Detecting the Cosmic Gravitational Wave Background with the Big Bang Observer

The detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) was one of the most important cosmological discoveries of the last century. With the development of interferometric gravitational wave detectors, we may be in a position to detect the gravitational equivalent of the CMB in this century. The Cosmic Gravitational Background (CGB) is likely to be isotropic and stochastic, making it difficult to distinguish from instrument noise. The contribution from the CGB can be isolated by cross-correlating the signals from two or more independent detectors. Here we extend previous studies that considered the cross-correlation of two Michelson channels by calculating the optimal signal to noise ratio that can be achieved by combining the full set of interferometry variables that are available with a six link triangular interferometer. In contrast to the two channel case, we find that the relative orientation of a pair of coplanar detectors does not affect the signal to noise ratio. We apply our results to the detector design described in the Big Bang Observer (BBO) mission concept study and find that BBO could detect a background with $\Omega_{gw} > 2.2 \times 10^{-17}$.Comment: 15 pages, 12 Figure

"If We Want to Get Men in, Then We Need to Ask Men What They Want": Pathways to Effective Health Programing for Men.

In Ireland, men’s health is becoming a priority. In line with global trends, indicators of poor mental health (including rates of depression and suicide) are increasing alongside rates of unemployment and social isolation. Despite the growing awareness of men’s health as a national priority, and development of the first National Men’s Health Policy in the world, there is still a concern about men’s non-engagement with health services. Health and community services often struggle to appropriately accommodate men, and men commonly avoid health spaces. A growing body of literature suggests that a persistent lack of support or resources for service providers contributes to their inability to identify and meet men’s unique health needs. This study aims to provide further insight into the ways in which this gap between men and health services can be closed. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with nine project partners (n=9) of a successful men’s health program in Dublin. Interviews captured reflections on what processes or strategies contribute to effective men’s health programs. Findings suggest that gender-specific strategies – especially related to community- engagement and capacity building - are necessary in creating health programs that both promote men’s health and enable men to safely and comfortably participate. Moreover, including men in all aspects of the planning stages helps to ensure that programs are accessible and acceptable for men. It is envisaged that these findings will be operationalized into a user-driven resource to illustrate evidence-informed strategies and guiding principles that could be used by practitioners hoping to engage with me

Surface Brightness Profiles of Composite Images of Compact Galaxies at z~4-6 in the HUDF

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) contains a significant number of B, V and i'-band dropout objects, many of which were recently confirmed to be young star-forming galaxies at z~4-6. These galaxies are too faint individually to accurately measure their radial surface brightness profiles. Their average light profiles are potentially of great interest, since they may contain clues to the time since the onset of significant galaxy assembly. We separately co-add V, i' and z'-band HUDF images of sets of z~4,5 and 6 objects, pre-selected to have nearly identical compact sizes and the roundest shapes. From these stacked images, we are able to study the averaged radial structure of these objects at much higher signal-to-noise ratio than possible for an individual faint object. Here we explore the reliability and usefulness of a stacking technique of compact objects at z~4-6 in the HUDF. Our results are: (1) image stacking provides reliable and reproducible average surface brightness profiles; (2) the shape of the average surface brightness profiles show that even the faintest z~4-6 objects are resolved; and (3) if late-type galaxies dominate the population of galaxies at z~4-6, as previous HST studies have shown, then limits to dynamical age estimates for these galaxies from their profile shapes are comparable with the SED ages obtained from the broadband colors. We also present accurate measurements of the sky-background in the HUDF and its associated 1-sigma uncertainties.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, emulateapj; Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

A Formalization of the Theorem of Existence of First-Order Most General Unifiers

This work presents a formalization of the theorem of existence of most general unifiers in first-order signatures in the higher-order proof assistant PVS. The distinguishing feature of this formalization is that it remains close to the textbook proofs that are based on proving the correctness of the well-known Robinson's first-order unification algorithm. The formalization was applied inside a PVS development for term rewriting systems that provides a complete formalization of the Knuth-Bendix Critical Pair theorem, among other relevant theorems of the theory of rewriting. In addition, the formalization methodology has been proved of practical use in order to verify the correctness of unification algorithms in the style of the original Robinson's unification algorithm.Comment: In Proceedings LSFA 2011, arXiv:1203.542

Rethinking the patient: using Burden of Treatment Theory to understand the changing dynamics of illness

<b>Background</b> In this article we outline Burden of Treatment Theory, a new model of the relationship between sick people, their social networks, and healthcare services. Health services face the challenge of growing populations with long-term and life-limiting conditions, they have responded to this by delegating to sick people and their networks routine work aimed at managing symptoms, and at retarding - and sometimes preventing - disease progression. This is the new proactive work of patient-hood for which patients are increasingly accountable: founded on ideas about self-care, self-empowerment, and self-actualization, and on new technologies and treatment modalities which can be shifted from the clinic into the community. These place new demands on sick people, which they may experience as burdens of treatment.<p></p> <b>Discussion</b> As the burdens accumulate some patients are overwhelmed, and the consequences are likely to be poor healthcare outcomes for individual patients, increasing strain on caregivers, and rising demand and costs of healthcare services. In the face of these challenges we need to better understand the resources that patients draw upon as they respond to the demands of both burdens of illness and burdens of treatment, and the ways that resources interact with healthcare utilization.<p></p> <b>Summary</b> Burden of Treatment Theory is oriented to understanding how capacity for action interacts with the work that stems from healthcare. Burden of Treatment Theory is a structural model that focuses on the work that patients and their networks do. It thus helps us understand variations in healthcare utilization and adherence in different healthcare settings and clinical contexts

Positive youth development in swimming: clarification and consensus of key psychosocial assets

The purpose of this study was to gain a more cohesive understanding of the assets considered necessary to develop in young swimmers to ensure both individual and sport specific development. This two stage study involved (a) a content analysis of key papers to develop a list of both psychosocial skills for performance enhancement and assets associated with positive youth development, and (b) in-depth interviews involving ten expert swim coaches, practitioners and youth sport scholars. Five higher order categories containing seventeen individual assets emerged. These results are discussed in relation to both existing models of positive youth development and implications for coaches, practitioners and parents when considering the psychosocial development of young British swimmers

Tracing controversies in hacker communities: ethical considerations for internet research

This paper reflects on the ethics of internet research on community controversies. Specifically, it focuses on controversies concerning gendered, social interaction in hacking communities. It addresses the question how internet researchers should treat and represent content that individuals controversially discussed online. While many internet sources are likewise technically public, they may yet suggest distinct privacy expectations on the part of involved individuals. In internet research, ethical decision-making regarding which online primary sources may be, e.g., referenced and quoted or require anonymisation is still ambiguous and contested. Instead of generalisable rules, the context dependence of internet research ethics has been frequently stressed. Given this ambiguity, the paper elaborates on ethical decisions and their implications by exploring the case of a controversial hackerspaces.org mailing list debate. In tracing data across different platforms, it analyses the emerging ethico-methodological challenges

Competences for democratic culture: An empirical study of an intercultural citizenship project in language pedagogy

This article reports on a pedagogical intervention in foreign language teaching in higher education. It analizes the competences developed by Argentinian and UK-based students as they used Skype to design a leaflet that addressed a real world issue: the Argentinian military dictatorship and its manipulation of the 1978 Football World Cup. The data consists of students’ discussions of this highly disturbing human rights issue. A first level of analysis focused on identifying evidence of competences using the Council of Europe’s conceptual model of ‘competences for democratic culture’ (2016). In a second level of analysis, the data was categorized within the framework of Article 2.2 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training (2011). This research study provides an empirical test of these two frameworks in the field of language education, an aspect that has not been investigated before. It also contributes to our understanding of the potential of intercultural citizenship projects in achieving the goals of human rights education in foreign language teaching. Results indicate the development of substantial competences for democratic culture defined in the Council of Europe’s model

Comparison of embedded and added motor imagery training in patients after stroke: Study protocol of a randomised controlled pilot trial using a mixed methods approach

Copyright @ 2009 Schuster et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Two different approaches have been adopted when applying motor imagery (MI) to stroke patients. MI can be conducted either added to conventional physiotherapy or integrated within therapy sessions. The proposed study aims to compare the efficacy of embedded MI to an added MI intervention. Evidence from pilot studies reported in the literature suggests that both approaches can improve performance of a complex motor skill involving whole body movements, however, it remains to be demonstrated, which is the more effective one.Methods/Design: A single blinded, randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a pre-post intervention design will be carried out. The study design includes two experimental groups and a control group (CG). Both experimental groups (EG1, EG2) will receive physical practice of a clinical relevant motor task ('Going down, laying on the floor, and getting up again') over a two week intervention period: EG1 with embedded MI training, EG2 with MI training added after physiotherapy. The CG will receive standard physiotherapy intervention and an additional control intervention not related to MI.The primary study outcome is the time difference to perform the task from pre to post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include level of help needed, stages of motor task completion, degree of motor impairment, balance ability, fear of falling measure, motivation score, and motor imagery ability score. Four data collection points are proposed: twice during baseline phase, once following the intervention period, and once after a two week follow up. A nested qualitative part should add an important insight into patients' experience and attitudes towards MI. Semi-structured interviews of six to ten patients, who participate in the RCT, will be conducted to investigate patients' previous experience with MI and their expectations towards the MI intervention in the study. Patients will be interviewed prior and after the intervention period.Discussion: Results will determine whether embedded MI is superior to added MI. Findings of the semi-structured interviews will help to integrate patient's expectations of MI interventions in the design of research studies to improve practical applicability using MI as an adjunct therapy technique