Evaluating multiagency interventions for children living with intimate partner violence in Birmingham

This research endeavour was born out of the need for a systematic evaluation of the efficacy of the multiagency Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment tool, which necessitates that all incidents of ‘domestic abuse’ (any incident within the family domain) reported to West Midlands Police, where a child or unborn child resides within that home, are scrutinised by Police and Social Care (and partners from Health, Education and the voluntary sector where possible) using a joint protocol. The primary purpose of the protocol is to promote safeguarding and provide a timely and appropriate response to children at risk following domestic abuse. The protocol incorporates the Banardos’ Multiagency Domestic Violence Risk Identification Threshold Scales (MDVRITS), which aids decision making about appropriate interventions based on predicted risk to children using a four level scale

Emigdiano Blues: The California Indigenous Pigment Palette and an In Situ Analysis of an Exotic Colour

The Native inhabitants of South Central California produced rock art containing red, orange, black, white, green and blue colours using a range of mineral and organic materials. Many of these same colours were used on material culture and body painting. This paper focuses on a sub-group of the Chumash, called the Emigdiano, who produced an enigmatic blue colour used in the creation of rock art. Here, we focus on the blue pigment at the rock shelter site of Three Springs in the Wind Wolves Preserve in South Central California. The composition of blue pigments has previously been the focus of discussion with suggestions that they were produced either using European pigments taken from Spanish missions, or that azurite from a local quarry was the source. Previous experimental work had demonstrated that it was possible for the blue to be produced from locally available azurite. Here we present the in situ analyses of these enigmatic blue pigments using handheld X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF). Results from pXRF analysis of rock art, quarried azurite samples and experimental rock art reconstructions showed that the Emigdiano Blue at Three Springs were not azurite based and was composed of optical blue (a mixture of black and white or grey materials which mimic the appearance of blue). This paper discusses the surprising implications of the use, given the availability of a ‘true’ blue pigment, and the wider ontological importance of combining multiple colours to produce the effect of blue in a rock art panel

Current Problems & Methods in Dance Reconstruction: Focus on Cross-Cultural and Social Dance Reconstruction

This roundtable began with presentations by the three conveners describing their own experience with reconstruction of social dance and/or dance in a cross-cultural context, including the French cancan of the 1820s and 1830s, American dances of the ragtime era, and New York mambo of the 1950s. Each presented methodological problems encountered and strategies employed in the face of those issues. The floor was then opened to all participants to dialogue about their own experiences in and questions about dance reconstruction in these varied contexts. Included here are summaries of each presenter’s remarks, followed by their recollections of and reactions to the discussion

Is the perception of time pressure a barrier to healthy eating and physical activity among women?

Objectives To describe the proportion of women reporting time is a barrier to healthy eating and physical activity, the characteristics of these women and the perceived causes of time pressure, and to examine associations between perceptions of time as a barrier and consumption of fruit, vegetables and fast food, and physical activity.Design A cross-sectional survey of food intake, physical activity and perceived causes of time pressure.Setting A randomly selected community sample.Subjects A sample of 1580 women self-reported their food intake and their perceptions of the causes of time pressure in relation to healthy eating. An additional 1521 women self-reported their leisure-time physical activity and their perceptions of the causes of time pressure in relation to physical activity.Results Time pressure was reported as a barrier to healthy eating by 41 % of the women and as a barrier to physical activity by 73 %. Those who reported time pressure as a barrier to healthy eating were significantly less likely to meet fruit, vegetable and physical activity recommendations, and more likely to eat fast food more frequently.Conclusions Women reporting time pressure as a barrier to healthy eating and physical activity are less likely to meet recommendations than are women who do not see time pressure as a barrier. Further research is required to understand the perception of time pressure issues among women and devise strategies to improve women’s food and physical activity behaviours

Evaluating the impact of the Alcohol Act on off-trade alcohol sales: a natural experiment in Scotland

<b>Background and aims</b> A ban on multi-buy discounts of off-trade alcohol was introduced as part of the Alcohol Act in Scotland in October 2011. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of this legislation on alcohol sales, which provide the best indicator of population consumption.<p></p> <b>Design Setting and Participants</b> Interrupted time-series regression was used to assess the impact of the Alcohol Act on alcohol sales among off-trade retailers in Scotland. Models accounted for underlying seasonal and secular trends and were adjusted for disposable income, alcohol prices and substitution effects. Data for off-trade retailers in England and Wales combined (EW) provided a control group.<p></p> <b>Measurements</b> Weekly data on the volume of pure alcohol sold by off-trade retailers in Scotland and EW between January 2009 and September 2012.<p></p> <b>Findings</b> The introduction of the legislation was associated with a 2.6% (95% CI -5.3 to 0.2%, P = 0.07) decrease in off-trade alcohol sales in Scotland, but not in EW (-0.5%, -4.6 to 3.9%, P = 0.83). A statistically significant reduction was observed in Scotland when EW sales were adjusted for in the analysis (-1.7%, -3.1 to -0.3%, P = 0.02). The decline in Scotland was driven by reduced off-trade sales of wine (-4.0%, -5.4 to -2.6%, P < 0.001) and pre-mixed beverages (-8.5%, -12.7 to -4.1%, P < 0.001). There were no associated changes in other drink types in Scotland, or in sales of any drink type in EW.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> The introduction of the Alcohol Act in Scotland in 2011 was associated with a decrease in total off-trade alcohol sales in Scotland, largely driven by reduced off-trade wine sales

Discrete taxa of saprotrophic fungi respire different ages of carbon from Antarctic soils

Different organic compounds have distinct residence times in soil and are degraded by specific taxa of saprotrophic fungi. It hence follows that specific fungal taxa should respire carbon of different ages from these compounds to the atmosphere. Here, we test whether this is the case by radiocarbon (14C) dating CO2 evolved from two gamma radiation-sterilised maritime Antarctic soils inoculated with pure single cultures of four fungi. We show that a member of the Helotiales, which accounted for 41–56% of all fungal sequences in the two soils, respired soil carbon that was aged up to 1,200 years BP and which was 350–400 years older than that respired by the other three taxa. Analyses of the enzyme profile of the Helotialean fungus and the fluxes and δ13C values of CO2 that it evolved suggested that its release of old carbon from soil was associated with efficient cellulose decomposition. Our findings support suggestions that increases in the ages of carbon respired from warmed soils may be caused by changes to the abundances or activities of discrete taxa of microbes, and indicate that the loss of old carbon from soils is driven by specific fungal taxa

Species-Specific Effects on Ecosystem Functioning Can Be Altered by Interspecific Interactions

Biological assemblages are constantly undergoing change, with species being introduced, extirpated and experiencing shifts in their densities. Theory and experimentation suggest that the impacts of such change on ecosystem functioning should be predictable based on the biological traits of the species involved. However, interspecific interactions could alter how species affect functioning, with the strength and sign of interactions potentially depending on environmental context (e.g. homogenous vs. heterogeneous conditions) and the function considered. Here, we assessed how concurrent changes to the densities of two common marine benthic invertebrates, Corophium volutator and Hediste diversicolor, affected the ecological functions of organic matter consumption and benthic-pelagic nutrient flux. Complementary experiments were conducted within homogenous laboratory microcosms and naturally heterogeneous field plots. When the densities of the species were increased within microcosms, interspecific interactions enhanced effects on organic matter consumption and reduced effects on nutrient flux. Trait-based predictions of how each species would affect functioning were only consistently supported when the density of the other species was low. In field plots, increasing the density of either species had a positive effect on organic matter consumption (with no significant interspecific interactions) but no effect on nutrient flux. Our results indicate that species-specific effects on ecosystem functioning can be altered by interspecific interactions, which can be either facilitative (positive) or antagonistic (negative) depending on the function considered. The impacts of biodiversity change may therefore not be predictable based solely on the biological traits of the species involved. Possible explanations for why interactions were detected in microcosms but not in the field are discussed

Tracking biases : an update to the validity and reliability of alcohol retail sales data for estimating population consumption in Scotland

Purchase of the sales data was funded by the Scottish Government as part of the wider Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland's Alcohol Strategy portfolio of studies. Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by NHS Health Scotland.Aims: To highlight the importance of monitoring biases when using retail sales data to estimate population alcohol consumption. Methods: Previously, we identified and where possible quantified sources of bias that may lead to under- or overestimation of alcohol consumption in Scotland. Here, we update findings by using more recent data and by quantifying emergent biases. Results: Underestimation resulting from the net effect of biases on population consumption in Scotland increased from -4% in 2010 to -7% in 2013. Conclusion: Biases that might impact on the validity and reliability of sales data when estimating population consumption should be routinely monitored and updated.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mapping Alternative Impact: Alternative approaches to impact from co-produced research

No abstract available