1,030 research outputs found
Can a nudge keep you warm? Using nudges to reduce excess winter deaths: insight from the Keeping Warm in Later Life Project (KWILLT)
Nudges are interventions that aim to change people's behaviour through changing the environment in which they choose rather than appealing to their reasoning. Nudges have been proposed as of possible use in relation to health-related behaviour. However, nudges have been criticized as ethically dubious because they bypass peoples reasoning and (anyway) are of little help in relation to affecting ill-health that results from social determinants, such as poverty. Reducing the rate of excess winter deaths (EWDs) is a public health priority; however, EWD seems clearly to be socially determined such that nudges arguably have little role. This article defends two claims: (i) nudges could have a place in tackling even the heavily socially determined problem of EWD. We draw on evidence from an empirical study, the Keeping Warm in Later Life Project (KWILLT), to argue that in some cases the risk of cold is within the person’s control to some extent such that environmental modifications to influence behaviour such as nudges are possible. (ii) Some uses of behavioural insights in the form of nudges are acceptable, including some in the area of EWD. We suggest a question-based framework by which to judge the ethical acceptability of nudges
Engineered surfaces to control secondary electron emission for multipactor suppression
A significant problem for space-based systems is multipactor - an avalanche of electrons caused by repeated secondary electron emission (SEE). The consequences of multipactor range from altering the operation of radio frequency (RF) devices to permanent device damage. Existing efforts to suppress multipactor rely heavily on limiting power levels below a multipactor threshold [1]. This research applies surface micromachining techniques to create porous surfaces to control the secondary electron yield (SEY) of a material for multipactor suppression. Surface characteristics of interest include pore aspect ratio and density. A discussion is provided on the advantage of using electroplating (vice etching) to create porous surfaces for studying the relationships between SEY and pore aspect ratio & density (i.e. porosity). Preventing multipactor through SEY reduction will allow power level restrictions to be eased, leading to more powerful and capable space-based systems
On asymptotically flat solutions of Einstein's equations periodic in time I. Vacuum and electrovacuum solutions
By an argument similar to that of Gibbons and Stewart, but in a different
coordinate system and less restrictive gauge, we show that any
weakly-asymptotically-simple, analytic vacuum or electrovacuum solutions of the
Einstein equations which are periodic in time are necessarily stationary.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, published in Class. Quant. Grav
Professional boundaries: research report
In 2008 the General Social Care Council (GSCC) published Raising standards: Social work conduct in England 2003-2008. This constituted the GSCC’s first report covering the work undertaken to uphold standards and protect people who use social care services. The GSCC’s analysis revealed that a considerable proportion of conduct cases, some 40%, involved allegations of 'inappropriate relations'. In the light of this finding, and the release by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) of sexual boundaries guidance for healthcare workers at the beginning of this year (Halter et al, 2009), the GSCC committed itself to exploring the possibility of producing professional boundaries guidance for social workers.
To begin this exploration, the GSCC commissioned a study in early 2009.This is the report of that study. There were two main purposes. First, to establish what professional boundaries1 guidance currently exists for social workers, or for sections of the workforce that includes social workers in the United Kingdom, and the content of any such guidance. Secondly, to identify and discuss a number of other examples of professional boundaries guidance to act as points of reference for the GSCC’s project. The aim was to identify and discuss examples relevant to the GSCC’s project
Scalar--flat K\"ahler metrics with conformal Bianchi V symmetry
We provide an affirmative answer to a question posed by Tod \cite{Tod:1995b},
and construct all four-dimensional Kahler metrics with vanishing scalar
curvature which are invariant under the conformal action of Bianchi V group.
The construction is based on the combination of twistor theory and the
isomonodromic problem with two double poles. The resulting metrics are
non-diagonal in the left-invariant basis and are explicitly given in terms of
Bessel functions and their integrals. We also make a connection with the LeBrun
ansatz, and characterise the associated solutions of the SU(\infty) Toda
equation by the existence a non-abelian two-dimensional group of point
symmetries.Comment: Dedicated to Maciej Przanowski on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
Minor corrections. To appear in CQ
On the evolution of the inner disk radius with flux in the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Serpens X-1
We analyze the latest \emph{Suzaku} observation of the bright neutron star
low-mass X-ray binary Serpens X-1 taken in 2013 October and 2014 April. The
observation was taken using the burst mode and only suffered mild pile-up
effects. A broad iron line is clearly detected in the X-ray spectrum. We test
different models and find that the iron line is asymmetric and best interpreted
by relativistic reflection. The relativistically broadened iron line is
generally believed to originate from the innermost regions of the accretion
disk, where strong gravity causes a series of special and general relativistic
effects. The iron line profile indicates an inner radius of , which gives an upper limit on the size of the neutron star. The asymmetric
iron line has been observed in a number of previous observations, which gives
several inner radius measurements at different flux states. We find that the
inner radius of Serpens X-1 does not evolve significantly over the range of
, and the lack of flux dependence of the inner radius
implies that the accretion disk may be truncated outside the innermost stable
circular orbit by the boundary layer rather than the stellar magnetic field.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Complete Calabi-Yau metrics from Kahler metrics in D=4
In the present work the local form of certain Calabi-Yau metrics possessing a
local Hamiltonian Killing vector is described in terms of a single non linear
equation. The main assumptions are that the complex -form is of the form
, where is preserved by the Killing
vector, and that the space of the orbits of the Killing vector is, for fixed
value of the momentum map coordinate, a complex 4-manifold, in such a way that
the complex structure of the 4-manifold is part of the complex structure of the
complex 3-fold. The link with the solution generating techniques of [26]-[28]
is made explicit and in particular an example with holonomy exactly SU(3) is
found by use of the linearization of [26], which was found in the context of D6
branes wrapping a holomorphic 1-fold in a hyperkahler manifold. But the main
improvement of the present method, unlike the ones presented in [26]-[28], does
not rely in an initial hyperkahler structure. Additionally the complications
when dealing with non linear operators over the curved hyperkahler space are
avoided by use of this method.Comment: Version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
Trapped surfaces in prolate collapse in the Gibbons-Penrose construction
We investigate existence and properties of trapped surfaces in two models of
collapsing null dust shells within the Gibbons-Penrose construction. In the
first model, the shell is initially a prolate spheroid, and the resulting
singularity forms at the ends first (relative to a natural time slicing by flat
hyperplanes), in analogy with behavior found in certain prolate collapse
examples considered by Shapiro and Teukolsky. We give an explicit example in
which trapped surfaces are present on the shell, but none exist prior to the
last flat slice, thereby explicitly showing that the absence of trapped
surfaces on a particular, natural slicing does not imply an absence of trapped
surfaces in the spacetime. We then examine a model considered by Barrabes,
Israel and Letelier (BIL) of a cylindrical shell of mass M and length L, with
hemispherical endcaps of mass m. We obtain a "phase diagram" for the presence
of trapped surfaces on the shell with respect to essential parameters and . It is found that no trapped surfaces are
present on the shell when or are sufficiently small. (We are
able only to search for trapped surfaces lying on the shell itself.) In the
limit , the existence or nonexistence of trapped surfaces lying
within the shell is seen to be in remarkably good accord with the hoop
conjecture.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
“It’s my dream to work with Olympic athletes”: Neophyte sport psychologists’ expectations and initial experiences regarding service delivery
We examined trainee practitioners' initial experiences of applied sport psychology practice. Semi-structured interviews (4) were conducted over 6 months with 7 full-time MSc students before, during, and after the applied sport psychology module, when they were working with clients. Participants also kept reflective diaries over an 8-week period whilst working with clients. Findings included: (a) motivations and expectations of an ASP practice career, (b) perceptions of service delivery, (c) emotional demands, and (d) pivotal experiences. Findings extend previous literature on the initial stages of practitioner development, providing micro-level detail on aspects of the intense development process during this pivotal perio
Gravitational strings. Do we see one?
I present a class of objects called gravitational strings (GS) for their
similarity to the conventional cosmic strings: even though the former are just
singularities in flat spacetime, both varieties are equally "realistic", they
may play equally important cosmological r\^ole and their lensing properties are
akin. I argue that the enigmatic object CSL-1 is an evidence in favor of the
existence of GS.Comment: The published version. Minor correction
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