Modelling alternative strategies for delivering hepatitis B vaccine in prisons : the impact on the vaccination coverage of the injecting drug user population

Since 2001 hepatitis B vaccination has been offered to prisoners on reception into prisons in England and Wales. However, short campaigns of vaccinating the entire population of individual prisons have achieved high vaccination coverage for limited periods, suggesting that short campaigns may be a preferable way of vaccinating prisoners. A model is used that describes the flow of prisoners through prisons stratified by injecting status to compare a range of vaccination scenarios that describe vaccination on prison reception or via regular short campaigns. Model results suggest that vaccinating on prison reception can capture a greater proportion of the injecting drug user (IDU) population than the comparable campaign scenarios (63% vs. 55 . 6% respectively). Vaccination on prison reception is also more efficient at capturing IDUs for vaccination than vaccination via a campaign, although vaccination via campaigns may have a role with some infections for overall control

EOIR Safety and Operational Suitability Metrics Analysis

No abstract availabl

Communication: Efficient counterpoise corrections by a perturbative approach

We investigate the use of Hartree-Fock and density functional perturbative corrections for estimating the counterpoise correction (CPC) for interaction energies at the self-consistent field level. We test our approach using several popular basis sets on the S22 set of weakly bound systems, which can exhibit large basis set superposition errors. Our results show that the perturbative approaches typically recover over 95% of the CPC and can be up to twelve times faster to compute than the conventional methods and therefore provide an attractive alternative to calculating CPCs in the conventional way.P.M.W.G. thanks the Australian Research Council for funding (Grant Nos. DP0984806 and DP1094170) and APAC for a generous allocation of supercomputer resources. J.D. thanks the ANU/RSC for a PhD scholarship

MP2[V] – A simple approximation to second-order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory

We propose a simplified variant of the dual-basis MP2[K] scheme [J. Chem. Phys. 2011,134, 081103] that bootstraps a small-basis MP2 result to a large-basis one. This simplified method, which we call MP2[V], assumes the occupied orbitals are adequately described by the smaller basis, and, therefore, only the relaxation of the virtual orbitals is considered when shifting to the larger basis. Numerical tests on several organic reactions and noncovalent interactions show that MP2[V] yields absolute and relative energies that are in excellent agreement with the conventional large-basis MP2 calculations but in a small fraction of the time.P.M.W.G. thanks the Australian Research Council for funding (Grant Nos. DP1094170 and DP120104740) and APAC for a generous allocation of supercomputer resources. J.D. thanks the ANU/RSC for a Ph.D. scholarship

Approaching the Hartree–Fock limit by perturbative methods

We describe perturbative methods for improving finite-basis Hartree-Fock calculations toward the complete-basis limit. The best method appears to offer quadratic error reduction and preliminary numerical applications demonstrate that remarkably accurate Hartree-Fock energies can be obtained.J.D. thanks the ANU for a Ph.D. scholarship and P.M.W.G. thanks the Australian Research Council for funding Grant No. DP0771978

Hartree–Fock perturbative corrections for total and reaction energies

We have performed an assessment of the Hartree-Fock perturbative correction (HFPC) on a large and diverse set of molecules and reactions. Errors in both absolute and reaction energies with respect to converged secondary basis Hartree-Fock results are reported for a wide spectrum of primary/secondary basis set combinations. These results show that using an adequate primary basis, HFPC can accurately reproduce secondary basis energies at a substantially reduced cost. Comparisons of HFPC with the related dual basis Hartree-Fock (DBHF) scheme are also made for several molecules and target secondary basis sets. Our results indicate that HFPC is faster and more accurate than DBHF for approaching triple-zeta basis sets. For quadruple-zeta secondary basis sets, HFPC is capable of yielding more accurate energies at a marginally increased cost over DBHF.We thank the Australian Research Council for funding Grant No. DP0771978 and APAC for a generous allocation of supercomputer resources. J.D. thanks the ANU/RSC for a Ph.D. scholarship

A game based approach to improve traders' decision-making

Purpose: The development of a game based approach to improving the decision-making capabilities of financial traders through attention to improving the regulation of emotions during trading. Design/methodology/approach: The project used a design-based research approach to integrate the contributions of a highly inter-disciplinary team. The approach was underpinned by considerable stakeholder engagement to understand the ‘ecology of practices’ in which this learning approach should be embedded. Findings: Taken together, our 35 laboratory, field and evaluation studies provide much support for the validity of our game based learning approach, the learning elements which make it up, and the value of designing game-based learning to fit within an ecology of existing practices. Originality/value: The novelty of the work described in the paper comes from the focus in this research project of combining knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines informed by a deep understanding of the context of application to achieve the successful development of a Learning Pathway, which addresses the transfer of learning to the practice environment Key words: Design-based research, emotion-regulation, disposition–effect, financial traders, serious games, sensor-based game

Connecting Children and Young People with Trees

Engaging children and young people with the natural world has never been more important. The benefits of outdoor learning span from increased nature connection to improved self-esteem and physical wellbeing. But with so many potential risks and barriers, how can we help practitioners feel confident and capable in an outdoor setting and therefore improve access to green space for children and young people? The education team at the National Forest Company set out to tackle this challenge. The National Forest was established in the early 1990s in a post-industrial area of the English Midlands. It covers 200 square miles and has seen a huge transformation from black to green over the last thirty years through an intensive program of tree planting and habitat restoration. However, nature was not designed to be the only beneficiary of this work. Green spaces were created near to where people live, work and learn to promote engagement with nature. It became clear early on that working with schools and youth groups across the Forest would be vital to making this happen. Here we describe the varied ways that outdoor learning provision has been supported and improved in the National Forest – from traditional in-school settings to engagement through arts and culture. We address some of the challenges facing outdoor learning providers and offer a pathway to success that can be followed elsewhere. By offering a variety of ways to engage with the local treescapes, the National Forest hopes to foster the next generation of custodians of this ever-changing landscape

Modelling the hepatitis B vaccination programme in prisons

A vaccination programme offering hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine at reception into prison has been introduced into selected prisons in England and Wales. Over the coming years it is anticipated this vaccination programme will be extended. A model has been developed to assess the potential impact of the programme on the vaccination coverage of prisoners, ex-prisoners, and injecting drug users (IDUs). Under a range of coverage scenarios, the model predicts the change over time in the vaccination status of new entrants to prison, current prisoners and IDUs in the community. The model predicts that at baseline in 2012 57% of the IDU population will be vaccinated with up to 72% being vaccinated depending on the vaccination scenario implemented. These results are sensitive to the size of the IDU population in England and Wales and the average time served by an IDU during each prison visit. IDUs that do not receive HBV vaccine in the community are at increased risk from HBV infection. The HBV vaccination programme in prisons is an effective way of vaccinating this hard-to-reach population although vaccination coverage on prison reception must be increased to achieve this

A generalized Poisson equation and short-range self-interaction energies

We generalize the Poisson equation to attenuated Newtonian potentials. If the attenuation is at least exponential, the equation provides a local mapping between the density and its potential. We use this to derive several density functionals for the short-range self-interaction energy