The challenges of change:Exploring the dynamics of police reform in Scotland

Despite a long tradition of pessimism regarding the scope for meaningful change in police practices, recent structural reforms to police organizations in several European countries suggest that significant change in policing is possible. Drawing on recent research into the establishment and consequences of a national police force in Scotland, this article uses instrumental, cultural and myth perspectives taken from organization theory to examine how change happened and with what effects. It highlights how police reform involves a complex interplay between the strategic aims of government, the cultural norms of police organizations and the importance of alignment with wider views about the nature of the public sector. The article concludes by identifying a set of wider lessons from the experience of organizational change in policing

Consistent couplings between spin-2 and spin-3 massless fields

We solve the problem of constructing consistent first-order cross-interactions between spin-2 and spin-3 massless fields in flat spacetime of arbitrary dimension n > 3 and in such a way that the deformed gauge algebra is non-Abelian. No assumptions are made on the number of derivatives involved in the Lagrangian, except that it should be finite. Together with locality, we also impose manifest Poincare invariance, parity invariance and analyticity of the deformations in the coupling constants.Comment: LaTeX file. 29 pages, no figures. Minor corrections. Accepted for publication in JHE

A laboratory study on cold-mix, cold-lay emulsion mixtures

This paper describes laboratory experiments and presents results for the performances of cold-mix, cold-lay emulsion mixtures. The main objective of the experiments was to evaluate and improve the properties of the cold mixtures. The mixture properties evaluated were: volumetric properties, indirect tensile stiffness modulus (ITSM), repeated load axial creep and fatigue. These properties were compared with conventional hot asphalt mixtures not containing any waste/recycled materials. To optimise the performances of the mixtures, a target of ITSM value of 2000 MPa was selected. At full curing conditions, the stiffness of the cold mixes was found to be very similar to that of hot mixtures of the same penetration grade base bitumen (100 pen). Test results also show that the addition of 1–2% cement significantly improved the mechanical performance of the mixes and significantly accelerated their strength gain. The fatigue behaviour of the cold mixes that incorporated cement was comparable with that of the hot mixtures

Darlington Change Project: Devolved Budgets. Interim report.

Darlington Borough Council is devolving budgets to frontline social workers and managers, giving individual teams the power to identify and test creative solutions aiming to safely prevent children and young people from entering care. Families where children are at risk of imminently requiring a care order will be identified by a team manager. 30-50 of these families will then be randomly selected to have a budget of up to £10,000 allocated to them, and held by their social worker. Where possible, these budgets will be equally spread over three age cohorts: families with a child aged 0-4, 5-9 and 10-16 years old. Social workers will be encouraged to be creative with their support to families. Budgets are suggested to be used for a range of purposes such as: academic support, financial support for the home, financial support for out of school activities, support for any extended family, access to external specialist therapy, and help to widen the reach of Family Group Conferencing. The qualitative evaluation aims to help us better understand how the budgets are used and implemented, the potential mechanisms of impact, and contextual factors. This will involve collecting data from interviews, observations, focus groups and questionnaires conducted with social workers, as well as families who receive a budget. Randomised allocation of budgets will be piloted in Darlington and an exploratory analysis of administrative data, including information about statutory care, will be conducted to compare the differences between families receiving, or not receiving the budgets. The evaluation of the programme began in Spring 2019, and ran until March 2020

Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Tool to Enhance Sustainable Groundwater Management in California

A growing population and an increased demand for water resources have resulted in a global trend of groundwater depletion. Arid and semi-arid climates are particularly susceptible, often relying on groundwater to support large population centers or irrigated agriculture in the absence of sufficient surface water resources. In an effort to increase the security of groundwater resources, managed aquifer recharge (MAR) programs have been developed and implemented globally. MAR is the approach of intentionally harvesting and infiltrating water to recharge depleted aquifer storage. California is a prime example of this growing problem, with three cities that have over a million residents and an agricultural industry that was valued at 47 billion dollars in 2015. The present-day groundwater overdraft of over 100 km3 (since 1962) indicates a clear disparity between surface water supply and water demand within the state. In the face of groundwater overdraft and the anticipated effects of climate change, many new MAR projects are being constructed or investigated throughout California, adding to those that have existed for decades. Some common MAR types utilized in California include injection wells, infiltration basins (also known as spreading basins, percolation basins, or recharge basins), and low-impact development. An emerging MAR type that is actively being investigated is the winter flooding of agricultural fields using existing irrigation infrastructure and excess surface water resources, known as agricultural MAR. California therefore provides an excellent case study to look at the historical use and performance of MAR, ongoing and emerging challenges, novel MAR applications, and the potential for expansion of MAR. Effective MAR projects are an essential tool for increasing groundwater security, both in California and on a global scale. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the most common MAR types and applications within the State of California and neighboring semi-arid regions

Evidence for Neutrino Oscillations from Muon Decay at Rest

A search for nu_bar_mu to nu_bar_e oscillations has been conducted at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility using nu_bar_mu from mu+ decay at rest. The nu_bar_e are detected via the reaction (nu_bar_e,p) -> (e+,n), correlated with the 2.2 MeV gamma from (n,p) -> (d,gamma). The use of tight cuts to identify e+ events with correlated gamma rays yields 22 events with e+ energy between 36 and 60 MeV and only 4.6 (+/- 0.6) background events. The probability that this excess is due entirely to a statistical fluctuation is 4.1E-08. A chi^2 fit to the entire e+ sample results in a total excess of 51.8 (+18.7) (-16.9) (+/- 8.0) events with e+ energy between 20 and 60 MeV. If attributed to nu_bar_mu -> nu_bar_e oscillations, this corresponds to an oscillation probability (averaged over the experimental energy and spatial acceptance) of 0.0031 (+0.0011) (-0.0010) (+/- 0.0005).Comment: 57 pages, 34 figures, revtex, additional information available at http://nu1.lampf.lanl.gov/~lsnd

Understanding air release through air valves

[EN] Water transients with entrapped air can originate large pressure peaks that can severely damage distribution networks. Entrapped air can have a damping or amplifying effect on these undesirable pressure peaks. Unfortunately, the complexity of the phenomenon too often makes it difficult to obtain a fully reliable prediction about when air pockets will mitigate or accentuate water transients. Furthermore, the value of some of the parameters involved in the conventional numerical models cannot be calculated or measured and need to be determined through a calibration process. With the aim of overcoming most of the aforementioned uncertainties, this paper summarizes a complete set of tests conducted at WL | Delft Hydraulics. These tests were simulated by means of a tailored numerical model that includes a set of parameters whose values were determined by means of a calibration process. The experimental setup, a large-scale facility, consisted of a single steep pipeline with an air valve installed at its top end. Air release through different air valves was tested under different conditions. © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.This research has been possible thanks to the European Community Programme "Access to Major Research Infrastructure" under the Fifth Framework Growth Programme (Contract No. GIRT-CT-2002-05069).Carlos Alberola, MDM.; Arregui De La Cruz, F.; Cabrera Marcet, E.; Palau, C. (2011). Understanding air release through air valves. Journal of Urban Planning and Development. 137(4):461-469. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000324S461469137

Defining complementary tools to the IVI. The Infrastructure Degradation Index (IDI) and the Infrastructure Histogram (HI)

[EN] The Infrastructure Value Index (IVI) is quickly becoming a standard as a valuable tool to quickly assess the state of urban water infrastructure. However, its simple nature (as a single metric) can mask some valuable information and lead to erroneous conclusions. This paper introduces two complementary tools to IVI: The Infrastructure Degradation Index (IDI) and the Infrastructure Histogram (HI). The IDI is focused on time (compared to the IVI, focused on value), represents an intuitive concept and behaves in a linear way. The joint analysis of IVI and IDI provides results in a more complete understanding of the state of the assets, while maintaining the simplicity of the tools. The Infrastructure Histogram allows for a full evaluation of the infrastructure state and provides a detailed picture of network age compared to its expected life, as well as an order of magnitude of the required investments in the following years.Cabrera Rochera, E.; Estruch-Juan, ME.; Gomez Selles, E.; Del Teso-March, R. (2019). Defining complementary tools to the IVI. The Infrastructure Degradation Index (IDI) and the Infrastructure Histogram (HI). Urban Water Journal. 16(5):343-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2019.1669195S343352165Alegre, H., Vitorino, D., & Coelho, S. (2014). Infrastructure Value Index: A Powerful Modelling Tool for Combined Long-term Planning of Linear and Vertical Assets. Procedia Engineering, 89, 1428-1436. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.11.469Amaral, R., Alegre, H., & Matos, J. S. (2016). A service-oriented approach to assessing the infrastructure value index. Water Science and Technology, 74(2), 542-548. doi:10.2166/wst.2016.250Aware-p.org. 2014. “AWARE-P/Software.” Accessed 25 November 2018. http://www.aware-p.org/np4/software/Baseform. 2018. “Baseform.” Accessed 24 November 2018. https://baseform.com/np4/productCanal de Isabel II Gestión. 2012. Normas Para Redes de Abastecimiento. [Standards for Water Supply Networks.]. https://www.canalgestion.es/es/galeria_ficheros/pie/normativa/normativa/Normas_redes_abastecimiento2012_CYIIG.pdfFrost, and Sullivan. 2011. “Western European Water and Wastewater Utilities Market.” https://store.frost.com/western-european-water-and-wastewater-utilities-market.html#section1Leitão, J. P., Coelho, S. T., Alegre, H., Cardoso, M. A., Silva, M. S., Ramalho, P., … Carriço, N. (2014). Moving urban water infrastructure asset management from science into practice. Urban Water Journal, 13(2), 133-141. doi:10.1080/1573062x.2014.939092Marchionni, V., Cabral, M., Amado, C., & Covas, D. (2016). Estimating Water Supply Infrastructure Cost Using Regression Techniques. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(4), 04016003. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000627Marchionni, V., Lopes, N., Mamouros, L., & Covas, D. (2014). Modelling Sewer Systems Costs with Multiple Linear Regression. Water Resources Management, 28(13), 4415-4431. doi:10.1007/s11269-014-0759-zPulido-Velazquez, M., Cabrera Marcet, E., & Garrido Colmenero, A. (2014). Economía del agua y gestión de recursos hídricos. Ingeniería del agua, 18(1), 95. doi:10.4995/ia.2014.3160Rokstad, M. M., Ugarelli, R. M., & Sægrov, S. (2015). Improving data collection strategies and infrastructure asset management tool utilisation through cost benefit considerations. Urban Water Journal, 13(7), 710-726. doi:10.1080/1573062x.2015.102469

Framework, principles and recommendations for utilising participatory methodologies in the co-creation and evaluation of public health interventions

Background: Due to the chronic disease burden on society, there is a need for preventive public health interventions to stimulate society towards a healthier lifestyle. To deal with the complex variability between individual lifestyles and settings, collaborating with end-users to develop interventions tailored to their unique circumstances has been suggested as a potential way to improve effectiveness and adherence. Co-creation of public health interventions using participatory methodologies has shown promise but lacks a framework to make this process systematic. The aim of this paper was to identify and set key principles and recommendations for systematically applying participatory methodologies to co-create and evaluate public health interventions. Methods: These principles and recommendations were derived using an iterative reflection process, combining key learning from published literature in addition to critical reflection on three case studies conducted by research groups in three European institutions, all of whom have expertise in co-creating public health interventions using different participatory methodologies. Results: Key principles and recommendations for using participatory methodologies in public health intervention co-creation are presented for the stages of: Planning (framing the aim of the study and identifying the appropriate sampling strategy); Conducting (defining the procedure, in addition to manifesting ownership); Evaluating (the process and the effectiveness) and Reporting (providing guidelines to report the findings). Three scaling models are proposed to demonstrate how to scale locally developed interventions to a population level. Conclusions: These recommendations aim to facilitate public health intervention co-creation and evaluation utilising participatory methodologies by ensuring the process is systematic and reproducible