bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Polystyrene–organoclay nanocomposites prepared by melt intercalation, in situ, and masterbatch methods
Authors: Yilmazer Ulku , Ozden Gulsum 
Published: March 2006

AbstractIn this study, polystyrene (PS)/montmorillonite nanocomposites were prepared by melt intercalation, in situ polymerization, and masterbatch methods. In the masterbatch method, as the first step, a high clay content composite of PS–organoclay (masterbatch) was prepared by in situ polymerization, and then the prepared masterbatch was diluted to desired compositions with commercial PS in a twin‐screw extruder. The structure and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were examined. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the d‐spacing of the in situ formed nanocomposites increased from 32.9 Å for the organoclay powder to 36.3 and 36.8 Å respectively in nanocomposites containing 0.73 and 1.6 wt% organoclay, indicating intercalation. However, the d‐spacing of the other prepared materials remained nearly unchanged when compared with pure organoclay powder. Thus, at these low clay contents, in situ formed nanocomposites showed the best improvement in mechanical properties including tensile, impact strength, and Young's modulus. In situ polymerization method did not prove to be efficient at high clay loadings in terms of intercalation and mechanical properties. At high clay loadings, the effects of the three methods in promoting mechanical properties were not significantly different from each other. POLYM. COMPOS., 27:249–255, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers
Does experience equate with learning in critical care nurses?
Authors: Douglas Margaret , Gibson Vanessa , Gregg Alan 
Published: March 2006

AbstractSchemes that aim to provide some form of academic accreditation in recognition of work‐based learning are not a new concept. Work‐based learning is seen as one of many ways to help to build a modern workforce that is fit for practice (DoH 2000a). Northumbria University has developed a BSc (Hons) and a higher education diploma in critical care practice pathway that is open to all practitioners in critical care. One of the core modules of this is ‘Foundations in Critical Care’. However, it was recognized that not all practitioners would need to complete a foundation‐level module to access the pathway and an Accreditation of Experiential Learning (APEL) scheme was developed in order to accredit experienced practitioners with academic points for learning gained from practice. What is new about the Northumbria University APEL process is the abandonment of the usual portfolio approach and the adoption of an annotated CV that outlines students' experience and a viva voce assessment. At their vivas students are asked a number of questions pertaining to the learning outcomes of the module. The assessment panel members comprises one academic and one expert practitioner, who then make a judgement on whether or not the knowledge gained through students' experience equates with the learning outcomes of the module. This has been an interesting and enlightening experience: most students who have been through the process have been successful. However, the process has made a number of students think very carefully about whether or not they need to undertake a foundation module and a number have opted to do just that. The advantages over portfolio submission are numerous, the most obvious being that during the viva the only knowledge that students can demonstrate is their own. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Improving communication between service users and professionals via the internet
Authors: Hughes Rhidian , Higginson Irene , Sinha Anu , Down Keren , Leigh Nigel 
Published: March 2006

AbstractA virtual forum—referring to an internet website that allows people with motor neurone disease (MND), their families and healthcare professionals to communicate—has been developed. We demonstrate ways in which communication was enhanced between those affected by MND and healthcare professionals, notably by debate and campaigning, asking questions and seeking advice, and contributing to the ongoing development of the website. Future development of the forum will involve: refocusing the website to include all neurological illnesses; professional re‐design of the website: improved site hosting; publicizing the website; and undertaking detailed research on its role and operation. The issues raised in the development of a virtual forum for people with MND have wider resonance for practice development in healthcare. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Implementing sustainable foundations for practice and service development
Authors: Eve Julian 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThis article is about the development of a small 12‐bedded residential unit, Broomhill House, into a residential and community base for more than 30 clients with long‐term complex mental health needs. The organizational journey and the changes to clinical process that have contributed to Broomhill House becoming an established mental health recovery service, highly regarded by its clients, their carers and members of the multidisciplinary team are described. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Public health nursing: developing practice
Authors: Carr Susan , Davidson Alison 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThe present paper addresses the issue of practice development in a public health nursing context. It explores two levels of practice development: the development of a new and innovative public health nurse role within a primary care trust and the development of community nursing practice facilitated by the post‐holder. To date much of the knowledge about practice development in nursing has been located in specific clinical settings, often in relation to specific client groups. In this development the client group is the community within the area and the specific needs of the clients relate principally to health inequalities. The present position of public health nursing is summarized and the process and concept of practice development is discussed. Key elements of practice development are outlined from the literature, using the public health nurse role to illustrate their relevance in this context. An evaluation study was also undertaken, which served to inform the process. The evaluation study is outlined and some of the research data are presented to facilitate discussion of the perceptions of community nurses and other stakeholders involved in the process of public health practice development. The discussion concludes with key issues that must be taken into account if the process is to be successful. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
An account of 360° review as part of a practice development strategy
Authors: Dewing Jan , Hancock Sarah , Brooks Jenny , Pedder Lesley , Adams Liz , Riddaway Lisa , Uglow Julie , O'Connor Pauline 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to describe the experiences and learning of a group of practitioners, who, while engaged with a systematic emancipatory practice development strategy, undertook a 360° review of their leadership. The purpose of the review was two‐fold: first, to compare their leadership self‐assessment with perceptions of those people they worked with who were affected by their style of leadership; and second, to enable the group members to develop leadership action plans that would facilitate implementation of the practice development strategy. The article shows how the group were moving along a path of enlightenment and empowerment in relation to one style of leadership called transformational leadership. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Therapeutic and ethical practice: a participatory action research project in old age mental health
Authors: Clarke Charlotte , Gardner Andrew 
Published: March 2006

AbstractDespite the contemporary emphasis on evidence‐based practice, there remains a dearth of knowledge about how professional philosophy and expertise influence clinical practice. These issues are magnified when caring for people for whom ‘good’ care is hard to define (for example, older people with mental health needs) owing to the dual demands of physical care (in this study for example, continence care) and psychological care (for example, patient autonomy). The aim of the present study was to analyse ethical tensions of developing and managing continence care in an assessment unit for older people with mental health needs. A participatory action research approach was used, seeking to engage the unit staff in developing their practice. Data were collected by focus group and individual interview, observation and secondary data analysis. The study demonstrated the complexity of decision‐making in this field, not least when there was tension between the duty to provide good clinical care and the duty to respect the autonomy of the patient. Despite the relative stability of the external evidence base in continence care, the clinical decisions fluctuated in time, place and person (situated decision‐making). Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Guiding small‐scale evaluation: a critical step in developing practice
Authors: Carr Susan , Clarke Charlotte 
Published: March 2006

AbstractEvaluation is an essential and important aspect of all health and social care practice. This paper describes an evaluation framework developed as part of the evaluation of a health action zone. Complex community initiatives, such as health action zones, often include multiple small‐scale projects. The evaluation work of such projects is often restricted by lack of time, finance and supportive guidance. These issues are exacerbated by the dearth of user‐friendly literature on the subject of small‐scale evaluation. The framework and process reported here explore a range of evaluation designs and provide a flexible format to support evaluation in practice. It is hoped that these will be useful to both practitioners engaged in evaluating their practice and to those supporting others in this endeavour. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Child and adolescent mental health: a new pathway of care to improve access to services
Authors: Hewson Lesley , Chennells Liz , Worrall‐Davies Anne 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThe present paper considers the development of a new integrated model of care to improve services aimed at addressing the mental health needs of children and young people after increased staffing levels and other initiatives had failed to bring about the necessary improvements in the service. A different approach, focused on a radical redesign of the pathway for referral and treatment, appears to have been successful in ensuring that children and young people receive a more timely and acceptable service. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Effect of triage on patient outcomes
Authors: Horsey Madeleine , Thomas Peter , Adlem Linda 
Published: March 2006

AbstractBoth staff and patients at the Blandford Community Hospital Physiotherapy Department were unhappy that sometimes it took as long as 12 weeks for general practice patients to receive their initial appointments. A triage system was introduced and an audit undertaken to compare outcomes before and after triage to see if, after undertaking triage, patients needed fewer treatments or were discharged sooner. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Extremely regio‐regular poly (3‐alkylthiophene)s from simplified chain‐growth Grignard metathesis polymerisations and the modification of their chain‐ends
Authors: Hiorns Roger C , Khoukh Abdel , Gourdet Benoit , Dagron‐Lartigau Christine 
Published: March 2006

AbstractA simplified route to regio‐regular poly(3‐alkylthiophene)s (P3AT) with predetermined molecular weights and low molecular weight distributions based on the chain‐growth GRIM polymerisation of 2,5‐dibromo‐3‐alkylthiophenes is detailed. It is proposed by way of in‐depth 13C‐, 1H‐ and two‐dimensional NMR characterisations that the resulting P3ATs are quasi‐100% regio‐regular except for one regio‐irregular pair at one chain‐end. It is probable that chain‐end groups exhibit reduced conjugation with the rest of the polymer. A comparison of the preparation of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) and poly(3‐butylthiophene) (P3BT) is presented. New methods required for the hydrogenation, formylation and bromomethylation of the chain‐ends of P3BT, necessary to overcome its poor solubility and low reactivity, are described. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry
Hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces from polyphosphazenes
Authors: Allcock Harry R , Steely Lee B , Singh Anurima 
Published: March 2006

AbstractHydrophobic polymers play a crucial role in many biomedical and commercial applications. Hydrophobic polyphosphazenes offer opportunities for the tuning of surface properties that are not found for many conventional hydrophobic materials. Thus, changes in the side groups linked to the polyphosphazene skeleton allow the surface character to be changed from highly hydrophilic to hydrophobic. The hydrophobic side groups range from fluoroalkoxy groups to aryloxy and organosilicon units. Moreover, the polymer architectures can be varied from single‐substituent species to mixed substituent polymers or to block or comb copolymer structures. Superhydrophobicity, with contact angles to water as high as 159°, has been achieved by electrospinning a fluoroalkoxy derivative to nanofiber mats. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry
Thermooxidation effects on the structuring of molten polypropylene–clay nanocomposites
Authors: Xu Yibin , Yang Jianmao , Xu Yuanze 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThe storage modulus G′ plateau at low frequency, the solid‐like state in molten nanocomposites, has been verified by comparative studies in air or nitrogen for polypropylene (PP)–organoclay with compatibilizer (PPCH). It was found that the thermal oxidation does not only degrade the polymer chain but also enhances the structuring in PPCH. Well‐designed rheology testing was able to distinguish the surface effect from the bulk responses. The inhomogeneity of clay distribution in samples was also studied using X‐ray element analysis. We found that the apparent G′ plateau was mainly caused by diffusive oxidation starting from sample‐free surface in oxidative environment and, finally, a charring layer at the free surface was gradually developed, which is responsible for the solid state or very high apparent G′ plateau. This structuring scheme agrees with the dehydrogenation mechanism of oxidation leading to crosslinking and volatilization of PP composites, while the participation of organoclay is essential. A silane coupling agent may retard this process by interacting with silicates. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry
Photoinduced alignment of azobenzene side‐chain polymers with short spacer: Biaxial orientation and fast response
Authors: Sun Kai , Liu Jian , Gao Jiangang , Su Wei , Zhang Douguo , Wang Pei , Zhang Qijin 
Published: March 2006

AbstractSide‐chain azobenzene‐containing liquid crystalline polymer (ALCP) of Poly(6‐[4‐(4‐cyanophenylazo)phenoxy] x‐methylene methacrylate)(Px, x is 2 or 6) was synthesized and used to study its photoinduced alignment behavior irradiated by a linearly polarized laser at room temperature. The relationships between transmittance and irradiation time as well as transmittance and various incident angles were studied in detail. The oversaturation phenomenon of P2 film was found to be higher than 1 mW/cm2 under irradiation energy density. A model of the biaxial orientation was introduced to explain the phenomenon: it is the rigid short spacer that makes it possible for mesogen to coexist in a way of out‐of‐plane and in‐plane orientation (biaxial orientation), in which the type of photoinduced motions is a single mesogen motion in the film of P2, whereas in the film of P6 with longer spacer, the motion is a microdomain motion. The whole domain motion restricted the out‐of‐plane orientation, which shows a slow orientation rate and all mesogens aligned within the film plane. A novel dynamic fitting was also presented to describe the orientation of P2, which was discussed in terms of the fitting parameters. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1378–1384, 2006
Thermal and spectroscopy studies on ternary miscibility and phase behavior in blends comprising poly(4‐vinyl phenol) and two aryl polyesters
Authors: Lee Li‐Ting , Woo Eamor M. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThermal analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy characterizations were performed on three ternary blend systems that comprise poly(4‐vinyl phenol) (PVPh) and any two of the three homologous aryl polyesters [poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT)]. Although PVPh is miscible with any one of the polyesters in forming a binary blend system, miscibility in ternary systems by introducing one more polymer of different structures to the blend system is not always expected. However, this study concludes that miscibility does exist in all these three ternary blends of all compositions investigated. Reasons and factors for such behavior were probed. Quantitative interactions in the ternary blend system were also estimated. The overall interaction energy density (B) by analysis of melting point depression for the PBT/PVPh/PET ternary blend system led to a negative value (B = −5.74 cal/cm3). Similarly, Tg‐composition analyses were performed on two other ternary blend systems, PET/PVPh/PTT and PTT/PVPh/PBT. Comparison of the qualitative results showed that the interaction energy densities in the other two ternary blend systems are similarly negative and comparable to the PBT/PVPh/PET ternary blend system. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results also support the qualitative findings among these three ternary blend systems. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1339–1350, 2006
Effect of ammonia on the temperature‐dependent conductivity and thermopower of polypyrrole
Authors: Kemp N. T. , Kaiser A. B. , Trodahl H. J. , Chapman B. , Buckley R. G. , Partridge A. C. , Foot P. J. S. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractWe report the first measurements of the effect of ammonia gas on the temperature dependence of the conductivity and thermoelectric power of polypyrrole films. Our data are for samples of very different conductivities, extending down to a temperature of 200 K for low‐conductivity polypyrrole gas sensors, and down to 4.2 K for more highly‐conducting PPy(PF6) samples. We demonstrate that (except for the most metallic case) our polypyrrole samples show greater sensitivity to ammonia as the temperature is lowered (i.e. the fractional reduction in conductivity is greater at lower temperatures). Remanent decreases in conductivity are present after the removal of ammonia for higher pressure exposures, and remanent increases in the metal‐like thermoelectric power for the PPy(PF6) for samples grown at higher temperatures. Our results indicate that the mechanism of this conductivity decrease in PPy(PF6) is that ammonia causes a reduction in the size of metallic regions as disordered barrier regions are thickened. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1331–1338, 2006
Neurological rehabilitation: a science struggling to come of age
Authors: Pomeroy Valerie , Tallis Raymond 
Published: March 2006

AbstractOver the last few decades, there have been considerable improvements in the outcome of stroke patients both as regards mortality and disability. At least some of these improvements can be attributed to better organization of services and improved rehabilitation. Many patients, however, remain severely disabled and we will need to develop new strategies in which the focus will be on reversing impairments rather than simply helping patients to adapt to unaltered impairments. For this to happen, neurological rehabilitation research will have to develop therapies that have a clearly defined rationale and are rooted in neurosciences, are clinically described, are addressed to a well‐characterized target population and are evaluated using appropriate outcome measures. Few studies at present meet all these criteria. The recent revolution in our understanding of the nervous system as being soft‐wired, of the potential for recovery through reorganization and of the central role of afferent information associated with normal activity is ground for optimism and indicates the direction in which future therapies should be sought. The paper considers some approaches to providing appropriate afferent information, including inputs such as that from electrotherapy, novel approaches to assisted activity and constraint‐induced therapy. We are on the verge of a revolution in neurological rehabilitation. If we exploit the new understanding of the nervous system arising from basic neurosciences in developing and evaluating therapies we should be able to build on the achievements of the last few decades so that fewer of our patients have to carry the burden of severe disability. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Vertebral artery atherosclerosis: a risk factor in the use of manipulative therapy?
Authors: Mitchell Jeanette 
Published: March 2006

AbstractBackground and PurposeVertebrobasilar insufficiency, a direct result of compromised blood flow in the vertebrobasilar circulation, may be caused by stretching and/or compression of the vertebral arteries, particularly if superimposed on underlying atherosclerosis of the vessels. This is an important consideration when using manipulative therapy techniques. The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence of atherosclerosis and to calculate the relative associated decrease in blood flow in the third and fourth parts of the vertebral artery, in a sample of the adult population.MethodA laboratory‐based experimental investigation was used to study 362 vertebral arteries from embalmed adult cadavers that were routinely processed for light microscopic study. The incidence of each grade of atherosclerosis in the vessels was recorded. Atherosclerosis was classified as grades 0–5, where Grade 0 represented no atherosclerosis and Grade 5 a fully developed plaque occluding more than 75% of the vessel lumen. From mean measurements of 188 of these arteries, the estimated decrease in luminal cross‐sectional area and the relative decrease in blood flow in the atherosclerotic vessels were calculated.ResultsThe highest incidence of atherosclerosis found was Grade 3 (third part of the vertebral artery (VA3): 42.0%; fourth part of the vertebral artery (VA4): 35.2%). An estimated decrease in artery luminal cross‐sectional area to 6.2% of normal in Grade 5 atherosclerosis was found. Because blood flow is proportional to the fourth power of the vessel radius, relative decreases in blood flow in grades 1–5 atherosclerosis from 100% to 0% (with critical closing pressure in vessels), respectively, are likely to occur.ConclusionsThese data suggest that, as significant numbers of the sample showed marked (Grade 3+) atherosclerosis, concomitant with decreased blood flow in the vertebral arteries, this population is at risk for developing vertebrobasilar insufficiency. Because other Western populations may be similarly at risk, particular care should be taken when considering the use of rotational manipulative therapy techniques in treatments of the cervical spine. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd.