Children as partners with adults in their medical care

Aims: To investigate the seldom published views of children with type 1 diabetes about their condition and ways in which they share in managing their medical and health care with adults. Methods: Semi-structured, tape recorded interviews, during 2003, with a purposive sample of 24 children aged 3–12 years who have type I diabetes and who attend two inner London hospitals and one hospital in a commuter town. Results: The children reported high levels of understanding, knowledge, and skill gained from their experience of living with diabetes and constantly having to take account of the condition and their paediatrician’s guidance. Their key goals were to be “normal” and “just get on with their lives”. Discussion: The interviews showed that children’s experiences of diabetes tended to enable them to make informed, “wise” decisions in their own best interests, even at a young age. They achieved a complicated balance between the sometimes competing goals of social health “being normal” and physiological health in controlling glycaemia. Their competence supports approaches in children’s rights and in policy makers’ aims that people with diabetes—including children—gain more knowledge, skills, and responsibility for their own care in partnership with healthcare professionals. Consent is usually considered in relation to surgery; however the children showed how they constantly dealt with decisions about consent or refusal, compliance with, or resistance to their prescribed treatment. Their health depends on their informed commitment to medical guidance; more research is needed about the daily realities of children’s committed and responsible co-management of their chronic illness

Observations from Canadian practitioners about the investigation and prosecution of crimes involving child and adult witnesses

Hundreds of scientific studies on the competencies and limitations of eyewitnesses have been published, but few have sought input from front-line forensic interviewers. In the current study, a research agenda was established with in-depth input from 13 forensic interviewers. Interviewers indicated which techniques they use most often, rated the usefulness of various interview techniques, and disclosed common challenges when interviewing. Although many recommended techniques were used (e.g., the Cognitive Interview and Rapport Building), some techniques shown to be effective in eliciting quality testimony in scientific studies were not always used or considered useful by front-line interviewers (e.g., permission to correct the interviewer, permission to say ‘I don’t know’). Key areas were identified to guide future research (e.g., techniques when interviewing very young children, witnesses with developmental delays)

Differential equations for the cuspoid canonical integrals

Differential equations satisfied by the cuspoid canonical integrals I_n(a) are obtained for arbitrary values of n≥2, where n−1 is the codimension of the singularity and a=(ɑ_1,ɑ_2,...,ɑ_(n−1)). A set of linear coupled ordinary differential equations is derived for each step in the sequence I_n(0,0,...,0,0) →I_n(0,0,...,0,ɑ_(n−1)) →I_n(0,0,...,ɑ_(n−2),ɑ_(n−1)) →...→I_n(0,ɑ_2,...,ɑ_(n−2),ɑ_(n−1)) →I_n(ɑ_1,ɑ_2,...,ɑ_n−2,ɑ_(n−1)). The initial conditions for a given step are obtained from the solutions of the previous step. As examples of the formalism, the differential equations for n=2 (fold), n=3 (cusp), n=4 (swallowtail), and n=5 (butterfly) are given explicitly. In addition, iterative and algebraic methods are described for determining the parameters a that are required in the uniform asymptotic cuspoid approximation for oscillating integrals with many coalescing saddle points. The results in this paper unify and generalize previous researches on the properties of the cuspoid canonical integrals and their partial derivatives

A low cost ""Air Mass 2'' solar simulator

Tungsten halogen projection lamps have integral ellipsoidal reflector, and hexagonal shaped plastic Fresnel lenses. Reflector is dichroic coated to reduce infrared content of reflected radiation. Array of lamps and lenses produces uniform collimated beam having near AM2 spectrum and intensity that can be used for testing flat plate solar collectors