fermions even when one started with a fixed spin structure.
These results are then applied to the functional bosonization of fermionic
fields on higher genus surfaces. A bosonized form of the partition function
which takes care of the chosen spin structure is obtainedComment: 17 page
Antihistaminic effect of Bauhinia racemosa leaves
Bauhinia racemosa Lam. (Caesalpiniaceae) leaves have been used in the treatment of asthma traditionally and we therefore undertook this study to scientifically validate its benefit in asthma using suitable animal models. Antihistaminic principles are known to be useful in the treatment of asthma; hence, in the present work, the antihistaminic activity of an ethanol extract of B. racemosa (at a dose of 50 mg/kg, i.p.) was assessed using clonidine-induced catalepsy and haloperidol-induced catalepsy in Swiss albino mice. The results showed that the ethanol extract inhibits clonidine-induced catalepsy but there is no effect on haloperidol-induced catalepsy. This suggests that the inhibition is through an antihistaminic action and that there is no role of dopamine. Hence, we concluded that the ethanol extract has significant antihistaminic activity. The polar constituents in the ethanol extract of leaves of B. racemosa may be responsible for the antihistaminic activity and B. racemosa may therefore have a role in the treatment of asthma
Local and Global Casimir Energies: Divergences, Renormalization, and the Coupling to Gravity
From the beginning of the subject, calculations of quantum vacuum energies or
Casimir energies have been plagued with two types of divergences: The total
energy, which may be thought of as some sort of regularization of the
zero-point energy, , seems manifestly divergent. And
local energy densities, obtained from the vacuum expectation value of the
energy-momentum tensor, , typically diverge near
boundaries. The energy of interaction between distinct rigid bodies of whatever
type is finite, corresponding to observable forces and torques between the
bodies, which can be unambiguously calculated. The self-energy of a body is
less well-defined, and suffers divergences which may or may not be removable.
Some examples where a unique total self-stress may be evaluated include the
perfectly conducting spherical shell first considered by Boyer, a perfectly
conducting cylindrical shell, and dilute dielectric balls and cylinders. In
these cases the finite part is unique, yet there are divergent contributions
which may be subsumed in some sort of renormalization of physical parameters.
The divergences that occur in the local energy-momentum tensor near surfaces
are distinct from the divergences in the total energy, which are often
associated with energy located exactly on the surfaces. However, the local
energy-momentum tensor couples to gravity, so what is the significance of
infinite quantities here? For the classic situation of parallel plates there
are indications that the divergences in the local energy density are consistent
with divergences in Einstein's equations; correspondingly, it has been shown
that divergences in the total Casimir energy serve to precisely renormalize the
masses of the plates, in accordance with the equivalence principle.Comment: 53 pages, 1 figure, invited review paper to Lecture Notes in Physics
volume in Casimir physics edited by Diego Dalvit, Peter Milonni, David
Roberts, and Felipe da Ros
Salinity tolerance of diapausing eggs of freshwater zooplankton
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73091/1/j.1365-2427.2004.01185.x.pd
Multimessenger astronomy with the Einstein Telescope
Gravitational waves (GWs) are expected to play a crucial role in the
development of multimessenger astrophysics. The combination of GW observations
with other astrophysical triggers, such as from gamma-ray and X-ray satellites,
optical/radio telescopes, and neutrino detectors allows us to decipher science
that would otherwise be inaccessible. In this paper, we provide a broad review
from the multimessenger perspective of the science reach offered by the third
generation interferometric GW detectors and by the Einstein Telescope (ET) in
particular. We focus on cosmic transients, and base our estimates on the
results obtained by ET's predecessors GEO, LIGO, and Virgo.Comment: 26 pages. 3 figures. Special issue of GRG on the Einstein Telescope.
Minor corrections include
Critical exponents and equation of state of the three-dimensional Heisenberg universality class
We improve the theoretical estimates of the critical exponents for the
three-dimensional Heisenberg universality class. We find gamma=1.3960(9),
nu=0.7112(5), eta=0.0375(5), alpha=-0.1336(15), beta=0.3689(3), and
delta=4.783(3). We consider an improved lattice phi^4 Hamiltonian with
suppressed leading scaling corrections. Our results are obtained by combining
Monte Carlo simulations based on finite-size scaling methods and
high-temperature expansions. The critical exponents are computed from
high-temperature expansions specialized to the phi^4 improved model. By the
same technique we determine the coefficients of the small-magnetization
expansion of the equation of state. This expansion is extended analytically by
means of approximate parametric representations, obtaining the equation of
state in the whole critical region. We also determine a number of universal
amplitude ratios.Comment: 40 pages, final version. In publication in Phys. Rev.
How Coupling Determines the Entrainment of Circadian Clocks
Autonomous circadian clocks drive daily rhythms in physiology and behaviour.
A network of coupled neurons, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), serves as a
robust self-sustained circadian pacemaker. Synchronization of this timer to the
environmental light-dark cycle is crucial for an organism's fitness. In a
recent theoretical and experimental study it was shown that coupling governs
the entrainment range of circadian clocks. We apply the theory of coupled
oscillators to analyse how diffusive and mean-field coupling affects the
entrainment range of interacting cells. Mean-field coupling leads to amplitude
expansion of weak oscillators and, as a result, reduces the entrainment range.
We also show that coupling determines the rigidity of the synchronized SCN
network, i.e. the relaxation rates upon perturbation. %(Floquet exponents). Our
simulations and analytical calculations using generic oscillator models help to
elucidate how coupling determines the entrainment of the SCN. Our theoretical
framework helps to interpret experimental data
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