Development and pilot study of the Primary Care Practice Improvement Tool (PC-PIT) : an innovative approach

Objective To assess the usability and validity of the Primary Care Practice Improvement Tool (PC-PIT), a practice performance improvement tool based on 13 key elements identified by a systematic review. It was co-created with a range of partners and designed specifically for primary health care. Design This pilot study examined the PC-PIT using a formative assessment framework and mixed-methods research design. Setting and participants Six high-functioning general practices in Queensland, Australia, between February and July 2013. A total of 28 staff participated — 10 general practitioners, six practice or community nurses, 12 administrators (four practice managers; one business manager and eight reception or general administrative staff). Main outcome measures Readability, content validity and staff perceptions of the PC-PIT. Results The PC-PIT offers an appropriate and acceptable approach to internal quality improvement in general practice. Quantitative assessment scores and qualitative data from all staff identified two areas in which the PC-PIT required modification: a reduction in the indicative reading age, and simplification of governance-related terms and concepts. Conclusion The PC-PIT provides an innovative approach to address the complexity of organisational improvement in general practice and primary health care. This initial validation will be used to develop a suite of supporting, high-quality and free-to-access resources to enhance the use of the PC-PIT in general practice. Based on these findings, a national trial is now underway.

Book Review: "The Interface: IBM and the Transformation of Corporate Design, 1945-1975", John Harwood, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011

Within the history of twentieth-century design, there are a number of well-known objects and stories that are invoked time and time again to capture a pivotal moment or summarize a much broader historical transition. For example, Marcel Breuer’s Model B3 chair is frequently used as a stand-in for the radical investigations of form and new industrial materials occurring at the Bauhaus in the mid-1920s. Similarly, Raymond Loewy’s streamlined pencil sharpener has become historical shorthand for the emergence of modern industrial design in the 1930s. And any discussion of the development of American postwar “organic design” seems incomplete without reference to Charles and Ray Eames’s molded plywood leg splint of 1942. Such objects and narratives are dear to historians of modern design. They are tangible, photogenic subjects that slot nicely into exhibitions, historical surveys, and coffee-table best sellers...

A microcomputer program to analyze the CD spectrum of proteins and nucleic acids—Use of LOTUS 1-2-3 spread sheet

A user friendly interactive computer program, CIRDIC, is developed which calculates the molar ellipticity and molar circular dichroic absorption coefficients from the CD spectrum. This, in combination with LOTUS 1-2-3 spread sheet, will give the spectra of above parameters vs wavelength. The code is implemented in MicroSoft FORTRAN 77 which runs on any IBM compatible PC under MSDOS environment.

Design and implementation of a PC-based FPGA tester

A new range of programmable logic devices are revolutionizing the way complex digital hardware is designed and built all over the world. Being able to test these devices in order to validate and dynamically improve on the design is crucial. This paper describes a low-cost FPGA tester that can test SRAM based FPGAs in the laboratory.

PC based integrated protection scheme for railway traction applications

This paper presents the design and development of a comprehensive digital protection scheme for applications in 25 KV a.c railway traction system. The scheme provides distance protection, detection of wrong phase coupling both in the lagging and leading directions, high set instantaneous trip and PT fuse failure. Provision is also made to include fault location and disturbance recording. The digital relaying scheme has been tried on two types of hardware platforms, one with PC/AT based hardware and the other with a custom designed standalone 16-bit microcontroller based card. Compared to the existing scheme, the operating time is around one cycle and the relaying algorithm has been optimised to minimise the number of computations. The prototype has been rigorously tested in the laboratory using a specially designed PC based relay test bench and the results are highly satisfactory.

A coupled VOF-IBM-enthalpy approach for modeling motion and growth of equiaxed dendrites in a solidifying melt

A coupled methodology for simulating the simultaneous growth and motion of equiaxed dendrites in solidifying melts is presented. The model uses the volume-averaging principles and combines the features of the enthalpy method for modeling growth, immersed boundary method for handling the rigid solid-liquid interfaces, and the volume of fluid method for tracking the advection of the dendrite. The algorithm also performs explicit-implicit coupling between the techniques used. A two-dimensional framework with incompressible and Newtonian fluid is considered. Validation with available literature is performed and dendrite growth in the presence of rotational and buoyancy driven flow fields is studied. It is seen that the flow fields significantly alter the position and morphology of the dendrites. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing the critical concentration of NH2 terminal groups on the surface of MWNTs towards chain scission of PC in PC/SAN blends: effect on dispersion, electrical conductivity and EMI shielding

The localization and dispersion quality of as received NH2 terminated multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNT-I) and ethylene diamine (EDA) functionalized MWNTs in melt mixed blends of polycarbonate ( PC) and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) were assessed in this study using rheo-electrical and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding measurements. In order to improve the dispersion quality and also to selectively localize MWNTs in the PC phase of the blends, EDA was grafted onto MWNTs by two different strategies like diazonium reaction of the para-substituted benzene ring of MWNTs with EDA ( referred to as MWNT-II) and acylation of carboxyl functionalized MWNTs with thionyl chloride ( referred to as MWNT-III). By this approach we could systematically vary the concentration of NH2 functional groups on the surface of MWNTs at a fixed concentration (1 wt%) in PC/SAN blends. XPS was carried to evaluate the % concentration of N in different MWNTs and was observed to be highest for MWNT-III manifesting in a large surface coverage of EDA on the surface of MWNTs. Viscoelastic properties and melt electrical conductivities were measured to assess the dispersion quality of MWNTs using a rheo-electrical set-up both in the quiescent as well as under steady shear conditions. Rheological properties revealed chain scission of PC in the presence of MWNT-III which is due to specific interactions between EDA and PC leading to smaller PC grafts on the surface of MWNTs. The observed viscoelastic properties in the blends were further correlated with the phase morphologies under quiescent and annealed conditions. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness in X and K-u-band frequencies were measured to explore these composites for EMI shielding applications. Interestingly, MWNT-II showed the highest electrical conductivity and EMI shielding in the blends.

Electromagnetic interference shielding through MWNT grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticles in PC/SAN blends

In this study, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were chemically grafted onto dopamine anchored iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles via diazotization reaction to design electromagnetic (EM) shielding materials based on PC (polycarbonate)/SAN poly (styrene-co-acrylonitrile)] blends. A two step mixing protocol was adopted to selectively localize the nanoparticles in a given phase of the blends. In the first step, MWNT-g-Fe3O4 nanoparticles were solution blended with PC, followed by dilution with SAN during melt mixing in the subsequent step. This strategy, besides improving the quality of dispersion of MWNTs in the blends, facilitated enhanced EM interference shielding effectiveness (SE). Both, the MWNTs and the modified MWNTs, selectively localized in the PC phase and led to high electrical conductivity, in striking contrast to PC filled MWNT composites. The SE was measured on toroidal samples over a broad range of frequencies; X-band (8.2-12 GHz) and K-u-band (12-18 GHz). It was observed that the shielding mechanism mostly involved reflection in the blends with MWNTs, whereas absorption dominated in the case of blends with MWNT-g-Fe3O4. To realize the efficacy of this strategy, a few compositions were prepared by physical mixing MWNTs with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Intriguingly, blends with MWNT-g-Fe3O4 nanoparticles manifested enhanced microwave absorption over physically mixed nanoparticles. An SE of -32.5 dB was observed (at 18 GHz) for MWNT (3 wt%)-g-Fe3O4 (3 vol%) in PC/SAN blends.

Attenuating microwave radiation by absorption through controlled nanoparticle localization in PC/PVDF blends

Nanoscale ordering in a polymer blend structure is indispensable to obtain materials with tailored properties. It was established here that controlling the arrangement of nanoparticles, with different characteristics, in co-continuous PC/PVDF (polycarbonate/poly(vinylidene fluoride)) blends can result in outstanding microwave absorption (ca. 90%). An excellent reflection loss (RL) of ca. -71 dB was obtained for a model blend structure wherein the conducting (multiwall carbon nanotubes, MWNTs) and the magnetic inclusions (Fe3O4) are localized in PVDF and the dielectric inclusion (barium titanate, BT) is in PC. The MWNTs were modified using polyaniline, which facilitates better charge transport in the blends. Furthermore, by introducing surface active groups on BT nanoparticles and changing the macroscopic processing conditions, the localization of BT nanoparticles can be tailored, otherwise BT nanoparticles would localize in the preferred phase (PVDF). In this study, we have shown that by ordered arrangement of nanoparticles, the incoming EM radiation can be attenuated. For instance, when PANI-MWNTs were localized in PVDF, the shielding was mainly through reflection. Now by localizing the conducting inclusion and the magnetic lossy materials in PVDF and the dielectric materials in PC, an outstanding shielding effectiveness of ca. -37 dB was achieved where shielding was mainly through absorption (ca. 90%). Thus, this study clearly demonstrates that lightweight microwave absorbers can be designed using polymer blends as a tool.