Promotion of occupational therapy as a career: A survey of occupational therapy managers

A careers pack distributed to 184 occupational therapy managers in and around London contained a questionnaire which gathered information about their role in promoting occupational therapy as a career. Twenty-six managers responded (14.1%) and considered that the College of Occupational Therapists had the principal responsibility for promoting the profession. Three-quarters considered that the careers pack was fairly effective and two-thirds were willing to use it to promote the profession. Although pleased to have received the pack, the managers had more negative than positive comments about it. Managers may not appreciate their influential position in recruitment to the profession and other stakeholders should collaborate to support them in their pivotal rol

Enhancement of the Benjamin-Feir instability with dissipation

It is shown that there is an overlooked mechanism whereby some kinds of dissipation can enhance the Benjamin-Feir instability of water waves. This observation is new, and although it is counterintuitive, it is due to the fact that the Benjamin-Feir instability involves the collision of modes with opposite energy sign (relative to the carrier wave), and it is the negative energy perturbations which are enhanced.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures To download more papers, go to http://www.cmla.ens-cachan.fr/~dias. Physics of Fluids (2007) to appea

Magnetic nanowires as permanent magnet materials

We present the fabrication of metallic magnetic nanowires using a low temperature chemical process. We show that pressed powders and magnetically oriented samples exhibit a very high coercivity (6.5 kOe at 140 K and 4.8 kOe at 300 K). We discuss the magnetic properties of these metamaterials and show that they have the suitable properties to realize "high temperature magnets" competitive with AlNiCo or SmCo permanent magnets. They could also be used as recording media for high density magnetic recording.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Lifelong Bilingualism Maintains White Matter Integrity in Older Adults

Previous research has shown that bilingual speakers have higher levels of cognitive control than comparable monolinguals, especially at older ages. The present study investigates a possible neural correlate of this behavioral effect. Given that white matter (WM) integrity decreases with age in adulthood, we tested the hypothesis that bilingualism is associated with maintenance of WM in older people. Using diffusion tensor imaging, we found higher WM integrity in older people who were lifelong bilinguals than in monolinguals. This maintained integrity was measured by fractional anisotropy (FA) and was found in the corpus callosum extending to the superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi. We also hypothesized that stronger WM connections would be associated with more widely distributed patterns of functional connectivity in bilinguals. We tested this by assessing the resting-state functional connectivity of frontal lobe regions adjacent to WM areas with group differences in FA. Bilinguals showed stronger anterior to posterior functional connectivity compared to monolinguals. These results are the first evidence that maintained WM integrity is related to lifelong naturally occurring experience; the resulting enhanced structural and functional connectivity may provide a neural basis for “brain reserve.

A model-independent Dalitz plot analysis of B±→DK± with D→K0Sh+h− (h=π,K) decays and constraints on the CKM angle γ

A binned Dalitz plot analysis of B ±→DK ± decays, with D→KS0π+π- and D→KS0K+K-, is performed to measure the CP-violating observables x ± and y ± which are sensitive to the CKM angle γ. The analysis exploits 1.0 fb -1 of data collected by the LHCb experiment. The study makes no model-based assumption on the variation of the strong phase of the D decay amplitude over the Dalitz plot, but uses measurements of this quantity from CLEO-c as input. The values of the parameters are found to be x -=(0.0±4.3±1.5±0.6)×10 -2, y -=(2.7±5.2±0.8±2.3)×10 -2, x +=(-10.3±4.5±1.8±1.4)×10 -2 and y +=(-0.9±3.7±0.8±3.0)×10 -2. The first, second, and third uncertainties are the statistical, the experimental systematic, and the error associated with the precision of the strong-phase parameters measured at CLEO-c, respectively. These results correspond to γ=(44-38+43)°, with a second solution at γ→γ+180°, and r B=0.07±0.04, where r B is the ratio between the suppressed and favoured B decay amplitudes

A phenomenological model of weakly damped Faraday waves and the associated mean flow

A phenomenological model of parametric surface waves (Faraday waves) is introduced in the limit of small viscous dissipation that accounts for the coupling between surface motion and slowly varying streaming and large scale flows (mean flow). The primary bifurcation of the model is to a set of standing waves (stripes, given the functional form of the model nonlinearities chosen here). Our results for the secondary instabilities of the primary wave show that the mean flow leads to a weak destabilization of the base state against Eckhaus and Transverse Amplitude Modulation instabilities, and introduces a new longitudinal oscillatory instability which is absent without the coupling. We compare our results with recent one dimensional amplitude equations for this system systematically derived from the governing hydrodynamic equations.Comment: Complete paper with embedded figures (PostScript, 3 Mb) http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~vinals/mss/jmv1.p

Study of Bº→D*-π+π-π+ and Bº→D*-K+π-π+ decays

Using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at √s=7  TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0  fb-1, the ratio of branching fractions of the Bº→D*-π+π-π+ decay relative to the Bº→D*-π+ decay is measured to be B(Bº→D*-π+π-π+)/B(Bº→D*-π+)=2.64±0.04(stat)±0.13(syst). The Cabibbo-suppressed decay Bº→D*-K+π-π+ is observed for the first time, and the measured ratio of branching fractions is B(Bº→D*-K+π-π+)/B(Bº→D*-π+π-π+)=(6.47±0.37(stat)±0.35(syst))×10-2. A search for orbital excitations of charm mesons contributing to the Bº→D*-π+π-π+ final state is also performed, and the first observation of the Bº→D- 1(2420)0π+π- decay is reported with the ratio of branching fractions B(B0→(D- 1(2420)0→D*-π+)π-π+)/B(B0→D*-π+π-π+)=(2.04±0.42(stat)±0.22(syst))×10-2, where the numerator represents a product of the branching fractions B(B0→D- 1(2420)0π-π+) and B(D- 1(2420)0→D*-π+)