The development of direct payments in the UK: implications for social justice

Direct payments have been heralded by the disability movement as an important means to achieving independent living and hence greater social justice for disabled people through enhanced recognition as well as financial redistribution. Drawing on data from the ESRC funded project Disabled People and Direct Payments: A UK Comparative Perspective, this paper presents an analysis of policy and official statistics on use of direct payments across the UK. It is argued that the potential of direct payments has only partly been realised as a result of very low and uneven uptake within and between different parts of the UK. This is accounted for in part by resistance from some Labour-controlled local authorities, which regard direct payments as a threat to public sector jobs. In addition, access to direct payments has been uneven across impairment groups. However, from a very low base there has been a rapid expansion in the use of direct payments over the past three years. The extent to which direct payments are able to facilitate the ultimate goal of independent living for disabled people requires careful monitoring

Evaluation of night time therapeutic positioning system for adults with complex postural problems

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of night-time positioning sleep systems for adults using the Simple Stuff Works Limited® system. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were used to assess the impact on a variety of factors; pain, physiological observations, oxygen saturation, nutrition and fluid intake, weight, Waterlow risk score, sleep score, choke risk score, skin integrity, comfort and quality of life. The project objectives were to: Evaluate the knowledge and skills of care staff in the delivery of night-time positioning (with and without equipment). Evaluate the equipment used in night-time positioning. Assess the impact of night-time positioning on activities of daily living. Measure the difference between pain, sleep scores, physiological observations, oxygen saturation, nutrition and fluid intake, weight, Waterlow risk score, choke risk score, skin integrity, comfort and quality of life before and after the intervention. The role of the company in the study was to provide the equipment. An independent clinician assessed the participants sleep system equipment requirements, demonstrated the first fitting and drew up the plan of care when using the equipment. Ethical approval to conduct the study was sought and granted by the University of Salford Ethics committee (see appendices, for the letter of approval)

Towards the “ultimate earthquake-proof” building: Development of an integrated low-damage system

The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence has highlighted the severe mismatch between societal expectations over the reality of seismic performance of modern buildings. A paradigm shift in performance-based design criteria and objectives towards damage-control or low-damage design philosophy and technologies is urgently required. The increased awareness by the general public, tenants, building owners, territorial authorities as well as (re)insurers, of the severe socio-economic impacts of moderate-strong earthquakes in terms of damage/dollars/ downtime, has indeed stimulated and facilitated the wider acceptance and implementation of cost-efficient damage-control (or low-damage) technologies. The ‘bar’ has been raised significantly with the request to fast-track the development of what the wider general public would hope, and somehow expect, to live in, i.e. an “earthquake-proof” building system, capable of sustaining the shaking of a severe earthquake basically unscathed. The paper provides an overview of recent advances through extensive research, carried out at the University of Canterbury in the past decade towards the development of a low-damage building system as a whole, within an integrated performance-based framework, including the skeleton of the superstructure, the non-structural components and the interaction with the soil/foundation system. Examples of real on site-applications of such technology in New Zealand, using concrete, timber (engineered wood), steel or a combination of these materials, and featuring some of the latest innovative technical solutions developed in the laboratory are presented as examples of successful transfer of performance-based seismic design approach and advanced technology from theory to practice

The lithospheric structure of Pangea

Lithospheric thickness of continents, obtained from Rayleigh wave tomography, is used to make maps of the lithospheric thickness of Pangea by reconstructing the continental arrangement in the Permian. This approach assumes that lithosphere moves with the overlying continents, and therefore that the arrangement of both can be obtained using the poles of rotation obtained from magnetic anomalies and fracture zones. The resulting reconstruction shows that a contiguous arc of thick lithosphere underlay most of eastern Pangea. Beneath the western convex side of this arc, there is a wide belt of thinner lithosphere underlying what is believed to have been the active margin of Pangea, here named the Pangeides. On the inner side of this arc is another large area of thin lithosphere beneath the Pan-African belts of North Africa and Arabia. The arc of thick lithosphere is crossed by bands of slightly thinner lithosphere that lie beneath the Pan-African and Brasiliano mobile belts of South America, Africa, India, Madagascar, and Antarctica. This geometry suggests that lithospheric thickness has an important influence on continental deformation and accretion

Evaluation of Vascular Control Mechanisms Utilizing Video Microscopy of Isolated Resistance Arteries of Rats

This protocol describes the use of in vitro television microscopy to evaluate vascular function in isolated cerebral resistance arteries (and other vessels), and describes techniques for evaluating tissue perfusion using Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF) and microvessel density utilizing fluorescently labeled Griffonia simplicifolia (GS1) lectin. Current methods for studying isolated resistance arteries at transmural pressures encountered in vivo and in the absence of parenchymal cell influences provide a critical link between in vivo studies and information gained from molecular reductionist approaches that provide limited insight into integrative responses at the whole animal level. LDF and techniques to selectively identify arterioles and capillaries with fluorescently-labeled GS1 lectin provide practical solutions to enable investigators to extend the knowledge gained from studies of isolated resistance arteries. This paper describes the application of these techniques to gain fundamental knowledge of vascular physiology and pathology in the rat as a general experimental model, and in a variety of specialized genetically engineered designer rat strains that can provide important insight into the influence of specific genes on important vascular phenotypes. Utilizing these valuable experimental approaches in rat strains developed by selective breeding strategies and new technologies for producing gene knockout models in the rat, will expand the rigor of scientific premises developed in knockout mouse models and extend that knowledge to a more relevant animal model, with a well understood physiological background and suitability for physiological studies because of its larger size

Joint inversion of surface waves and teleseismic body waves across the Tibetan collision zone: The fate of subducted Indian lithosphere

We carry out a joint inversion of surface wave dispersion curves and teleseismic shear wave arrival times across the Tibetan collision zone, from just south of the Himalaya to the Qaidam Basin at the northeastern margin of the plateau, and from the surface to 600 km depth. The surface wave data consist of Rayleigh-wave group dispersion curves, mainly in the period range from 10 to 70 s, with a maximum of 2877 source–receiver pairs. The body wave data consist of more than 8000 S-wave arrival times recorded from 356 telesesmic events. The tomographic images show a ‘wedge’ of fast seismic velocities beneath central Tibet that starts underneath the Himalaya and reaches as far as the Bangong–Nujiang Suture (BNS). In our preferred interpretation, in central Tibet the Indian lithosphere underthrusts the plateau to approximately the BNS, and then subducts steeply. Further east, Indian lithosphere appears to be subducting at an angle of ∼45°. We see fast seismic velocities under much of the plateau, as far as the BNS in central Tibet, and as far as the Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang Fault in the east. At 150 km depth, the fast region is broken by an area ∼300 km wide that stretches from the northern edge of central Tibet southeastwards as far as the Himalaya. We suggest that this gap, which has been observed previously by other investigators, represents the northernmost edge of the Indian lithosphere, and is a consequence of the steepening of the subduction zone from central to eastern Tibet. This also implies that the fast velocities in the northeast have a different origin, and are likely to be caused by lithospheric thickening or small-scale subduction of Asian lithosphere. Slow velocities observed to the south of the Qaidam suggest that the basin is not subducting. Finally, we interpret fast velocities below 400 km as subducted material from an earlier stage of the collision that has stalled in the transition zone. Its position to the south of the present subduction is likely to be due to the relative motion of India to the northeast.Our study has included data from GSN (including IC, IU and II), China Digital Seismograph Network, GEOSCOPE, IRIS-IDA, Pacific-21, Kyrgyz Digital Network, Kyrgyz Seismic Telemetry Network and IRIS-USGS permanent seismic networks and the MANAS, Tien Shan Continental Dynamics, Tibetan Plateau Broadband Experiment, INDEPTH II, INDEPTH III, INDEPTH IV/ASCENT, HIMNT, Bhutan, Nanga Parbat Pakistan and GHENGIS PASSCAL temporary seismic deployments. We thank IIEES and LGIT for seismic data from Iran and also SEISUK for provision and assistance with instruments operated in northeast India. CN was supported by a Natural Environment Research Council studentship (grant NE/H52449X/1), with CASE funding from AWE Blacknest. We thank Nick Rawlinson and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive and helpful reviews. Figures were prepared with Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software (Wessel & Smith 1998).This is the version of record, which can also be found on the publisher's website at: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/content/198/3/1526.full © The Authors 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Societ

Slow equivariant lump dynamics on the two sphere

The low-energy, rotationally equivariant dynamics of n CP^1 lumps on S^2 is studied within the approximation of geodesic motion in the moduli space of static solutions. The volume and curvature properties of this moduli space are computed. By lifting the geodesic flow to the completion of an n-fold cover of the moduli space, a good understanding of nearly singular lump dynamics within this approximation is obtained.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Effects of two doses of glucose and a caffeine-glucose combination on cognitive performance and mood during multi-tasking

Background: This study assessed the effects of two doses of glucose and a caffeine–glucose combination on mood and performance of an ecologically valid, computerised multi-tasking platform. Materials and methods: Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, parallel-groups design, 150 healthy adults (mean age 34.78 years) consumed drinks containing placebo, 25 g glucose, 60 g glucose or 60 g glucose with 40 mg caffeine. They completed a multitasking framework at baseline and then 30 min following drink consumption with mood assessments immediately before and after the multitasking framework. Blood glucose and salivary caffeine were co-monitored. Results: The caffeine–glucose group had significantly better total multi-tasking scores than the placebo or 60 g glucose groups and were significantly faster at mental arithmetic tasks than either glucose drink group. There were no significant treatment effects on mood. Caffeine and glucose levels confirmed compliance with overnight abstinence/fasting, respectively, and followed the predicted post-drink patterns. Conclusion: These data suggest that co-administration of glucose and caffeine allows greater allocation of attentional resources than placebo or glucose alone. At present, we cannot rule out the possibility that the effects are due to caffeine alone Future studies should aim at disentangling caffeine and glucose effect

Medicinal and local food plants in the south of Alava (Basque Country, Spain)

ETHNOBOTANICAL RELEVANCE: Medicinal and food plants in the Basque Country are an integral part of a fast changing culture. With a distinct tradition and language, this region of Europe provides an important example demonstrating the changing role of local and traditional knowledge in industrial countries. As other Mediterranean regions it preserves a rich heritage of using plants as medicine and food, offering a unique opportunity for studying the medicine food interface in an ethnopharmacological context. Therefore, the key goal of this study has been to contribute to an understanding of local and traditional plant usage, to evaluate their uses as food and medicine as well as to critically assess the role of these plants in the south of the Basque Country contributing to an understanding of how foods and medicines are used. METHODS: A mixed methods approach, including participant observation; open and semi structured interviews was used. Ethnobotanical field work included 183 people, ages ranged from 24 to 98 years old with a majority being between 70 and 80 years old (mean age 71) from 31 towns of three different regions. The basic interview was a one-to-one meeting, which often included field walking and collection of samples as directed by the informants. 700 voucher specimens (most of them with duplicates) were collected for the data obtained. Using SPSS version 20 the gathered information was processed and the replies of the different informants were subsequently organised in variables like medicine and food plants, part of the plants used, forms of preparations, zones preferred for collecting these plants. The data were analysed based on the frequency of records. This type of approach allows us to understand the way the informant's categorize the species, and how these categories are distributed along the sample. In order to analyse the data three main categories of use were distinguished: Medicine (M), Food (F) and an intermediate Health-Food (H-F). The three categories were divided in 27 subcategories (common uses). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The informants recognise and use a total of 184 species from 49 families. During interviews, 5658 individual use-reports were collected relating to three use-categories - as medicines, food and health-food. The two main groups with almost the same number of species each are health-food (75 species) and (locally gathered) food only (73), with medicinal uses only (36) being the smallest group. This highlights the important overlap between food and medicines. Overall, three core families were identified (based on the number of use reports and in the number of species): Asteraceae (25 species), Lamiaceae and Rosaceae (24 each). The most frequently reported species are Jasonia glutinosa, Chamaemelum nobile, Prunus spinosa and Quercus ilex subsp. ballota. The most important general use-subcategories are as raw vegetables (27.43% of the use-reports and including 81 species), infusions (14.74%/42) and gastrointestinal (12.53%/42). Conceptually foods and medicines are clearly distinguished but the intermediate group of health foods is more ambiguous. CONCLUSION: Food and medicinal uses of plants are culturally closely linked. A wide range of plants are known and many still used. The analysis shows that the Basques use a wide range of species which are typical for Western European cultures. In comparison to other studies in the Mediterranean countries there are many similarities in the uses of different families, species of plants and their use and preparations. Some of these plants are key Mediterranean species, often used for a multitude of uses as food and medicine