Home accidents amongst elderly people: A locality study in Scotland

Aim The aim of this locality study was to collect information on reported and unreported accidents amongst elderly people living in one locality in Scotland. Method Postal Survey- A postal questionnaire was sent to 3,757 men and women aged 65+ years living in one locality. The questionnaire asked respondents to indicate how many accidents they had experienced in the past twelve months, plus to indicate type and location. Information was gathered on living arrangements, ethnicity, gender, age and deprivation. Respondents were asked if they would be willing to take part in an interview study. Interview Study - One hundred elders who had had at least one accident in the previous twelve months were interviewed. Results Postal Survey - Over a third of the respondents in the postal survey reported having had an accident in the previous twelve months. Bumps and drops and falls were the most common type of accident. Most accidents happened in the kitchen. Women reported more falls than men and those living alone reported more accidents than those living with others. Age was associated with the prevalence of accidents, but the association was somewhat curvilinear, with accidents decreasing with age and then increasing again. Interview Study – Interviewees found it hard to differentiate one accident from another. Considerable reluctance to visit the GP after an accident was noted, with many not attending even for serious accidents. Almost forty percent were ‘very’ distressed after their accident, and a quarter reported a loss of confidence. However, most did not worry about accidents. Few thought that their age, health or medications were a cause of their accidents

Cosmological milestones and energy conditions

Until recently, the physically relevant singularities occurring in FRW cosmologies had traditionally been thought to be limited to the "big bang", and possibly a "big crunch". However, over the last few years, the zoo of cosmological singularities considered in the literature has become considerably more extensive, with "big rips" and "sudden singularities" added to the mix, as well as renewed interest in non-singular cosmological events such as "bounces" and "turnarounds". In this talk, we present an extensive catalogue of such cosmological milestones, both at the kinematical and dynamical level. First, using generalized power series, purely kinematical definitions of these cosmological events are provided in terms of the behaviour of the scale factor a(t). The notion of a "scale-factor singularity" is defined, and its relation to curvature singularities (polynomial and differential) is explored. Second, dynamical information is extracted by using the Friedmann equations (without assuming even the existence of any equation of state) to place constraints on whether or not the classical energy conditions are satisfied at the cosmological milestones. Since the classification is extremely general, and modulo certain technical assumptions complete, the corresponding results are to a high degree model-independent.Comment: 8 pages, 1 table, conference proceedings for NEB XII conference in Nafplio, Greec

Collapse of a Circular Loop of Cosmic String

We study the collapse of a circular loop of cosmic string. The gravitational field of the string is treated using the weak field approximation. The gravitational radiation from the loop is evaluated numerically. The memtric of the loop near the point of collapse is found analytically.Comment: 15 page

The First Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Gravitational waves provide a laboratory for general relativity and a window to energetic astrophysical phenomena invisible with electromagnetic radiation. Several terrestrial detectors are currently under construction, and a space-based interferometer is envisioned for launch early next century to detect test-mass motions induced by waves of relatively short wavelength. Very-long-wavelength gravitational waves can be detected using the plasma in the early Universe as test masses; the motion induced in the plasma by a wave is imprinted onto the cosmic microwave background (CMB). While the signature of gravitational waves on the CMB temperature fluctuations is not unique, the polarization pattern can be used to unambiguously detect gravitational radiation. Thus, forthcoming CMB polarization experiments, such as MAP and Planck, will be the first space-based gravitational-wave detectors.Comment: 5 pages, 3 postscript figure

Large Extra Dimensions, Sterile neutrinos and Solar Neutrino Data

Solar, atmospheric and LSND neutrino oscillation results require a light sterile neutrino, $\nu_B$, which can exist in the bulk of extra dimensions. Solar $\nu_e$, confined to the brane, can oscillate in the vacuum to the zero mode of $\nu_B$ and via successive MSW transitions to Kaluza-Klein states of $\nu_B$. This new way to fit solar data is provided by both low and intermediate string scale models. From average rates seen in the three types of solar experiments, the Super-Kamiokande spectrum is predicted with 73% probability, but dips characteristic of the 0.06 mm extra dimension should be seen in the SNO spectrum.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

The Shape and Scale of Galactic Rotation from Cepheid Kinematics

A catalog of Cepheid variables is used to probe the kinematics of the Galactic disk. Radial velocities are measured for eight distant Cepheids toward l = 300; these new Cepheids provide a particularly good constraint on the distance to the Galactic center, R_0. We model the disk with both an axisymmetric rotation curve and one with a weak elliptical component, and find evidence for an ellipticity of 0.043 +/- 0.016 near the Sun. Using these models, we derive R_0 = 7.66 +/- 0.32 kpc and v_circ = 237 +/- 12 km/s. The distance to the Galactic center agrees well with recent determinations from the distribution of RR Lyrae variables, and disfavors most models with large ellipticities at the solar orbit.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, 10 figure

Polarization forces in water deduced from single molecule data

Intermolecular polarization interactions in water are determined using a minimal atomic multipole model constructed with distributed polarizabilities. Hydrogen bonding and other properties of water-water interactions are reproduced to fine detail by only three multipoles $\mu_H$, $\mu_O$, and $\theta_O$ and two polarizabilities $\alpha_O$ and $\alpha_H$, which characterize a single water molecule and are deduced from single molecule data.Comment: 4 revtex pages, 3 embedded color PS figure

Mid-Infrared Emission from E+A Galaxies in the Coma Cluster

We have used ISO to observe at 12$\mu$m seven E+A galaxies plus an additional emission line galaxy, all in the Coma cluster. E+A galaxies lacking narrow emission lines have 2.2$\mu$m to 12$\mu$m flux density ratios or limits similar to old stellar populations (typical of early-type galaxies). Only galaxies with emission lines have enhanced 12$\mu$m flux density. Excess 12$\mu$m emission is therefore correlated with the presence of on-going star formation or an active galactic nucleus (AGN). By comparing the current star formation rates with previous rates estimated from the Balmer absorption features, we divide the galaxies into two groups: those for which star formation has declined significantly following a dramatic peak $\sim$ 1 Gyr ago; and those with a significant level of ongoing star formation or/and an AGN. There is no strong difference in the spatial distribution on the sky between these two groups. However, the first group has systemic velocities above the mean cluster value and the second group below that value. This suggests that the two groups differ kinematically. Based on surveys of the Coma cluster in the radio, the IRAS sources, and galaxies detected in H$\alpha$ emission, we sum the far infrared luminosity function of galaxies in the cluster. We find that star formation in late type galaxies is probably the dominant component of the Coma cluster far infrared luminosity. The presence of significant emission from intracluster dust is not yet firmly established. The member galaxies also account for most of the far infrared output from nearby rich clusters in general.Comment: AAS Latex, accepted for publication in Ap