2,860 research outputs found
Barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe
The Eurobarometer Survey of the <i>EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe</i> is part of a programme of work to produce comprehensive information on the provision of palliative care across Europe.
Aim: To identify barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe.
Method: A qualitative survey was undertaken amongst boards of national associations, eliciting opinions on opportunities for, and barriers to, palliative care development. By July 2006, 44/52 (85%) European countries had responded to the survey; we report here on the results from 22/25 (88%) countries in Western Europe.
Analysis: Data from the Eurobarometer survey were analysed thematically by geographical region and by the degree of development of palliative care in each country.
Results: From the data contained within the Eurobarometer, we identified six significant barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe: (i) Lack of palliative care education and training programmes (ii) Lack of awareness and recognition of palliative care (iii) Limited availability of/knowledge about opioid analgesics (iv) Limited funding (v) Lack of coordination amongst services (vi) Uneven palliative care coverage.
Conclusion: Findings from the EAPC Eurobarometer survey suggest that barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe may differ substantially from each other in both their scope and context and that some may be considered to be of greater significance than others. A number of common barriers to the development of the discipline do exist and much work still remains to be done in the identified areas. This paper provides a road map of which barriers need to be addressed
Wave propagation and shock formation in different magnetic structures
Velocity oscillations "measured" simultaneously at the photosphere and the
chromosphere -from time series of spectropolarimetric data in the 10830 A
region- of different solar magnetic features allow us to study the properties
of wave propagation as a function of the magnetic flux of the structure (i.e.
two different-sized sunspots, a tiny pore and a facular region). While
photospheric oscillations have similar characteristics everywhere, oscillations
measured at chromospheric heights show different amplitudes, frequencies and
stages of shock development depending on the observed magnetic feature. The
analysis of the power and the phase spectra, together with simple theoretical
modeling, lead to a series of results concerning wave propagation within the
range of heights of this study. We find that, while the atmospheric cut-off
frequency and the propagation properties of the different oscillating modes
depend on the magnetic feature, in all the cases the power that reaches the
high chromosphere above the atmospheric cut-off comes directly from the
photosphere by means of linear vertical wave propagation rather than from
non-linear interaction of modes.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 29 pages, 9
figures, 12pt, preprin
Dying with Dignity : Is This a Universal Concept?
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
The Hanle and Zeeman Effects in Solar Spicules: A Novel Diagnostic Window on Chromospheric Magnetism
An attractive diagnostic tool for investigating the magnetism of the solar
chromosphere is the observation and theoretical modeling of the Hanle and
Zeeman effects in spicules, as shown in this letter for the first time. Here we
report on spectropolarimetric observations of solar chromospheric spicules in
the He I 10830 \AA multiplet and on their theoretical modeling accounting for
radiative transfer effects. We find that the magnetic field in the observed
(quiet Sun) spicular material at a height of about 2000 km above the visible
solar surface has a strength of the order of 10 G and is inclined by
approximately with respect to the local vertical direction. Our
empirical finding based on full Stokes-vector spectropolarimetry should be
taken into account in future magnetohydrodynamical simulations of spicules.Comment: 12 pages and 2 figure
Efficient light coupling from integrated single-mode waveguides to supercollimating photonic crystals on silicon-on-insulator platforms
We propose a practical and efficient solution for the coupling of light from
integrated single-mode waveguides to supercollimating planar photonic crystals
on conventional silicon-on-insulator platforms. The device consists of a rib
waveguide, designed to sustain spatially extended single-modes and matched to a
supercollimating photonic crystal, which has been truncated at its boundary to
improve impedance matching between the two photonic components.
Three-dimensional simulations show transmission efficiencies up to 96 % and
reflections below 0.2 % at wavelengths close to 1.55 microns. This approach
constitutes a significant step toward the integration of supercollimating
structures on photonic chips.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
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