Patterns of community integration 2-5 years post-discharge from brain injury rehabilitation

Outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is characterized by a high degree of variability which has often been difficult to capture in traditional outcome studies. The purpose of this study was to describe patterns of community integration 2-5 years after TBI. Participants were 208 patients admitted to a Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit between 1991-1995 in Brisbane, Australia. The design comprised retrospective data collection and questionnaire follow-up by mail. Mean follow-up was 3.5 years. Demographic, injury severity and functional status variables were retrieved from hospital records. Community integration was assessed using the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), and vocational status measured by a self administered questionnaire. Data was analysed using cluster analysis which divided the data into meaningful subsets. Based on the CIQ subscale scores of home, social and productive integration, a three cluster solution was selected, with groups labelled as working (n = 78), balanced (n = 46) and poorly integrated (n = 84). Although 38% of the sample returned to a high level of productive activity and 22% achieved a balanced lifestyle, overall community integration was poor for the remainder. This poorly integrated group had more severe injury characterized by longer periods of acute care and post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) and greater functional disability on discharge. These findings have implications for service delivery prior to and during the process of reintegration after brain injury.

An evaluation approach for a new paradigm - health care integration

This paper explores an approach to the implementation and evaluation of integrated health service delivery. It identifies the key issues involved in integration evaluation, provides a framework for assessment and identifies areas for the development of new tools and measures. A proactive role for evaluators in responding to health service reform is advocated.

Theory of pseudomodes in quantum optical processes

This paper deals with non-Markovian behavior in atomic systems coupled to a structured reservoir of quantum electromagnetic field modes, with particular relevance to atoms interacting with the field in high-Q cavities or photonic band-gap materials. In cases such as the former, we show that the pseudomode theory for single-quantum reservoir excitations can be obtained by applying the Fano diagonalization method to a system in which the atomic transitions are coupled to a discrete set of (cavity) quasimodes, which in turn are coupled to a continuum set of (external) quasimodes with slowly varying coupling constants and continuum mode density. Each pseudomode can be identified with a discrete quasimode, which gives structure to the actual reservoir of true modes via the expressions for the equivalent atom-true mode coupling constants. The quasimode theory enables cases of multiple excitation of the reservoir to now be treated via Markovian master equations for the atom-discrete quasimode system. Applications of the theory to one, two, and many discrete quasimodes are made. For a simple photonic band-gap model, where the reservoir structure is associated with the true mode density rather than the coupling constants, the single quantum excitation case appears to be equivalent to a case with two discrete quasimodes.

Specification, refinement and verification of concurrent systems - An integration of Object-Z and CSP

This paper presents a method of formally specifying, refining and verifying concurrent systems which uses the object-oriented state-based specification language Object-Z together with the process algebra CSP. Object-Z provides a convenient way of modelling complex data structures needed to define the component processes of such systems, and CSP enables the concise specification of process interactions. The basis of the integration is a semantics of Object-Z classes identical to that of CSP processes. This allows classes specified in Object-Z to he used directly within the CSP part of the specification. In addition to specification, we also discuss refinement and verification in this model. The common semantic basis enables a unified method of refinement to be used, based upon CSP refinement. To enable state-based techniques to be used fur the Object-Z components of a specification we develop state-based refinement relations which are sound and complete with respect to CSP refinement. In addition, a verification method for static and dynamic properties is presented. The method allows us to verify properties of the CSP system specification in terms of its component Object-Z classes by using the laws of the the CSP operators together with the logic for Object-Z.

(Book review) Neuropsychotherapy and Community Integration: Brain Illness, Emotions, and Behavior. T. Judd. 1999. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

As individuals gain expertise in a chosen field they can begin to conceptualize how what they know can be applied more broadly, to new populations and situations, or to increase desirable outcomes. Judd's book does just this. It takes our current understanding of the etiology, course, and sequelae of brain injuries, combines this with established psychotherapy and rehabilitation techniques, and expands these into a cogent model of what Judd calls “neuropsychotherapy.” Simply put, neuropsychotherapy attempts to address the cognitive, emotional and behavioral changes in brain-injured persons, changes that may go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or untreated.

Non-Markovian quantum optical processes and pseudomodes

Non-Markovian behaviour in atomic systems coupled to a structured reservoir of quantum EM field modes, such as in high Q cavities, is treated using a quasimode description, and the pseudo mode theory for single quantum reservoir excitations is obtained via Fano diagonalisation. The atomic transitions are coupled to a discrete set of (cavity) quasimodes, which are also coupled to a continuum set of (external) quasimodes with slowly varying coupling constants. Each pseudomode corresponds to a cavity quasimode, and the original reservoir structure is obtained in expressions for the equivalent atom-true mode coupling constants. Cases of multiple excitation of the reservoir are now treatable via Markovian master equations for the atom-discrete quasimode system.

Reply to comment on `Integrable Kondo impurity in one-dimensional q-deformed t - J models

This is a reply to the comment by P Schlottmann and A A Zvyagin.

Saving, productivity and national income: a discrete-time geometric framework

This paper proposes an alternative geometric framework for analysing the inter-relationship between domestic saving, productivity and income determination in discrete time. The framework provides a means of understanding how low saving economies like the United States sustained high growth rates in the 1990s whereas high saving Japan did not. It also illustrates how the causality between saving and economic activity runs both ways and that discrete changes in national output and income depend on both current and previous accumulation behaviour. The open economy analogue reveals how international capital movements can create external account imbalances that enhance income growth for both borrower and lender economies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The nexus of value chain integration and e-business applications on public sector agriculture R&D management

We examine the potential impact of interconnectivity of value chain partnerships through electronic means (e-business practices) on the management of Public Sector Agriculture R&D in Australia. We review the changing forms of managing research and development, the forces driving these changes, and R&D processes that are theoretically consistent with the move towards value chain involvement and the increase in active constituents in Public Sector Agriculture R&D. We then explore the potential of emerging e-business models to change the patterns of inter-connectivity, speed and omnipresence of partners in the value chain. Three e-business R&D management practices are identified that provide the prerequisite flexibility necessary to take advantage of opportunistic markets. These R&D business practices are: compressing R&D to reduce time to market, fostering co-development to enter a market at the last moment and building flexible products that allow adjustment at the last possible moment. Some fundamental reallocation of existing resources will be required to meet these markets. Implications of these e-business practices for R&D management are discussed.

Automatic construction of explicit R matrices for the one-parameter families of irreducible typical highest weight (0(m)vertical bar alpha(n)) representations of U-q[gl(m vertical bar n)]

We detail the automatic construction of R matrices corresponding to (the tensor products of) the (O-m\alpha(n)) families of highest-weight representations of the quantum superalgebras Uq[gl(m\n)]. These representations are irreducible, contain a free complex parameter a, and are 2(mn)-dimensional. Our R matrices are actually (sparse) rank 4 tensors, containing a total of 2(4mn) components, each of which is in general an algebraic expression in the two complex variables q and a. Although the constructions are straightforward, we describe them in full here, to fill a perceived gap in the literature. As the algorithms are generally impracticable for manual calculation, we have implemented the entire process in MATHEMATICA; illustrating our results with U-q [gl(3\1)]. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Existence of multiple solutions for second-order discrete boundary value problems

We give conditions on f involving pairs of discrete lower and discrete upper solutions which lead to the existence of at least three solutions of the discrete two-point boundary value problem yk+1 - 2yk + yk-1 + f (k, yk, vk) = 0, for k = 1,..., n - 1, y0 = 0 = yn,, where f is continuous and vk = yk - yk-1, for k = 1,..., n. In the special case f (k, t, p) = f (t) greater than or equal to 0, we give growth conditions on f and apply our general result to show the existence of three positive solutions. We give an example showing this latter result is sharp. Our results extend those of Avery and Peterson and are in the spirit of our results for the continuous analogue. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discrete teleportation protocol of continuum spectra field states

A discrete protocol for teleportation of superpositions of coherent states of optical-cavity fields is presented. Displacement and parity operators are unconventionally used in Bell-like measurement for field states.