The impact of information and communication technology on family carers of older people and professionals in Sweden

Government policy in Sweden, as in other developed countries, pays increasing attention as to how best to support the family carers of older people. New and innovative means of support, such as information and communication technology, are emerging. This paper explores the perceived benefits of, and barriers to, information technology as a means of supporting family carers of older people. Following a brief overview of the care-giving literature, with particular reference to the Swedish context, interview and questionnaire data collected from 34 families who took part in the Swedish ACTION project are used to explore the role of user-friendly information and communication technology to inform and enable family carers of older people to exercise choice, to care more effectively and to work in partnership with professionals. Interview data from two groups of professionals that utilised ACTION are also examined to throw light on its potential benefits for both carers and professionals. Consideration is given to the barriers to using information technology, and to identifying those carers most likely to benefit. Areas for further development are the need for practitioners' education and a wider range of programmes to address carers' diverse needs. Clearly, lessons learned from the Swedish project have wider relevance, given that new forms of support are being developed in most technically advanced countries

Flat Dielectric Grating Reflectors with High Focusing Power

Sub-wavelength dielectric gratings (SWG) have emerged recently as a promising alternative to distributed-Bragg-reflection (DBR) dielectric stacks for broadband, high-reflectivity filtering applications. A SWG structure composed of a single dielectric layer with the appropriate patterning can sometimes perform as well as thirty or forty dielectric DBR layers, while providing new functionalities such as polarization control and near-field amplification. In this paper, we introduce a remarkable property of grating mirrors that cannot be realized by their DBR counterpart: we show that a non-periodic patterning of the grating surface can give full control over the phase front of reflected light while maintaining a high reflectivity. This new feature of dielectric gratings could have a substantial impact on a number of applications that depend on low-cost, compact optical components, from laser cavities to CD/DVD read/write heads.Comment: submitted to Nature Photonic

Antagonism of neuromuscular blockade but not muscle relaxation affects depth of anaesthesia

Background. Conflicting effects of neuromuscular blocking drugs and anticholinesterases on depth of anaesthesia have been reported. Therefore we evaluated the effect of atracurium and neostigmine on bispectral index (BIS) and middle-latency auditory evoked potentials (AAI). Methods. We studied 40 patients (ASA I-II) aged 18-69 yr. General anaesthesia consisted of propofol and remifentanil by target-controlled infusion and neuromuscular function was monitored by electromyography. When BIS reached stable values, patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 received atracurium 0.4 mg kg−1 and, 5 min later, the same volume of NaCl 0.9%; group 2 received saline first and then atracurium. When the first twitch of a train of four reached 10% of control intensity, patients were again randomized: one group (N) received neostigmine 0.04 mg kg−1 and glycopyrrolate 0.01 mg kg−1, and the control group (G) received only glycopyrrolate. Results. Injection of atracurium or NaCl 0.9% had no effect on BIS or AAI. After neostigmine-glycopyrrolate, BIS and AAI increased significantly (mean maximal change of BIS 7.1 [sd 7.5], P<0.001; mean maximal change of AAI 9.7 [10.5], P<0.001). When glycopyrrolate was injected alone BIS and AAI also increased (mean maximal change of BIS 2.2 [3.4], P=0.008; mean maximal change of AAI 3.5 [5.7], P=0.012), but this increase was significantly less than in group N (P=0.012 for BIS; P=0.027 for AAI). Conclusion. These data suggest that neostigmine alters the state of propofol-remifentanil anaesthesia and may enhance recover

Relaxation of the field-cooled magnetization of an Ising spin glass

The time and temperature dependence of the field-cooled magnetization of a three dimensional Ising spin glass, Fe_{0.5}Mn_{0.5}TiO_{3}, has been investigated. The temperature and cooling rate dependence is found to exhibit memory phenomena that can be related to the memory behavior of the low frequency ac-susceptibility. The results add some further understanding on how to model the three dimensional Ising spin glass in real space.Comment: 8 pages RevTEX, 5 figure

Short range ferromagnetism and spin glass state in Y0.7Ca0.3MnO3\mathrm{Y_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3}}

Dynamic magnetic properties of $\mathrm{Y_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3}}$ are reported. The system appears to attain local ferromagnetic order at $T_{\mathrm{SRF}} \approx 70$ K. Below this temperature the low field magnetization becomes history dependent, i.e. the zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) magnetization deviate from each other and closely logarithmic relaxation appears at our experimental time scales (0.3-$10^{4}$ sec). The zero field cooled magnetization has a maximum at $T_{\mathrm{f}}\approx 30$ K, whereas the field cooled magnetization continues to increase, although less sharply, also below this temperature. Surprisingly, the dynamics of the system shows non-equilibrium spin glass (SG) features not only below the maximum in the ZFC magnetization, but also in the temperature region between this maximum and $T_{\mathrm{SRF}}$. The aging and temperature cycling experiments show only quantitative differences in the dynamic behavior above and below the maximum in the ZFC-magnetization; similarly, memory effects are observed in both temperature regions. We attribute the high temperature behavior to the existence of clusters of short range ferromagnetic order below $T_{\mathrm{SRF}}$; the configuration evolves into a conventional spin glass state at temperatures below $T_{\mathrm{f}}$.Comment: REVTeX style; 8 pages, 8 figure

Memory and superposition in a spin glass

Non-equilibrium dynamics in a Ag(Mn) spin glass are investigated by measurements of the temperature dependence of the remanent magnetisation. Using specific cooling protocols before recording the thermo- or isothermal remanent magnetisations on re-heating, it is found that the measured curves effectively disclose non-equilibrium spin glass characteristics such as ageing and memory phenomena as well as an extended validity of the superposition principle for the relaxation. The usefulness of this "simple" dc-method is discussed, as well as its applicability to other disordered magnetic systems.Comment: REVTeX style; 8 pages, 4 figure