3,033 research outputs found
Getting the balance right: qualitative evaluation of a holistic weight management intervention to address childhood obesity
Background
Childhood obesity is linked to a range of health and social problems. Solutions include the delivery of appropriate weight management interventions for those aged 16 and under. The âBalance It! Getting the Balance Rightâ programme appears to be effective for those who complete the intervention, but the non-completion rate remains high. A qualitative evaluation was undertaken to explore the views of key stakeholders in the programme and identify possible reasons for non-completion.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 16 NHS and local authority staff, and with 20 children (aged 4â16 years) and their families. A mosaic methodology was used, involving visual and verbal techniques employed to enable children of all ages to take an active role in expressing their opinions.
Results
Key themes included the challenges of approaching overweight children; positive outcomes for some families; and issues relating to communication and coordination. Participants spoke positively about the multi-disciplinary approach of âBalance It!â, but felt it could better meet the needs of its target population.
Conclusions
Structured interventions help to ensure consistency and coherence in terms of approaches to childhood overweight and obesity. Whole family approaches may be most effective in enhancing the user experience
Bistability in a simple fluid network due to viscosity contrast
We study the existence of multiple equilibrium states in a simple fluid
network using Newtonian fluids and laminar flow. We demonstrate theoretically
the presence of hysteresis and bistability, and we confirm these predictions in
an experiment using two miscible fluids of different viscosity--sucrose
solution and water. Possible applications include bloodflow, microfluidics, and
other network flows governed by similar principles
Reproducibility of dynamically represented acoustic lung images from healthy individuals
Background and aim: Acoustic lung imaging offers a unique method for visualising the lung. This study was designed to demonstrate reproducibility of acoustic lung images recorded from healthy individuals at different time points and to assess intra- and inter-rater agreement in the assessment of dynamically represented acoustic lung images. Methods: Recordings from 29 healthy volunteers were made on three separate occasions using vibration response imaging. Reproducibility was measured using quantitative, computerised assessment of vibration energy. Dynamically represented acoustic lung images were scored by six blinded raters. Results: Quantitative measurement of acoustic recordings was highly reproducible with an intraclass correlation score of 0.86 (very good agreement). Intraclass correlations for inter-rater agreement and reproducibility were 0.61 (good agreement) and 0.86 (very good agreement), respectively. There was no significant difference found between the six raters at any time point. Raters ranged from 88% to 95% in their ability to identically evaluate the different features of the same image presented to them blinded on two separate occasions. Conclusion: Acoustic lung imaging is reproducible in healthy individuals. Graphic representation of lung images can be interpreted with a high degree of accuracy by the same and by different reviewers
Political mobilisation by minorities in Britain: negative feedback of ârace relations'?
This article uses a political opportunity approach to study the relationship of minority groups to the political community in Britain. The main argument is that the
British race relations approach established in the 1960s had an important effect that still shapes the patterns of political contention by different minority groups today. Original data on political claims-making by minorities demonstrate that British 'racialised' cultural pluralism has structured an inequality of opportunities for the two main groups, African-Caribbeans and Indian subcontinent minorities. African-Caribbeans mobilise along racial lines, use a strongly assimilative 'black' identity, conventional action forms, and target state institutions with demands for justice that are framed within the recognised framework of race relations. Conversely, a high proportion of the Indian subcontinent minority mobilisation is by Muslim groups, a non-assimilative religious identity. These are autonomously organised, but largely make public demands for extending the principle of racial equality to their non-racial group. Within the Indian subcontinent minorities, the relative absence of mobilisation by Indian, Sikh and Hindu minorities, who have achieved much better levels of socio-economic success than Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims, suggests that there is also a strong socioeconomic basis for shared experiences and grievances as Muslims in Britain. This relativises the notion that Muslim mobilisation is Britain is purely an expression of the right for cultural difference per se, and sees it as a product of the paradoxes of British race relations
Alternative job search strategies in remote rural and peri-urban labour markets: the role of social networks
This paper examines the importance of informal methods (especially social networking) to the job search strategies used by unemployed people. It compares three areas: a small rural town; a larger, more sparsely populated, remote rural area; and a centrally-located, peri-urban labour market. The analysis is based first on survey research undertaken with 490 job seekers across the study areas. Emerging issues were then followed up during a series of twelve focus groups. The survey research showed that job seekers in the rural study areas were significantly more likely to use social networks to look for work. However, those who had experienced repeated or long-term periods out of work, the unskilled and young people were significantly less likely to use such networks. Focus groups confirmed the perceived importance of social networking to the job search process in rural areas, in contrast to the more marginal role such methods appear to play in peri-urban settings. For many rural job seekers, formal job search activities conducted through Jobcentres were seen as largely symbolic, lacking the practical value of social networking. These results suggest that service providers seeking to assist unemployed people in rural areas need to address the problems faced by many disadvantaged job seekers who are currently caught between their lack of social network relations and the absence of local public employment service facilities in more remote communities
Turning round the telescope. Centre-right parties and immigration and integration policy in Europe
This is an Author's Original Manuscript of 'Turning round the telescope. Centre-right parties and immigration and integration policy in Europe', whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in the Journal of European Public Policy 15(3):315-330, 2008 [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi.org/10.1080/13501760701847341
Multidimensional cosmological models: cosmological and astrophysical implications and constraints
We investigate four-dimensional effective theories which are obtained by
dimensional reduction of multidimensional cosmological models with factorizable
geometry and consider the interaction between conformal excitations of the
internal space (geometrical moduli excitations) and Abelian gauge fields. It is
assumed that the internal space background can be stabilized by minima of an
effective potential. The conformal excitations over such a background have the
form of massive scalar fields (gravitational excitons) propagating in the
external spacetime. We discuss cosmological and astrophysical implications of
the interaction between gravexcitons and four-dimensional photons as well as
constraints arising on multidimensional models of the type considered in our
paper. In particular, we show that due to the experimental bounds on the
variation of the fine structure constant, gravexcitons should decay before
nucleosynthesis starts. For a successful nucleosynthesis the masses of the
decaying gravexcitons should be m>10^4 GeV. Furthermore, we discuss the
possible contribution of gravexcitons to UHECR. It is shown that, at energies
of about 10^{20}eV, the decay length of gravexcitons with masses m>10^4 GeV is
very small, but that for m <10^2 GeV it becomes much larger than the
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off distance. Finally, we investigate the
possibility for gravexciton-photon oscillations in strong magnetic fields of
astrophysical objects. The corresponding estimates indicate that even the high
magnetic field strengths of magnetars are not sufficient for an efficient and
copious production of gravexcitons.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX2e, minor changes, improved references, to appear in
PR
Determination of the Carrier-Envelope Phase of Few-Cycle Laser Pulses with Terahertz-Emission Spectroscopy
The availability of few-cycle optical pulses opens a window to physical
phenomena occurring on the attosecond time scale. In order to take full
advantage of such pulses, it is crucial to measure and stabilise their
carrier-envelope (CE) phase, i.e., the phase difference between the carrier
wave and the envelope function. We introduce a novel approach to determine the
CE phase by down-conversion of the laser light to the terahertz (THz) frequency
range via plasma generation in ambient air, an isotropic medium where optical
rectification (down-conversion) in the forward direction is only possible if
the inversion symmetry is broken by electrical or optical means. We show that
few-cycle pulses directly produce a spatial charge asymmetry in the plasma. The
asymmetry, associated with THz emission, depends on the CE phase, which allows
for a determination of the phase by measurement of the amplitude and polarity
of the THz pulse
Responsible participation and housing: restoring democratic theory to the scene
Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of âcommunityâ housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated â that, in particular, âcommunityâ housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision-making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy
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