785 research outputs found
Increasing boys' and girls' intention to avoid teenage pregnancy: a cluster randomised control feasibility trial of an interactive video drama based intervention in post-primary schools in Northern Ireland
Background:
Adolescent men have a vital yet neglected role in reducing unintended teenage pregnancy (UTP). There is a need for gender-sensitive educational interventions.
Objectives:
To determine the value and feasibility of conducting an effectiveness trial of the If I Were Jack Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) intervention in a convenience quota sample of post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. Secondary objectives were to assess acceptability to schools, pupils (male/female, aged 14â15 years) and parents/guardians; to identify optimal delivery structures and systems; to establish participation rates and reach, including equality of engagement of different socioeconomic and religious types; to assess trial recruitment and retention rates; to assess variation in normal RSE practice; to refine survey instruments; to assess differences in outcomes for male and female pupils; to identify potential effect sizes that might be detected in an effectiveness trial and estimate appropriate sample size for that trial; and to identify costs of delivery and pilot methods for assessing cost-effectiveness.
Design:
Cluster randomised Phase II feasibility trial with an embedded process and economic evaluation.
Intervention:
A teacher-delivered classroom-based RSE resource â an interactive video drama (IVD) with classroom materials, teacher training and an information session for parents â to immerse young people in a hypothetical scenario of Jack, a teenager whose girlfriend is unintentionally pregnant. It addresses gender inequalities in RSE by focusing on young men and is designed to increase intentions to avoid UTP by encouraging young people to delay sexual intercourse and to use contraception consistently in sexual relationships.
Main outcome measures:
Abstinence from sexual intercourse (delaying initiation of sex or returning to abstinence) or avoidance of unprotected sexual intercourse (consistent correct use of contraception). Secondary outcomes included Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills and Intentions.
Results:
The intervention proved acceptable to schools, pupils and parents, as evidenced through positive process evaluation. One minor refinement to the parental component was required, namely the replacement of the teacher-led face-to-face information session for parents by online videos designed to deliver the intervention to parents/guardians into their home. School recruitment was successful (target 25%, achieved 38%). No school dropped out. Pupil retention was successful (target 85%, achieved 93%). The between-group difference in incidence of unprotected sex of 1.3% (95% confidence interval 0.55% to 2.2%) by 9 months demonstrated an effect size consistent with those reported to have had meaningful impact on UTP rates (resulting in an achievable sample size of 66 schools at Phase III). Survey instruments showed high acceptability and reliability of measures (Cronbachâs alpha: 0.5â0.7). Economic evaluation at Phase III is feasible because it was possible to (1) identify costs of delivering If I Were Jack (mean cost per pupil, including training of teachers, was calculated as ÂŁ13.66); and (2) develop a framework for assessing cost-effectiveness.
Conclusion:
Trial methods were appropriate, and recruitment and retention of schools and pupils was satisfactory, successfully demonstrating all criteria for progression to a main trial. The perceived value of culture- and gender-sensitive public health interventions has been highlighted.
Future work:
Progression to a Phase III effectiveness trial.
Trial registration:
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN99459996.
Funding:
This project was funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 5, No. 1. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information
Limits on WWZ and WW\gamma couplings from p\bar{p}\to e\nu jj X events at \sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV
We present limits on anomalous WWZ and WW-gamma couplings from a search for
WW and WZ production in p-bar p collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV. We use p-bar p
-> e-nu jjX events recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider during the 1992-1995 run. The data sample corresponds to an integrated
luminosity of 96.0+-5.1 pb^(-1). Assuming identical WWZ and WW-gamma coupling
parameters, the 95% CL limits on the CP-conserving couplings are
-0.33<lambda<0.36 (Delta-kappa=0) and -0.43<Delta-kappa<0.59 (lambda=0), for a
form factor scale Lambda = 2.0 TeV. Limits based on other assumptions are also
presented.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Search for New Physics in e mu X Data at D0 Using Sleuth: A Quasi-Model-Independent Search Strategy for New Physics
We present a quasi-model-independent search for the physics responsible for
electroweak symmetry breaking. We define final states to be studied, and
construct a rule that identifies a set of relevant variables for any particular
final state. A new algorithm ("Sleuth") searches for regions of excess in those
variables and quantifies the significance of any detected excess. After
demonstrating the sensitivity of the method, we apply it to the semi-inclusive
channel e mu X collected in 108 pb^-1 of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV
at the D0 experiment during 1992-1996 at the Fermilab Tevatron. We find no
evidence of new high p_T physics in this sample.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
Search For Heavy Pointlike Dirac Monopoles
We have searched for central production of a pair of photons with high
transverse energies in collisions at TeV using of data collected with the D\O detector at the Fermilab Tevatron in
1994--1996. If they exist, virtual heavy pointlike Dirac monopoles could
rescatter pairs of nearly real photons into this final state via a box diagram.
We observe no excess of events above background, and set lower 95% C.L. limits
of on the mass of a spin 0, 1/2, or 1 Dirac
monopole.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
The Dijet Mass Spectrum and a Search for Quark Compositeness in bar{p}p Collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV
Using the DZero detector at the 1.8 TeV pbarp Fermilab Tevatron collider, we
have measured the inclusive dijet mass spectrum in the central pseudorapidity
region |eta_jet| < 1.0 for dijet masses greater than 200 Gev/c^2. We have also
measured the ratio of spectra sigma(|eta_jet| < 0.5)/sigma(0.5 < |eta_jet| <
1.0). The order alpha_s^3 QCD predictions are in good agreement with the data
and we rule out models of quark compositeness with a contact interaction scale
< 2.4 TeV at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Search for High Mass Photon Pairs in p-pbar --> gamma-gamma-jet-jet Events at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV
A search has been carried out for events in the channel p-barp --> gamma
gamma jet jet. Such a signature can characterize the production of a
non-standard Higgs boson together with a W or Z boson. We refer to this
non-standard Higgs, having standard model couplings to vector bosons but no
coupling to fermions, as a "bosonic Higgs." With the requirement of two high
transverse energy photons and two jets, the diphoton mass (m(gamma gamma))
distribution is consistent with expected background. A 90(95)% C.L. upper limit
on the cross section as a function of mass is calculated, ranging from
0.60(0.80) pb for m(gamma gamma) = 65 GeV/c^2 to 0.26(0.34) pb for m(gamma
gamma) = 150 GeV/c^2, corresponding to a 95% C.L. lower limit on the mass of a
bosonic Higgs of 78.5 GeV/c^2.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Replacement has new H->gamma gamma branching
ratios and corresponding new mass limit
Zgamma Production in pbarp Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV and Limits on Anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma Couplings
We present a study of Z +gamma + X production in p-bar p collisions at
sqrt{S}=1.8 TeV from 97 (87) pb^{-1} of data collected in the eegamma
(mumugamma) decay channel with the D0 detector at Fermilab. The event yield and
kinematic characteristics are consistent with the Standard Model predictions.
We obtain limits on anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma couplings for form factor
scales Lambda = 500 GeV and Lambda = 750 GeV. Combining this analysis with our
previous results yields 95% CL limits |h{Z}_{30}| < 0.36, |h{Z}_{40}| < 0.05,
|h{gamma}_{30}| < 0.37, and |h{gamma}_{40}| < 0.05 for a form factor scale
Lambda=750 GeV.Comment: 17 Pages including 2 Figures. Submitted to PR
A Measurement of the W Boson Mass
We report a measurement of the W boson mass based on an integrated luminosity
of 82 pb from \ppbar collisions at TeV recorded in
1994--1995 by the \Dzero detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We identify W
bosons by their decays to and extract the mass by fitting the transverse
mass spectrum from 28,323 W boson candidates. A sample of 3,563 dielectron
events, mostly due to Z to ee decays, constrains models of W boson production
and the detector. We measure \mw=80.44\pm0.10(stat)\pm0.07(syst)~GeV. By
combining this measurement with our result from the 1992--1993 data set, we
obtain \mw=80.43\pm0.11 GeV.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Probing Hard Color-Singlet Exchange in ppbar Collisions at root-s=630 GeV and 1800 GeV
We present results on dijet production via hard color-singlet exchange in
proton-antiproton collisions at root-s = 630 GeV and 1800 GeV using the DZero
detector. The fraction of dijet events produced via color-singlet exchange is
measured as a function of jet transverse energy, separation in pseudorapidity
between the two highest transverse energy jets, and proton-antiproton
center-of-mass energy. The results are consistent with a color-singlet fraction
that increases with an increasing fraction of quark-initiated processes and
inconsistent with two-gluon models for the hard color-singlet.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
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