Exploring the experience of supervising pre-registration nursing students thorough their literature review dissertation

This report explores and reports on the experience of supervising pre-registration nursing students thorough their literature review dissertation. The introduction includes the rationale and key questions for the investigation. It highlights the key transition points that students have to manage and the need for supervisors to be aware of these so as to support and develop them effectively. The investigation explains how the work was undertaken and expands on the methods used. The findings are broken down into; what constitutes an excellent literature review, effective ways of working with students and the problems that can arise offer an insight into the views of supervisors supporting pre-registration students. They suggest a need for attention to supervision practices and the development of detailed guidance, through participatory workshops, to support the supervisor through the supervisory process

Dirac Hamiltonian and Reissner-Nordstrom Metric: Coulomb Interaction in Curved Space-Time

We investigate the spin-1/2 relativistic quantum dynamics in the curved space-time generated by a central massive charged object (black hole). This necessitates a study of the coupling of a Dirac particle to the Reissner-Nordstrom space-time geometry and the simultaneous covariant coupling to the central electrostatic field. The relativistic Dirac Hamiltonian for the Reissner-Nordstrom geometry is derived. A Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation reveals the presence of gravitational, and electro-gravitational spin-orbit coupling terms which generalize the Fokker precession terms found for the Dirac-Schwarzschild Hamiltonian, and other electro-gravitational correction terms to the potential proportional to alpha^n G, where alpha is the fine-structure constant, and G is the gravitational coupling constant. The particle-antiparticle symmetry found for the Dirac-Schwarzschild geometry (and for other geometries which do not include electromagnetic interactions) is shown to be explicitly broken due to the electrostatic coupling. The resulting spectrum of radially symmetric, electrostatically bound systems (with gravitational corrections) is evaluated for example cases.Comment: 11 page

Foldy-Wouthuysen Transformation, Scalar Potentials and Gravity

We show that care is required in formulating the nonrelativistic limit of generalized Dirac Hamiltonians which describe particles and antiparticles interacting with static electric and/or gravitational fields. The Dirac-Coulomb and the Dirac-Schwarzschild Hamiltonians, and the corrections to the Dirac equation in a non-inertial frame, according to general relativity, are used as example cases in order to investigate the unitarity of the standard and "chiral" approaches to the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation, and spurious parity-breaking terms. Indeed, we find that parity-violating terms can be generated by unitary pseudo-scalar transformations ("chiral" Foldy-Wouthuysen transformations). Despite their interesting algebraic properties, we find that "chiral" Foldy-Wouthuysen transformations change fundamental symmetry properties of the Hamiltonian and do not conserve the physical interpretation of the operators. Supplementing the discussion, we calculate the leading terms in the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation of the Dirac Hamiltonian with a scalar potential (of the (1/r)-form and of the confining radially symmetric linear form), and obtain compact expressions for the leading higher-order corrections to the Dirac Hamiltonian in a non-inertial rotating reference frame "Mashhoon term").Comment: 11 pages; RevTe

Generalized Householder Transformations for the Complex Symmetric Eigenvalue Problem

We present an intuitive and scalable algorithm for the diagonalization of complex symmetric matrices, which arise from the projection of pseudo--Hermitian and complex scaled Hamiltonians onto a suitable basis set of "trial" states. The algorithm diagonalizes complex and symmetric (non--Hermitian) matrices and is easily implemented in modern computer languages. It is based on generalized Householder transformations and relies on iterative similarity transformations T -> T' = Q^T T Q, where Q is a complex and orthogonal, but not unitary, matrix, i.e, Q^T equals Q^(-1) but Q^+ is different from Q^(-1). We present numerical reference data to support the scalability of the algorithm. We construct the generalized Householder transformations from the notion that the conserved scalar product of eigenstates Psi_n and Psi_m of a pseudo-Hermitian quantum mechanical Hamiltonian can be reformulated in terms of the generalized indefinite inner product [integral of the product Psi_n(x,t) Psi_m(x,t) over dx], where the integrand is locally defined, and complex conjugation is avoided. A few example calculations are described which illustrate the physical origin of the ideas used in the construction of the algorithm.Comment: 14 pages; RevTeX; font mismatch in Eqs. (3) and (15) is eliminate

Dependence of inner accretion disk stress on parameters: the Schwarzschild case

We explore the parameter dependence of inner disk stress in black hole accretion by contrasting the results of a number of simulations, all employing 3-d general relativistic MHD in a Schwarzschild spacetime. Five of these simulations were performed with the intrinsically conservative code HARM3D, which allows careful regulation of the disk aspect ratio, H/R; our simulations span a range in H/R from 0.06 to 0.17. We contrast these simulations with two previously reported simulations in a Schwarzschild spacetime in order to investigate possible dependence of the inner disk stress on magnetic topology. In all cases, much care was devoted to technical issues: ensuring adequate resolution and azimuthal extent, and averaging only over those time-periods when the accretion flow is in approximate inflow equilibrium. We find that the time-averaged radial-dependence of fluid-frame electromagnetic stress is almost completely independent of both disk thickness and poloidal magnetic topology. It rises smoothly inward at all radii (exhibiting no feature associated with the ISCO) until just outside the event horizon, where the stress plummets to zero. Reynolds stress can also be significant near the ISCO and in the plunging region; the magnitude of this stress, however, depends on both disk thickness and magnetic topology. The two stresses combine to make the net angular momentum accreted per unit rest-mass 7-15% less than the angular momentum of the ISCO.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 52 pages, 38 figures, AASTEX. High-resolution versions can be found at the following links: http://ccrg.rit.edu/~scn/papers/schwarzstress.ps, http://ccrg.rit.edu/~scn/papers/schwarzstress.pd

Spatial patterns of tree yield explained by endogenous forces through a correspondence between the Ising model and ecology.

Spatial patterning of periodic dynamics is a dramatic and ubiquitous ecological phenomenon arising in systems ranging from diseases to plants to mammals. The degree to which spatial correlations in cyclic dynamics are the result of endogenous factors related to local dynamics vs. exogenous forcing has been one of the central questions in ecology for nearly a century. With the goal of obtaining a robust explanation for correlations over space and time in dynamics that would apply to many systems, we base our analysis on the Ising model of statistical physics, which provides a fundamental mechanism of spatial patterning. We show, using 5 y of data on over 6,500 trees in a pistachio orchard, that annual nut production, in different years, exhibits both large-scale synchrony and self-similar, power-law decaying correlations consistent with the Ising model near criticality. Our approach demonstrates the possibility that short-range interactions can lead to long-range correlations over space and time of cyclic dynamics even in the presence of large environmental variability. We propose that root grafting could be the common mechanism leading to positive short-range interactions that explains the ubiquity of masting, correlated seed production over space through time, by trees