5,681 research outputs found
Alice B. Donahue and Nancy Appleby
No full textPhotograph - Alice B. Donahue and Nancy Appleby, Athabasca, Alberta. Note on back reads: Observing 'flood' water, July 198
Saga of the Whispering Hills - 049
No full textPhotograph - Cast members Front row: Olga Ross (Mrs. Hoffman ), Helen Hyde (Mrs. LaFranco) and Dorothy Baker (Girl). Back row: Maxine Rypien (Mrs. Brown), Mary Olson (Miss Roberta Barr), Jessica Hendrigan (Miss Louisa), Kathy Topola (Mrs. McIntyre), and Ken Knight (Jim Wallwork). Saga of the Whispering Hills, presented by the Athabasca Players for the 75th Anniversary of Athabasca, Albert
Measurement of the Xi(-)(b) and Omega(-)(b) baryon lifetimes
No full textUsing a data sample of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb−1, the Ξ−b and Ω−b baryons are reconstructed in the Ξ−b → J/ψΞ− and Ω−b → J/ψΩ− decay modes and their lifetimes measured to be
τ(Ξ−b) = 1.55+0.10−0.09 (stat) ± 0.03 (syst) ps,
τ(Ω−b) = 1.54+0.26−0.21 (stat) ± 0.05 (syst) ps.
These are the most precise determinations to date. Both measurements are in good agreement with previous experimental results and with theoretical predictions
IMPROVING PROVIDER ADHERENCE TO LOW BACK PAIN CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES IN AN OUTPATIENT SETTING
No full textABSTRACTRamona Irabor: Improving Provider Adherence to Low Back Pain Clinical Practice Guidelines in an Outpatient Setting(Under the direction of Jessica Williams)BackgroundLow back pain is one of the leading causes of disability. Inappropriate treatment can lead to chronic pain, financial burden, and increased opioid use. Clinical practice guidelines offer standardized recommendations to help decrease practice variations among providers. AimThis quality improvement project sought to improve adherence to the 2017 American College of Physicians (ACP) Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain Clinical Practice Guidelines among providers in an outpatient clinic by 25% above baseline upon project completion. MethodsA gap analysis was completed to identify barriers to provider guideline adherence and a pre-/post-Qualtrics survey was completed to determine awareness of a spine health share point site and smart set. Multifaceted implementation strategies occurred over six weeks. Strategies included engaging with leadership, providers, and trainees during their weekly educational training sessions to provide reinstruction about the ACP guidelines, the smart set, and available patient and provider education materials. Provider adherence was measured by examining the use of the smart set to assess the number of new orders for prescriptions, imaging tests, referrals, and patient education. ivResults Multiple variables were assessed to determine improvement in guideline adherence. Results reflected an increased awareness of materials available to improve provider adherence to the guidelines. Providers opened the smart set 26% more and there was a decline in overrides and cancellation of the best-practice advisory post-intervention. There was no change in access to the share point site, smart set use, and patient use of education materials inferring that the overall goal for this project was partially met. ConclusionEarly management of low back pain through programs that support spine health can improve back pain and decrease urgent visits for treatment. This quality improvement project showed that evidence-based resources for managing patients with low back pain were available but, not taken advantage of. Recommendations to increase the use of the resources include seeking clinic champions to disseminate information about spine health, conduct training sessions, and enhance marketing.Doctor of Nursing Practic
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(B0→K∗0γ )/B(B0s→φγ ) and the directCP asymmetry inB 0→K∗0γ
No full textThe ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0→K⁎0γ and B0s→ϕγ has been measured using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 of pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=7TeV. The value obtained is
B(B0→K⁎0γ)B(B0s→ϕγ)=1.23±0.06(stat.)±0.04(syst.)±0.10(fs/fd),
where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is the experimental systematic uncertainty and the third is associated with the ratio of fragmentation fractions fs/fd. Using the world average value for B(B0→K⁎0γ), the branching fraction B(B0s→ϕγ) is measured to be (3.5±0.4)×10−5.
The direct CP asymmetry in B0→K⁎0γ decays has also been measured with the same data and found to be
ACP(B0→K⁎0γ)=(0.8±1.7(stat.)±0.9(syst.))%.
Both measurements are the most precise to date and are in agreement with the previous experimental results and theoretical expectations
Comparing fractions and evaluating models that represent solutions, Clip 3 of 8: Sharing Alan's candy bar model
No full textIn the third clip Alan presented another model to show the difference between one half and one third. He built a model using one dark green rod, two light green rods, three red rods, and six white rods, and showed that the difference between one half, or a light green rod, and one third, a red rod, is the length of the white rod, which he named one sixth. Jessica challenged Alan’s solution by saying that Alan was making a different size candy bar. Kelly and Jackie said that they agreed with Alan and countered Jessica’s argument. Jackie explained how one can make a model with a different size and suggested that Alan had used a different size model, which was in line with the rules that had been set. Michael also backed Alan’s argument and explained how the white rods should be called one sixth. Jessica agreed that that was true, but repeated that it was a different size candy bar. Erik contributed to the argument, saying that they had said that any one sixth was correct, implying that Alan’s solution was legitimate. Researcher Carolyn Maher asked the class what they thought about why Jessica was confused. Erik said that the issue that Jessica had was that the sixth wasn’t the same size, implicitly backing Jessica’s argument. Michael countered this, saying that the rod that was called a “whole” wasn’t the same size either, and implying that had resolved the problem. Jessica repeated her argument and Andrew attempted to clarify why Alan was correct. Erik then tried to back Jessica’s argument, noting that although Alan hadn’t switched candy bars within his solution, but that he had switched from the orange and red train that Jessica had used originally. The researcher asked the class what Jessica was confused about. Michael repeated his earlier reasoning, saying that Jessica was confused since there was a different size one sixth but that Alan was justified in what he did since he had also switched the whole. With this summary, Michael integrated Andrew’s argument into his own.Transcript and student work are also available.Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning. (1993). Comparing fractions and evaluating models that represent solutions, Clip 3 of 8: Sharing Alan's candy bar model [video]. Retrieved fro
Convex B-Spline Surfaces
No full textThis paper gives a definition for the convexity of B-spline surfaces and points out the conditions on which the convexity depends. A back shift smoothing method is introduced. This method is built on the basis of the convexity conditions. Application of this smoothing method gives a strictly convex curv
Evaluation of physiotherapy intervention for non-specific sub-acute and chronic low back pain
No full textThis thesis investigates routine physiotherapy management of patients with subacute
and chronic non specific low back pain.
In a pragmatic multi-centre trial patients were randomised to receive a course of
physiotherapy treatment or advice following a bio-psychosocial model. Disease
specific, patient specific and generic measures were used to assess outcome.
The 286 patients recruited in the trial had, on average, minimal to moderate low
back pain disability. Patients reported enhanced perceptions of benefit in the
physiotherapy group but there was no evidence of a long term effect in any other
outcomes. There were no differences between the groups in NHS costs although
patients in the physiotherapy group incurred significantly higher out of pocket
expenses. Further analysis of the outcome data confirmed that the primary outcome
measure (Oswestry Disability Index) was the most responsive instrument because it
was able to detect deterioration as well as improvement.
As the trial demonstrated no additional benefit of physiotherapy over brief advice, it
was important to investigate the effectiveness of the latter. A systematic review
found limited evidence that brief bio-psychosocial advice was more effective in
reducing fear avoidance and improving back beliefs in patients with acute and subacute
low back pain compared with traditional medical advice. There was no direct
evidence to support the use of brief bio-psychosocial advice (2 sessions or less) for
reducing pain or disability.
This thesis describes research that has contributed to European guidelines for the
management of chronic low back pain and reviews extensively the literature that
seeks to evaluate physiotherapy practice. The clinical implication of this research is
that for patients with non specific low back pain of mild severity, brief advice is
likely to be as effective as prolonged physiotherapy intervention. The extent to
which a single session of advice is more effective than no intervention needs further
assessment
Ep. #079 - Antarctica! with Jessica O'Reilly
No full textThis recording and transcript form part of a collection of podcasts conducted by the Cultures of Energy at Rice University. Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter.With Antarctica back in the news again, Dominic and Cymene share their feels about the imminent Larsen C calving and the possibly less probable rise of penguins and puffins against human governance (#thepuffrising). Then we talk to the only anthropologist we know who works in Antarctica, the fabulous Jessica O’Reilly from Indiana University. We start by discussing how public and scientific narratives about Antarctica have changed over the past 15 years, the disintegration of Larsen B during Jessy’s research, and the rise of “crack tourism” at Larsen C. We turn from there to her new book, The Technocratic Antarctic: An Ethnography of Scientific Expertise and Environmental Governance (Cornell U Press, 2017), and talk about charismatic data and charismatic ice, Antarctica as a society of experts, the Antarctic treaty and what’s happening with polar politics today. Jessy discusses the inherent conservatism of climate scientists, what they say to each other beyond the public eye, and whether she can imagine Antarctica morphing into a resource frontier as the Arctic has. Finally we turn to her exciting new research project, an ethnographic study of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Listen on! PS A big late-breaking Cultures of Energy pod shoutout to Volvo for accelerating the phaseout of internal combustion engines; the news broke just after we’d recorded this episode
Interaction without back action in the context of quantum manipulation
No full textWe address the interaction between two quantum systems (A and B) that is mediated by their common linear environment. If the environment is out of equilibrium, the resulting interaction violates Onsager relations and cannot be described by a Hamiltonian. In simple terms, the action of system A on system B does not necessarily produce a back action. We derive general quantum equations describing the situation, and we analyze in detail their classical correspondence. Changing the properties of the environment, one can easily change and engineer the resulting interaction. It is tempting to use this for quantum manipulation of the systems. However, the resulting quantum gate is not always unitary and may induce a loss of quantum coherence. For a relevant example, we consider systems A and B to be spins of arbitrary values and arrange the interaction to realize an analog of the two-qubit cnot gate. The direction of spin A controls the rotation of spin B while spin A is not rotated experiencing no back action from spin B. We solve the quantum dynamics equations and analyze the purity of the resulting density matrix. The resulting purity essentially depends on the initial states of the systems. We attempt to find a universal characteristic of the purity, optimizing it for the worst choice of initial states. For both spins sA=sB=1/2, the optimized purity is bounded by 1/2 irrespective of the details of the gate. We also study in detail the semiclassical limit of large spins. In this case, the optimized purity is bounded by (1+π/2)-1≈0.39. This is much better than the typical purity of a large spin state ∼s-1. We conclude that although the quantum manipulation without back action inevitably causes decoherence of the quantum states, the actual purity of the resulting state can be optimized and made relatively high.</p
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