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

Using mutual information to measure order in model glass-formers

Whether or not there is growing static order accompanying the dynamical heterogeneity and increasing relaxation times seen in glassy systems is a matter of dispute. An obstacle to resolving this issue is that the order is expected to be amorphous and so not amenable to simple order parameters. We use mutual information to provide a general measurement of order that is sensitive to multi-particle correlations. We apply this to two glass-forming systems (2D binary mixtures of hard disks with different size ratios to give varying amounts of hexatic order) and show that there is little growth of amorphous order in the system without crystalline order. In both cases we measure the dynamical length with a four-point correlation function and find that it increases significantly faster than the static lengths in the system as density is increased. We further show that we can recover the known scaling of the dynamic correlation length in a kinetically constrained model, the 2-TLG.Comment: 10 pages, 12 Figure

The importance of formulation in the successful lyophilization of influenza reference materials.

© 2014.Lyophilized Influenza antigen reference reagents are a critical resource in the quality control of influenza vaccines. A standard formulation has been used successfully at NIBSC for many years however, following the unexpected occurrence of a collapsed appearance in a particular batch a study was carried out to establish the impact of the sugar concentration in the formulation using modulated differential scanning calorimetry (mDSC) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).There was a correlation between the presence and size of the mDSC eutectic temperature events and the freeze dried appearance of the cakes, which became progressively worse with increasing amounts of sugar. NMR spectroscopy could be used to positively identify and quantify the sugars in the formulations. MDSC can rapidly predict if the freeze dried appearance will be acceptable so as to assure the successful lyophilization of influenza reference preparations

Applying Models to National Surveys of Undergraduate Science Students: What Affects Ratings of Satisfaction?

Many countries use national-level surveys to capture student opinions about their university experiences. It is necessary to interpret survey results in an appropriate context to inform decision-making at many levels. To provide context to national survey outcomes, we describe patterns in the ratings of science and engineering subjects from the UK’s National Student Survey (NSS). New, robust statistical models describe relationships between the Overall Satisfaction’ rating and the preceding 21 core survey questions. Subjects exhibited consistent differences and ratings of “Teaching”, “Organisation” and “Support” were thematic predictors of “Overall Satisfaction” and the best single predictor was “The course was well designed and running smoothly”. General levels of satisfaction with feedback were low, but questions about feedback were ultimately the weakest predictors of “Overall Satisfaction”. The UK’s universities affiliated groupings revealed that more traditional “1994” and “Russell” groups over-performed in a model using the core 21 survey questions to predict “Overall Satisfaction”, in contrast to the under-performing newer universities in the Million+ and Alliance groups. Findings contribute to the debate about “level playing fields” for the interpretation of survey outcomes worldwide in terms of differences between subjects, institutional types and the questionnaire items

Giving voters what they want? Party orientation perceptions and preferences in the British electorate

Some of the most important propositions in the political marketing literature hinge on assumptions about the electorate. In particular, voters are presumed to react in different ways to different orientations or postures. Yet there are theoretical reasons for questioning some of these assumptions, and certainly they have seldom been empirically tested. Here, we focus on one prominent example of political marketing research: Lees-Marshment’s orientations’ model. We investigate how the public reacts to product and market orientation, whether they see a trade-off between the two (a point in dispute among political marketing scholars), and whether partisans differ from non-partisan voters by being more inclined to value product over market orientation. Evidence from two mass sample surveys of the British public (both conducted online by YouGov) demonstrates important heterogeneity within the electorate, casts doubt on the core assumptions underlying some political marketing arguments and raises broader questions about what voters are looking for in a party

The ‘Ombuds Watchers’: Collective Dissent and Legal Protest Among Users of Public Services Ombuds

This article examines the phenomenon of the ‘ombuds watchers’. These are groups of dissatisfied users of public service ombuds schemes who engage in legal protest against the current system of redress for citizen-state complaints. Through the lens of legal consciousness scholarship we propose a framework that conceptualizes the collectivized protest of the ombuds watchers. Based on an empirical dataset, our analysis has shown that the ombuds watchers meet each of the defining characteristics of dissenting collectivism and demonstrates the existence of forms of legal consciousness which present ‘opportunities to build alternative imaginaries and institutions’ (Morgan and Kutch 2015, p. 567). Our case study provides an insight into the potential for dissenting collectives to challenge the hegemonic structures of state law, while at the same time emphasising the continuing power of legal ideology in shaping popular understandings of justice. The article also suggests a pathway for future empirical research into ombuds

An experience on natural sciences augmented reality contents for preschoolers

[EN] Early education is a key element for the future success of students in the education system. This work analyzes the feasibility of using augmented reality contents with preschool students (four and five years old) as a tool for improving their learning process. A quasi experimental design based on a nonequivalent groups posttest-only design was used. A didactic unit has been developed around the topic animals by the participant teachers. The control group followed all the didactic activities defined in the developed didactic materials, while the experimental group was provided in addition with some augmented reality contents. Results show improved learning outcomes in the experimental group with respect to the control group.The Spanish Ministry Economy and Competitiveness partially supported this work (Project ref. TIN2010-21296-C02-01).Cascales, A.; Laguna, I.; Pérez López, DC.; Perona Ruiz, PD.; Contero, M. (2013). An experience on natural sciences augmented reality contents for preschoolers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 8022:103-112. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39420-1_12S1031128022Barnett, W.S.: Effectiveness of Early Educational Intervention. Science 333(6045), 975–978 (2011)OECD: Investing in high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC). OECD Publishing, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/0/28/48980282.pdf (retrieved)Campos, P., Pessanha, S.: Designing Augmented Reality Tangible Interfaces for Kindergarten Children. In: Shumaker, R. (ed.) Virtual and Mixed Reality, HCII 2011, Part I. LNCS, vol. 6773, pp. 12–19. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Lim, J., Kim, S.: A Study on Markerless AR-based Infant Education System using CBIR. Communications in Computer and Information Science 78, 52–58 (2010)Chen, C.H., Su, C.C., Lee, P.Y., Wu, F.G.: Augmented Interface for Children Chinese Learning Technologies. In: 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, pp. 268–270. IEEE Press, New York (2007)Azuma, R.: A Survey of Augmented Reality. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 6(1), 355–385 (1997)Winkler, T., Herczeg, M., Kritzenberger, H.: Mixed Reality Environments as Collaborative and Constructive Learning Spaces for Elementary School Children. In: Barker, P., Rebelsky, S. (eds.) Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2002, pp. 1034–1039. AACE, Chesapeake (2002)Hsieh, M.C., Lee, J.S.: AR Marker Capacity Increasing for Kindergarten English Learning. In: International Multi Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists, vol. 1, pp. 663–666 (2008)Hsieh, M.C., Lin, H.C.K.: Interaction Design Based on Augmented Reality Technologies for English Vocabulary Learning. In: Wong, S.L., et al. (eds.) Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computers in Education, vol. 1, pp. 663–666. Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (2010)Lee, H., Lee, J.: Mathematical Education Game Based on Augmented Reality. Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment, 442–450 (2008)Hyun, E., Choi, K., Kim, G.J., Han, J., Jo, M., Kim, N.: Delphi Survey on the Use of Robot Projector based Augmented Reality in Dramatic Activity for Young Children. International Journal of Digital Content Technology and its Applications 5(11), 272–282 (2011)Kim, H.M., Song, T.H., Jung, S.M., Kwon, K.H., Jeon, J.W.: Virtual Storyteller Using Marker Based AR and FPGA. In: IEEE 54th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, pp. 1–4. IEEE Press, New York (2011)Dunleavy, M., Dede, C., Mitchell, R.: Affordances and Limitations of Immersive Participatory Augmented Reality Simulations for Teaching and Learning. Journal of Science Education and Technology 18, 7–22 (2009)Martín-Gutiérrez, J., Saorín, J.L., Contero, M., Alcañiz, M., Pérez-López, D., Ortega, M.: Design and validation of an augmented book for spatial abilities development in engineering students. Computers & Graphics 34(1), 77–91 (2010)Cook, T.D., Campbell, D.T., Day, A.: Quasi-experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings, pp. 19–21. Houghton Mifflin, Boston (1979)Buendía, L., Colás, P., Hernández-Pina, F.: Métodos de Investigación en Psicopedagogía. McGraw Hill, Madrid (1997

Forty years studying British politics : the decline of Anglo-America

The still present belief some 40 years ago that British politics was both exceptional and superior has been replaced by more theoretically sophisticated analyses based on a wider and more rigorously deployed range of research techniques, although historical analysis appropriately remains important. The American influence on the study of British politics has declined, but the European Union dimension has not been fully integrated. The study of interest groups has been in some respects a fading paradigm, but important questions related to democratic health have still to be addressed. Public administration has been supplanted by public policy, but economic policy remains under-studied. A key challenge for the future is the study of the management of expectations