The effectiveness and impact of the child protection and criminal justice systems in cases of intrafamilial child sexual abuse

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from a study commissioned by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) in England, concerning intrafamilial child sexual abuse (IFCSA)/incest. Specifically, it aims to explore the evidence about child protection and criminal justice responses to victims of IFCSA in the UK and where the gaps in these approaches lie. Design/methodology/approach – A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was used, the function of which is to: search the literature as comprehensively as possible within given time constraints; collate descriptive outlines of the available evidence on a topic and critically appraise it; sift out studies of poor quality; and provide an overview of the evidence. Over 57,000 documents were scanned, and 296 ultimately systematically analysed. Findings – It was found that children may be re-victimised by various aspects of “the system” and professionals within it, including social workers, police officers, and lawyers. Research limitations/implications – A REA is not a full systematic review, differing in the scope and depth of the searches and depending almost exclusively on electronic databases, not accompanied by searching journals by hand. Originality/value – The findings of this research provide the evidence-base for a new two-year inquiry into the subject of IFCSA by the OCC

Reissner-Nordstrom and charged gas spheres

The main point of this paper is a suggestion about the proper treatment of the photon gas in a theory of stellar structure and other plasmas. This problem arises in the study of polytropic gas spheres, where we have already introduced some innovations. The main idea, already advanced in the contextof neutral, homogeneous, polytropic stellar models, is to base the theory firmly on a variational principle. Another essential novelty is to let mass distribution extend to infinity, the boundary between bulk and atmosphere being defined by an abrupt change in the polytropic index, triggered by the density. The logical next step in this program is to include the effect of radiation, which is a very significant complication since a full treatment would have to include an account of ionization, thus fieldsrepresenting electrons, ions, photons, gravitons and neutral atoms as well. In way of preparation, we consider models that are charged but homogeneous, involving only gravity, electromagnetism and a single scalar field that represents both the mass and the electric charge; in short, anon-neutral plasma. While this work only represents a stage in the development of a theory of stars, without direct application to physical systems, it does shed some light on the meaning of the Reissner-Nordstrom solution of the modified Einstein-Maxwell equations., with an application to a simple system.Comment: 19 pages, plain te

A [SU(6)]4^4 FLAVOR MODEL WITHOUT MIRROR FERMIONS

We introduce a three family extension of the Pati-Salam model which is anomaly-free and contains in a single irreducible representation the known quarks and leptons without mirror fermions. Assuming that the breaking of the symmetry admits the implementation of the survival hypothesis, we calculate the mass scales using the renormalization group equation. Finally we show that the proton remains perturbatively stable.Comment: Z PHYS. C63, 339 (1994

Astrophysical Reaction Rates for 10^{10}B(p,α\alpha)7^{7}Be and 11^{11}B(p,α\alpha)8^{8}Be From a Direct Model

The reactions $^{10}$B(p,$\alpha$)$^{7}$Be and $^{11}$B(p,$\alpha$)$^{8}$Be are studied at thermonuclear energies using DWBA calculations. For both reactions, transitions to the ground states and first excited states are investigated. In the case of $^{10}$B(p,$\alpha$)$^{7}$Be, a resonance at $E_{Res}=10$ keV can be consistently described in the potential model, thereby allowing the extension of the astrophysical $S$-factor data to very low energies. Strong interference with a resonance at about $E_{Res}=550$ keV require a Breit-Wigner description of that resonance and the introduction of an interference term for the reaction $^{10}$B(p,$\alpha_1$)$^{7}$Be$^*$. Two isospin $T=1$ resonances (at $E_{Res1}=149$ keV and $E_{Res2}=619$ keV) observed in the $^{11}$B+p reactions necessitate Breit-Wigner resonance and interference terms to fit the data of the $^{11}$B(p,$\alpha$)$^{8}$Be reaction. $S$-factors and thermonuclear reaction rates are given for each reaction. The present calculation is the first consistent parametrization for the transition to the ground states and first excited states at low energies.Comment: 27 pages, 5 Postscript figures, uses RevTex and aps.sty; preprint also available at http://quasar.physik.unibas.ch/ Phys. Rev. C, in pres

Leptogenesis and rescattering in supersymmetric models

The observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe can be due to the $B-L$ violating decay of heavy right handed (s)neutrinos. The amount of the asymmetry depends crucially on their number density. If the (s)neutrinos are generated thermally, in supersymmetric models there is limited parameter space leading to enough baryons. For this reason, several alternative mechanisms have been proposed. We discuss the nonperturbative production of sneutrino quanta by a direct coupling to the inflaton. This production dominates over the corresponding creation of neutrinos, and it can easily (i.e. even for a rather small inflaton-sneutrino coupling) lead to a sufficient baryon asymmetry. We then study the amplification of MSSM degrees of freedom, via their coupling to the sneutrinos, during the rescattering phase which follows the nonperturbative production. This process, which mainly influences the (MSSM) $D-$flat directions, is very efficient as long as the sneutrinos quanta are in the relativistic regime. The rapid amplification of the light degrees of freedom may potentially lead to a gravitino problem. We estimate the gravitino production by means of a perturbative calculation, discussing the regime in which we expect it to be reliable.Comment: (20 pages, 6 figures), references added, typos corrected. Final version in revte

Large lepton asymmetry from Q-balls

We propose a scenario which can explain large lepton asymmetry and small baryon asymmetry simultaneously. Large lepton asymmetry is generated through Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism and almost all the produced lepton numbers are absorbed into Q-balls (L-balls). If the lifetime of the L-balls is longer than the onset of electroweak phase transition but shorter than the epoch of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), the large lepton asymmetry in the L-balls is protected from sphaleron effects. On the other hand, small (negative) lepton numbers are evaporated from the L-balls due to thermal effects, which are converted into the observed small baryon asymmetry by virtue of sphaleron effects. Large and positive lepton asymmetry of electron type is often requested from BBN. In our scenario, choosing an appropriate flat direction in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we can produce positive lepton asymmetry of electron type but totally negative lepton asymmetry.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, ReVTeX

N-glycosylation of LRP6 by B3GnT2 promotes Wnt/βcatenin signalling

Reception of Wnt signals by cells is predominantly mediated by Frizzled receptors in conjunction with a co-receptor, the latter being LRP6 or LRP5 for the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway. It is important that cells maintain precise control of receptor activation events in order to properly regulate Wnt/β-catenin signalling as aberrant signalling can result in disease in humans. Phosphorylation of the intracellular domain (ICD) of LRP6 is well known to regulate Wntβ-catenin signalling; however, less is known for regulatory post-translational modification events within the extracellular domain (ECD). Using a cell culture-based expression screen for functional regulators of LRP6, we identified a glycosyltransferase, B3GnT2-like, from a teleost fish (medaka) cDNA library, that modifies LRP6 and regulates Wnt/β-catenin signalling. We provide both gain-of-function and loss-of-function evidence that the single human homolog, B3GnT2, promotes extension of polylactosamine chains at multiple N-glycans on LRP6, thereby enhancing trafficking of LRP6 to the plasma membrane and promoting Wnt/β-catenin signalling. Our findings further highlight the importance of LRP6 as a regulatory hub in Wnt signalling and provide one of the few examples of how a specific glycosyltransferase appears to selectively target a signalling pathway component to alter cellular signalling events.Proteomic

Early carboniferous brachiopod faunas from the Baoshan block, west Yunnan, southwest China

38 brachiopod species in 27 genera and subgenera are described from the Yudong Formation in the Shidian-Baoshan area, west Yunnan, southwest China. New taxa include two new subgenera: Unispirifer (Septimispirifer) and Brachythyrina (Longathyrina), and seven new species: Eomarginifera yunnanensis, Marginatia cylindrica, Unispirifer (Unispirifer) xiangshanensis, Unispirifer (Septimispirifer) wafangjieensis, Brachythyrina (Brachythyrina) transversa, Brachythyrina (Longathyrina) baoshanensis, and Girtyella wafangjieensis. Based on the described material and constraints from associated coral and conodont faunas, the age of the brachiopod fauna from the Yudon Formation is considered late Tournaisian (Early Carboniferous), with a possibility extending into earlyViseacutean.<br /

Associations of common breast cancer susceptibility alleles with risk of breast cancer subtypes in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Introduction: More than 70 common alleles are known to be involved in breast cancer (BC) susceptibility, and several exhibit significant heterogeneity in their associations with different BC subtypes. Although there are differences in the association patterns between BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and the general population for several loci, no study has comprehensively evaluated the associations of all known BC susceptibility alleles with risk of BC subtypes in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. Methods: We used data from 15,252 BRCA1 and 8,211 BRCA2 carriers to analyze the associations between approximately 200,000 genetic variants on the iCOGS array and risk of BC subtypes defined by estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and triple-negative- (TN) status; morphologic subtypes; histological grade; and nodal involvement. Results: The estimated BC hazard ratios (HRs) for the 74 known BC alleles in BRCA1 carriers exhibited moderate correlations with the corresponding odds ratios from the general population. However, their associations with ER-positive BC in BRCA1 carriers were more consistent with the ER-positive as