Linked randomised controlled trials of face-to-face and electronic brief intervention methods to prevent alcohol related harm in young people aged 14–17 years presenting to Emergency Departments (SIPS junior)

Background: Alcohol is a major global threat to public health. Although the main burden of chronic alcohol-related disease is in adults, its foundations often lie in adolescence. Alcohol consumption and related harm increase steeply from the age of 12 until 20 years. Several trials focusing upon young people have reported significant positive effects of brief interventions on a range of alcohol consumption outcomes. A recent review of reviews also suggests that electronic brief interventions (eBIs) using internet and smartphone technologies may markedly reduce alcohol consumption compared with minimal or no intervention controls. Interventions that target non-drinking youth are known to delay the onset of drinking behaviours. Web based alcohol interventions for adolescents also demonstrate significantly greater reductions in consumption and harm among ‘high-risk’ drinkers; however changes in risk status at follow-up for non-drinkers or low-risk drinkers have not been assessed in controlled trials of brief alcohol interventions

The ages of the world and the ages of man: Irish and European learning in the twelfth century

In the grand narrative of renewal and creativity in the Europe of the ‘long twelfth century’, it has been easy to assume that Ireland was marginal and backward-looking, with the energy of its thinkers and writers concentrated on preserving and continuing the cultural forms of the national past. In recent scholarship, however, it has become clear that Irish intellectual life in this period was much closer to the European mainstream than was once believed. This article presents a case study in this area, concerned with the schematisation of historical time and the course of human life in parallel systems of six ages. Two examples of Irish text-production from the early twelfth century – an extended marginal gloss of some theological subtlety, and a complex heroic image in a narrative eulogy – will be compared with parallel manifestations in three sources from the heart of mainstream European creativity in the period: an encyclopaedic compilation of history and theology, a sequence of newly-composed hymns for the Divine Office, and the iconographic programme of stained-glass windows in a newly rebuilt cathedral. The parallels will underline the fact that, despite the obvious differences in outer form, the modes of learned creativity reflected in Irish manuscript culture were closely aligned with international trends across Europe in the same period. To set this material in context, we preface our discussion with some general remarks on medieval Irish writing, before proceeding to the details of the chosen examples

Living graphs as a methodological tool: representing landmarks in the professional development of teacher educators

This article relates to the use of an innovative visual research method, living graphs, to capture and represent the life experiences of teacher educators in two universities in the UK. Six mid-career teacher educators from each university were asked to map their personal biographies, career landmarks, academic and research highs and lows, using a graphic format. This was then used as a basis for discussion and exploration in the interviews. Narrative analysis was used to examine the teacher educators’ accounts and themes were identified which related to professional and academic development. Living graphs were found to be a rich data source to identify and explore career landmarks: enhanced verbal input resulted from using graphics to represent highs and lows of experience, including the visual representation of emotion. This is a useful research tool but needs further clarification and guidelines for use

Kepler-210: An active star with at least two planets

We report the detection and characterization of two short-period, Neptune-sized planets around the active host star Kepler-210. The host star's parameters derived from those planets are (a) mutually inconsistent and (b) do not conform to the expected host star parameters. We furthermore report the detection of transit timing variations (TTVs) in the O-C diagrams for both planets. We explore various scenarios that explain and resolve those discrepancies. A simple scenario consistent with all data appears to be one that attributes substantial eccentricities to the inner short-period planets and that interprets the TTVs as due to the action of another, somewhat longer period planet. To substantiate our suggestions, we present the results of N-body simulations that modeled the TTVs and that checked the stability of the Kepler-210 system.Comment: 8 pages, 8 Encapsulated Postscript figure

Helping Business Schools Engage with Real Problems: The Contribution of Critical Realism and Systems Thinking

The world faces major problems, not least climate change and the financial crisis, and business schools have been criticised for their failure to help address these issues and, in the case of the financial meltdown, for being causally implicated in it. In this paper we begin by describing the extent of what has been called the rigour/relevance debate. We then diagnose the nature of the problem in terms of historical, structural and contextual mechanisms that initiated and now sustain an inability of business schools to engage with real-world issues. We then propose a combination of measures, which mutually reinforce each other, that are necessary to break into this vicious circle – critical realism as an underpinning philosophy that supports and embodies the next points; holism and transdisciplinarity; multimethodology (mixed-methods research); and a critical and ethical-committed stance. OR and management science have much to contribute in terms of both powerful analytical methods and problem structuring methods

Analysis of the fabric of undisturbed and pluviated silty sand under load over time

Microstructure of two undisturbed silty sands with 4% fines and 35% fines is described and quantified. The materials were sampled by the gel push sampling method. Upon reloading to their in situ stresses, the material fabric was fixed by resin impregnation. A qualitative and quantitative comparison of the microstructure was made with laboratory prepared dry deposited specimens (15% fines) which were loaded over different periods of time. The microstructure is quantified statistically by measuring particle orientation and the distribution of spatial distance between particles. Both undisturbed and reconstituted specimens show a preferred horizontal particle orientation, with little detectable change over time in the reconstituted samples. Spatial microstructural change was assessed using new parameter called index of dispersion. A greater index of dispersion suggests a more interlocked structure (hence, more structurally stable sample). Analysis of the reconstituted samples show that index of dispersion tends to increase with ageing, with the denser sample displaying greater change over time than the looser sample. Values of index of dispersion of reconstituted samples (15% fines) tend to lie between those of the undisturbed sample with 35% silt fines and with 5% fines, showing that this measure is not independent of the particle size distribution

An exploration of the use of language within therapeutic interventions for people experiencing psychosis

Formulation is a fundamental component in many of the psychological therapies practised within the National Health Service (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy and psychodynamic therapy) (British Psychology Society, Division of Clinical Psychology, [BPS, DCP], 2011). It is seen as a starting point for the process of intervention (DCP, 2011). However, despite the importance placed on formulation, it is under conceptualised and under researched (Johnstone & Dallos, 2015). More specifically, little is known about how service users experience and make use of formulation in therapy for psychosis. Semi structured interviews were undertaken with 11 service users and two clinical psychologists with experience of formulation in therapy for psychosis. Data from the interviews were analysed from a critical realist perspective using grounded theory methodology. An emerging model was constructed to depict the processes that occur during the sharing of a formulation. ‘Linking previous experiences with current ways of being’ and ‘building the therapeutic relationship’ emerged as core reciprocally influential processes. ‘Making use of new understandings’ was also identified as an important process. The findings suggest that formulations should be developed collaboratively and progressively with service users, and that care should be given to the emotions that arise as a result. Further research is necessary to elaborate our understanding of formulation given the importance placed on it in UK clinical psychology