Scalar Polynomial Singularities in Power-Law Spacetimes

Recently, Helliwell and Konkowski (\texttt{gr-qc/0701149}) have examined the quantum "healing" of some classical singularities in certain power-law spacetimes. Here I further examine classical properties of these spacetimes and show that some of them contain naked strong curvature singularities.Comment: 7 pages revtex4 two figures extended discussio

Students' everyday problems: a systematic qualitative analysis

The growing acceptance ofqualitative research promises to minimise the perceived gap between counselling practitioner and counselling researcher, but brings with it the challenge offinding methods for dealing systematically, yet respectfully, with textual data. This article presents just such a method. Seventy-five students provided brief descriptions of the everyday problems of their university careers. A random sample of these first hand accounts was then sorted by 30 further students. Hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling procedures were used to construct a categorical and dimensional framework within which the original first hand accounts are explored in more detail

Water depth and slush drag instrumentation

Water depth and slush drag instrumentatio

Nitrates in surface waters, inputs and seasonality: Phase 2

Changes in management practices and agricultural productivity over the past twenty years have lead to nitrate pollution and eutrophication of lakes and rivers. Information on nitrate concentrations and discharge has been collected on the River Frome at East Stoke since 1965, using the same analytical nitrate method so that the results are comparable. These records of weekly spot values of nitrate concentration and daily mean discharges have been analysed for trends and seasonal patterns in both concentration and nitrate loadings. In this extension of our nitrate contract, a new automated method of intensive sampling has been used to monitor short-term variability and to assess how well similar routine (weekly) sampling schemes can represent the true nitrate record

The Solent Disturbance & Mitigation Project. Phase II – results of the Solent household survey

This report sets out the results of the postal household survey component of the Solent Disturbance and Mitigation project. The work was commissioned by the Solent Forum in response to concerns over the impact of recreational pressure on features of the Solent SPA, SAC and Ramsar Sites. Of particular concern are the cumulative impacts of recreational use arising from potential new housing developments in Chichester District and South Hampshire. The household survey was distributed to 5000 households within 25km of the coastline between Hurst Castle, including the north shoreline of the Isle of Wight. The questionnaires and reminders were sent between October and December 2010. The household survey contained three sections which elicited information relating to general and specific visits to the coast and household demographics. A total of 1382 completed questionnaires were returned and 42% of these households had visited the coast the week prior to completing the survey. Only 4% of households (56) stated they never visited the coast. Households which did not visit the coast contained a lower number of people, lower number of dogs and a higher percentage did not have regular access to a private vehicle when compared to households that made regular coastal visits. Of the households which visited the coast, 50% visited at least once a week. A total of 55% of households visited the coast equally all year and an additional 39% of households made more visits in the summer. There was a significant difference in coastal visit frequency between households which owned a least one dog and non dog owning households, with dog owning households making more visits. There was no significant difference in visit frequency between households who had garden access or whether the household dwelling type was a flat or ‘non- flat’. The 1155 households providing full responses to the survey made an estimated annual total of 153,433 visits to the Solent coastline. The project and this survey divided the coastline into 103 numbered sections. Households made on average 133 annual coastal visits to 3.7 different sections of the coastline. On average each section received a total of 1490 annual visits but the number of coastal visits made to different sections was significantly different. The most frequently given activities undertaken during a coastal visit were walking (20% of all activity responses) and enjoying the scenery (20%), followed by being on the beach (11%) and meeting up with friends (11% of all activity responses). Households indicated where they undertook their activity during the coastal visit and for 47% of the visit responses the activity (walking, cycling, enjoying the scenery etc) was undertaken on the sea wall or the river bank. A further 39% of responses by households indicated they venture onto the beach/mudflat and 15% of responses actually took to the water. The majority (52%) of coastal visits by households were made by car with 39% made by foot, 4% by bicycle and 5% by public transport. Of the households which made visits by car, 50% travelled 9.5km or less by road to the section they visited and 90% travelled 29.0km or less to their visited section by road. Of the households who visited specific sections by foot half lived within 1.0km of the section (straight line distance from postcode to nearest point on section) and 90% lived within 4.0km of the visited section. Features that act as a deterrent for some households when selecting a coastal location to visit may also attract other households. For example, a requirement for dogs to be on leads and the presence of dog restrictions is rated as attractive to non dog owning households but as a deterrent by dog owning households. By far the most popular attractive feature when households choose which coastal location to visit was ‘sea views and attractive scenery’ followed by ‘feel safe’, ‘ability to do a range of different walks/routes ‘and the ‘presence of wildlife’. Predictions were derived by fitting formal statistical models to the observed (household survey) data. Specifically these models used observed visitor numbers per section per distance band and analysed these in relation to factors representing distance to section and section characteristics. Different models are presented within the report and separate models were generated for car and foot visitors, with each model showing a declining visitor rate with distance from the section – i.e. the further away people live the fewer visits they make. These models suggest some 52 million visits are made each year, by households within a 30km radius of the coastline between Hurst Castle to Chichester Harbour, including the north shore of the Isle of Wight. The models identify Portsmouth’s seafront (South Parade Pier to Fort Cumberland) as the most heavily visited coastal section, with over 3 million household visits per annum. These predictive visit models will be used alongside the bird models, commissioned separately and subject to a further report, to assess the impacts of disturbance to wintering birds under different housing scenarios. The use of the visitor models and how they will link to the bird models within the next stages of the Solent Disturbance and Mitigation Project are discussed

The Solent Disturbance & Mitigation Project Phase II – On-site visitor survey results from the Solent region

This report sets out the results of the on-site visitor survey component of the Solent Disturbance and Mitigation project. The work was commissioned by the Solent Forum in response to concerns over the impact of recreational pressure on features of the Solent SPA, SAC and Ramsar Sites. Of particular concern are the cumulative impacts of recreational use arising from potential new housing developments in the Chichester District and South Hampshire. The visitor surveys were conducted during the winter 2009/2010 to assess the level and type of visitor use at selected locations along the Solent coastline. Overall it is likely that the number of visitors interviewed and counted during the survey period was lower than would be normally be expected given the especially cold 2009/2010 winter. With that in mind, there is the potential that the monitoring could provide an underestimate of the absolute number visitors to the region. However, the interviews were designed to elicit generic and site specific details from visitors and although fewer individuals may have been recorded or interviewed because of the weather we can assume that the general winter visitation pattern remained similar and the results very useful in understanding who, where, when and why people use the coast. Counts of people and interviews were conducted at 20 locations around the Solent coastline (including the north shore of the Isle of Wight). A total of 16 hours of surveys were carried out at each location, split equally between weekend (8 hours) and a weekday (8 hours). A total of 784 interviews were conducted, accounting for 1,322 people and 550 dogs. The average group size was 1.7 people. There were differences in visitor numbers between survey locations, with the highest visitor numbers recorded at Emsworth (1088 visitors were recorded using the site over 16 hours) while Lymington (Boldre/Pylewell) was the least busy (33 visitors counted over 16 hours). Visitor numbers per day were typically highest on weekend compared to weekdays. Holiday makers accounted for 6% of the total number of visitors recorded (80 visitors). Visitors were undertook a wide range of activities, with walking (without a dog) and dog walking the two most frequently recorded activities (44% and 42% of interviews). Across all sites and activities, visits were typically short, with 89% lasting less than two hours. The main modes of transport used to reach sites were by car and on foot, with the proportion of people arriving by each mode varying between sites. Across all sites (and taking the data for non-holiday makers only), 51% of interviewees arrived by car and a further 46% arrived on foot. Home postcodes were used to identify the distance between interviewee’s home and the location where interviewed. Half of all visitors arriving on foot lived within 0.7km, while half of all visitors arriving by car lived more than 4km away. Only 9% of foot visitors lived more than 2km away compared to 80% of all car visitors. Linear regressions using housing numbers within different distance bands of a location as a predictor of visitor numbers for each location show a positive relationship between the number of houses within 1km, 3km and 5km and number of visitors entering each survey location. Car park capacity at the access points did not provide a good indication of the frequency of visitors arriving by car to each location. The relationship is more complex, future modelling of visitor rates travelling to locations by car should include potential road related parking (related to length of nearby roads around access points) in addition to official and off road car parking capacity around the access points. 2 Route data were also collected for each interview, with lines drawn directly on maps during the survey. These route data were analysed to determine which activities take place below Mean High Water Mark (MHWM) and how far different groups go out into the intertidal. Across all the interviews, 7% of the mapped routes did not go within 25m of MHWM and were therefore visitors who did not actually make it to the beach (in some locations the survey point was set inland, for example near to parking locations etc.). A further 78% were entirely within the band between 25m above and 25m below MHWM, indicating routes that remained at the top of the beach, on the seawall or similar. It was 14% of the mapped routes that went below 50m from MHWM, and these included a range of activities, for example bait diggers, dog walkers, joggers, cyclists and people out on a family outing. The implications of the results for further modelling and in relation to the disturbance of birds on the European Sites are discussed

Monitoring habits and physiological data in the frail elderly

There is a need for new models of care enabled by technology to support long-term and independent living of the elderly. Integrating telecare and telehealth technologies can be used to provide innovative support in an unobtrusive way. inCASA is a European Commission funded project that uses an integrated platform to monitor both health and habits data in the frail elderly and demonstrate the concept of integrated health and social services through pilot trials. This paper presents the joint analysis of habits and clinical data from the UK pilot. The aim of the analysis is to determine the correlation between change in habits behaviour, change in physiological data and deterioration in the condition of the patient

Combining pot, atom and step economy (PASE) in organic synthesis. Synthesis of tetrahydropyran-4-ones

The combination of pot, atom and step economy (PASE) in the synthesis of organic molecules of medium complexity can lead to a significant 'greening' of a synthetic route. This is demonstrated by the synthesis of highly substituted tetrahydropyran-4-ones and is quantified by a series of recognised metrics, which demonstrate the efficiency of combining PASE over conventional synthetic strategies

Effect of culture on acceptance of telemedicine in Middle Eastern countries: Case study of Jordan and Syria

© Mary Ann Liebert, INC.We investigated issues that affect the use and adoption of telemedicine in Middle Eastern countries, taking the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic as case studies. Our study is based on interviews with key stakeholders (including doctors, technicians, engineers, and decision makers) and questionnaires administered to key stakeholders (including patients), ensuring opinion was gained from people from a full range of backgrounds and roles in the healthcare system. We found doctor and patient resistance was a major issue preventing the adoption of telemedicine in both countries, followed by poor infrastructure, lack of funding, and lack of information technology training. Our research identifies that culture is a greater issue than technical matters for the adoption of telemedicine in Middle Eastern countries. Based on our preliminary results we developed a guideline framework for each country that might be applied to telemedicine projects at the pre-implementation phase. The proposed guideline framework was validated through a return visit to the stakeholders and seeking further opinion