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Consider a plane monochromatic electromagnetic wave normally incident on an absorbing dielectric slab, bounded by z = 0 and z = L, and whose electrical parameters ε, μ and σ are arbitrary functions of z. The media on either side of the slab have constant but generally different electrical properties. This paper describes an efficient numerical algorithm for calculating the electromagnetic field within the slab, as well as its absolute reflection and transmission coefficients. The waveform within the slab is represented by a new complex dependent variable satisfying a modified (complex) Helmholtz equation to be solved subject to mixed inhomogeneous conditions at the boundaries of the slab. If derivatives are replaced by nth-order centred differences, the difference equation set is linear, sparse and efficiently solved by direct recursion. In this paper, complex arithmetic is avoided by replacing the complex Helmholtz equation with two coupled, real, second-order ordinary differential equations. An algorithm of second-order accuracy is developed which leads to a bitridiagonal difference equation set. Calculations are carried out for a variable-property slab problem which call also be solved analytically. Numerical comparisons indicate that the method is accurate and efficient enough that a desk-top computer is a practical computational machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the role of private venture in the history of the business studies education in Great Britain. In the nineteenth century the introduction of business subjects into endowed and other private schools was stimulated. Demand for a business education arose among the middle classes. English businessmen had increasingly received an education having relevance to their livelihood in commerce. The provision of correspondence courses is an area of business education in which private enterprises has been active.

Cardiac amyloidosis is an emerging and important cause of heart failure, arrhythmia, and other cardiovascular disease in Canada. In this context, many centres have expressed interest in the development of effective care pathways for screening, evaluating, and treating this rapidly growing patient population. In October 2019, a group of Canadian stakeholders met, including specialists in cardiac amyloidosis, experts in heart failure and chronic disease management, and academic and community-based cardiologists at various stages of cardiac amyloidosis clinic development. Objectives of the meetings included discussion of existing care pathways, consideration of barriers to program development, and achieving a consensus on essential and desirable components of a best-practice cardiac amyloidosis program. Topics discussed included optimal settings for cardiac amyloidosis clinics and integration with other specialty clinics, funding limitations that act as barriers to program development and potential solutions to these barriers, the roles of the multidisciplinary team and specialist physicians in amyloidosis care, and diagnostic pathways and strategies for the identification of patients with cardiac amyloidosis. In this report, we summarize the discussion points and key recommendations for the development of a cardiac amyloidosis clinic that emerged from this meeting, focused on program integration and care coordination, human resource elements, access to care, and quality improvement and outcome measures in cardiac amyloidosis., (Copyright © 2021 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)