15,943 research outputs found
The use of professional portfolios and profiles for career enhancement.
Since 1995, registered nurses and midwives have been obliged to develop and maintain a professional portfolio of evidence reflecting the learning activities that they have undertaken and how these have informed and influenced their practice. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that rather then just a retrospective account of continuing professional development activities, a portfolio can be used as a vehicle for engaging in self-assessment and personal development planning. Possible structures and type of evidence are explored and portfolios in the context of gaining accreditation for prior experiential learning, and in particular for those nurses in advanced clinical roles, are discussed
Economic Interpretations of Intergenerational Correlations
Economic theory offers interpretations of intergenerational correlations that are different from the theories of other disciplines, and have important policy implications. Our paper presents a subset of those theories, and shows how they are consistent with observed mobility patterns as they vary across countries, demographic groups, and economic status measure. The data may suggest that the economic approach overemphasizes credit constraints, although more work is needed to further develop some of the alternative economic models. We also show how, in the models, 'progressive' policy may reduce mobility depending on how the policy is administered and how mobility is measured.
Quantitative Determination of the Adiabatic Condition Using Force-Detected Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
The adiabatic condition governing cyclic adiabatic inversion of proton spins
in a micron-sized ammonium chloride crystal was studied using room temperature
nuclear magnetic resonance force microscopy. A systematic degradation of
signal-to-noise was observed as the adiabatic condition became violated. A
theory of adiabatic following applicable to cyclic adiabatic inversion is
reviewed and implemented to quantitatively determine an adiabaticity threshold
from our experimental results.Comment: 5 pages, 3 fig
Targeting of anionic membrane species by lanthanide(III) complexes: towards improved MRI contrast agents for apoptosis
No abstract available
Magnetocaloric effect in Gd/W thin film heterostructures
In an effort to understand the impact of nanostructuring on the
magnetocaloric effect, we have grown and studied gadolinium in MgO/W(50
)/[Gd(400 )/W(50 )]
heterostructures. The entropy change associated with the second order magnetic
phase transition was determined from the isothermal magnetization for numerous
temperatures and the appropriate Maxwell relation. The entropy change peaks at
a temperature of 284 K with a value of approximately 3.4 J/kg-K for a 0-30 kOe
field change; the full width at half max of the entropy change peak is about 70
K, which is significantly wider than that of bulk Gd under similar conditions.
The relative cooling power of this nanoscale system is about 240 J/kg, somewhat
lower than that of bulk Gd (410 J/kg). An iterative Kovel-Fisher method was
used to determine the critical exponents governing the phase transition to be
, and . Along with a suppressed Curie temperature
relative to the bulk, the fact that the convergent value of is that
predicted by the 2-D Ising model may suggest that finite size effects play an
important role in this system. Together, these observations suggest that
nanostructuring may be a promising route to tailoring the magnetocaloric
response of materials
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Comparison of Ultrasound-Guided Vs Traditional Arterial Cannulation by Emergency Medicine Residents
Introduction: We sought to determine whether ultrasound-guided arterial cannulation (USGAC) is more successful than traditional radial artery cannulation (AC) as performed by emergency medicine (EM) residents with standard ultrasound training.Methods: We identified 60 patients age 18 years or older at a tertiary care, urban academic emergency department who required radial AC for either continuous blood pressure monitoring or frequent blood draws. Patients were randomized to receive radial AC via either USGAC or traditional AC. If there were three unsuccessful attempts, patients were crossed over to the alternative technique. All EM residents underwent standardized, general ultrasound training.Results: The USGAC group required fewer attempts as compared to the traditional AC group (mean 1.3 and 2.0, respectively; p<0.001); 29 out of 30 (96%) successful radial arterial lines were placed using USGAC, whereas 14 out of 30 (47%) successful lines were placed using traditional AC (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in length of procedure or complication rate between the two groups. There was no difference in provider experience with respect to USGAC vs traditional AC.Conclusion: EM residents were more successful and had fewer cannulation attempts with USGAC when compared to traditional AC after standard, intern-level ultrasound training.
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