Social and democratic participation in residential settings for older people: realities and aspiration

This paper explores some of the experiences of older people living in residential settings (sheltered, very sheltered housing and residential care), in the context of theories of participation, consumerism and citizenship. It draws on material from personal interviews undertaken with over 100 older people in England and Wales, and also from discussions with staff. Two-thirds of respondents were aged over 85. A significant minority of residents expressed some concerns about the routines of life, such as meals and social contact. Staff expectations of social participation were often unrealistic : for many residents, social contact was more a matter of adjustment than of friendship. Residents did not participate in deciding how the residential settings where they lived should be organised and managed, except for helping with simple domestic tasks. There is a need to change both attitudes and practice to enable older people to participate more fully in these settings

Addressing the needs of international postgraduate students: the role of social capital

Self-evidently, international students are likely to have considerable informational and social needs when coming to study in the UK. This paper reports the findings of a small study of such needs among international postgraduate students in the School of Health Sciences. It was an interview study, with twelve students participating. Though the study was designed to support the creation of an online resource, the findings suggest that meeting those needs satisfactorily requires a multi-faceted approach. Both face-to-face and online processes are needed to help students to develop the social capital necessary to success in undertaking the course, getting to know the university, and adjusting to life in England

Quantitative mapping of rainfall rates over the oceans utilizing Nimbus-5 ESMR data

The electrically scanning microwave radiometer (ESMR) data from the Nimbus 5 satellite was used to deduce estimates of precipitation amount over the oceans. An atlas of the global oceanic rainfall was prepared and the global rainfall maps analyzed and related to available ground truth information as well as to large scale processes in the atmosphere. It was concluded that the ESMR system provides the most reliable and direct approach yet known for the estimation of rainfall over sparsely documented, wide oceanic regions

Guidance, flight mechanics and trajectory optimization. Volume 1 - Coordinate systems and time measure

Coordinate measuring system for flight control, and trajectory optimizatio

Proposed method for searches of gravitational waves from PKS 2155-304 and other blazar flares

We propose to search for gravitational waves from PKS 2155-304 as well as other blazars. PKS 2155-304 emitted a long duration energetic flare in July 2006, with total isotropic equivalent energy released in TeV gamma rays of approximately $10^{45}$ ergs. Any possible gravitational wave signals associated with this outburst should be seen by gravitational wave detectors at the same time as the electromagnetic signal. During this flare, the two LIGO interferometers at Hanford and the GEO detector were in operation and collecting data. For this search we will use the data from multiple gravitational wave detectors. The method we use for this purpose is a coherent network analysis algorithm and is called {\tt RIDGE}. To estimate the sensitivity of the search, we perform numerical simulations. The sensitivity to estimated gravitational wave energy at the source is about $2.5 \times 10^{55}$ ergs for a detection probability of 20%. For this search, an end-to-end analysis pipeline has been developed, which takes into account the motion of the source across the sky.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Contribution to 12th Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop. Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity. Changes in response to referee comment

Background field method at finite temperature and density

In this letter we make use of the Background Field Method (BFM) to compute the effective potential of an SU(2) gauge field theory, in the presence of chemical potential and temperature. The main idea is to consider the chemical potential as the background field. The gauge fixing condition required by the BFM turns out to be exactly the one we found in a previous article in a different context.Comment: 6 pages, no figure

Fisher-information condition for enhanced signal detection via stochastic resonance

Various situations where a signal is enhanced by noise through stochastic resonance are now known. This paper contributes to determining general conditions under which improvement by noise can be a priori decided as feasible or not. We focus on the detection of a known signal in additive white noise. Under the assumptions of a weak signal and a sufficiently large sample size, it is proved, with an inequality based on the Fisher information, that improvement by adding noise is never possible, generically, in these conditions. However, under less restrictive conditions, an example of signal detection is shown with favorable action of adding noise.Fabing Duan, François Chapeau-Blondeau, Derek Abbot

Interferometer Response to Scalar Gravitational Waves

It was recently suggested that the magnetic component of Gravitational Waves (GWs) is relevant in the evaluation of frequency response functions of gravitational interferometers. In this paper we extend the analysis to the magnetic component of the scalar mode of GWs which arise from scalar-tensor gravity theory. In the low-frequency approximation, the response function of ground-based interferometers is calculated. The angular dependence of the electric and magnetic contributions to the response function is discussed. Finally, for an arbitrary frequency range, the proper distance between two test masses is calculated and its usefulness in the high-frequency limit for space-based interferometers is briefly considered.Comment: Accepted for publication by Int. Journ. Mod. Phys. D. Final versio

Cost effectiveness analysis of laparoscopic hysterectomy compared with standard hysterectomy: results from a randomised trial

Objective: To assess the cost effectiveness of laparoscopic hysterectomy compared with conventional hysterectomy (abdominal or vaginal). Design: Cost effectiveness analysis based on two parallel trials: laparoscopic (n = 324) compared with vaginal hysterectomy (n = 163); and laparoscopic (n = 573) compared with abdominal hysterectomy (n = 286). Participants: 1346 women requiring a hysterectomy for reasons other than malignancy. Main outcome measure: One year costs estimated from NHS perspective. Health outcomes expressed in terms of QALYs based on women's responses to the EQ-5D at baseline and at three points during up to 52 weeks' follow up. Results: Laparoscopic hysterectomy cost an average of pound401 ($708; C571) more (95$471789; E380 437). The, probability that laparoscopic hysterectomy is cost effective was below 50% for a large range of values of willingness to pay for an additional QALY. Laparoscopic hysterectomy cost an average of pound186 ($328; E265) more than abdominal hysterectomy, although 95$46 893; E37 813). If the NHS is willing to pay pound30 0 00 for an additional QALY, the probability that laparoscopic hysterectomy is cost effective is 56%. Conclusions: Laparoscopic hysterectomy is not cost effective relative to vaginal hysterectomy. Its cost effectiveness relative to the abdominal procedure is finely balanced

Do electroweak precision data and Higgs-mass constraints rule out a scalar bottom quark with mass of O(5 GeV)?

We investigate the phenomenological implications of a light scalar bottom quark, with a mass of about the bottom quark mass, within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The study of such a scenario is of theoretical interest, since, depending on their production and decay modes, light sbottoms may have escaped experimental detection up to now and, in addition, may naturally appear for large values of \tan\beta. In this article we show that such a light sbottom cannot be ruled out by the constraints from the electroweak precision data and the present bound on the lightest CP-even Higgs boson mass at LEP. It is inferred that a light sbottom scenario requires in general a relatively light scalar top quark whose mass is typically about the top-quark mass. It is also shown that under these conditions the lightest CP-even Higgs boson decays predominantly into scalar bottom quarks in most of the parameter space and that its mass is restricted to m_h ~< 123 GeV.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LateX. Discussion about fine tuning and low-energy experiments enlarged. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let