Exploring the experiences of parents of Autistic children when attending the diagnostic imaging department for an X-ray examination

Introduction Autism is a neuro-developmental condition which affects the social-emotional skills, behaviour, language, communication skills and flexibility of thoughts of an individual and their sensory processing. This can result in Autistic service users finding it difficult to navigate current healthcare provision and cope with the unpredictable environment. This paper explores the experiences of parents of Autistic children when attending the diagnostic imaging department for an X-ray examination. Methods A cross sectional, mixed methods approach was adopted and the initial phase consisting of an online survey for parents to complete is the subject of this paper. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and cross comparison between questions was also completed. Thematic analysis was taken to analyse the data from the two open questions at the end of the survey. Results The online survey results are presented in this paper under four key themes; waiting times and environment, forms of communication, lack of understanding of staff regarding Autism and preparation for the X-ray examination. Conclusion The overall rating of the parents' experience whilst in the X-ray/diagnostic imaging department was positive, however there are several areas which received low scores which need further attention. These were waiting areas, waiting times, staff development and patient preparation. Implications for practice The development of more inclusive waiting areas is needed, more effective lines of communication between staff to expedite the patient journey where possible, staff development of both radiographers and also support staff and the review of design of more accessible and inclusive patient information

Affleck-Dine baryogenesis in the local domain

For Affleck-Dine baryogenesis to proceed, there must have been two types of phase transitions. One is the destabilized-stabilized phase transition of the flat direction, which is in general induced by the Hubble parameter. The other is the phase transition related to the A-term, which induces the misalignment of the relative phase of the flat direction. In the conventional Affleck-Dine baryogenesis they are supposed to start almost simultaneously. Of course these phase transitions can take place separately, but the latter must not be later than the former because the phase transition of the A-term can not produce any baryon number when there is no condensate of the relative charge. In this paper we try to construct models where the original idea of Affleck-Dine baryogenesis is realized in a different way. We show examples in which the local domain of the false vacuum with the required condensate is formed after inflation and collapses in a safe way so that the domain wall problem is avoided. We also show examples where the phase transition of the A-term starts before the decay of the condensate. As in the conventional Affleck-Dine mechanism, the phase transition of the A-term produces baryon number in the local domain of the condensate. We construct scenarios where our mechanism produces sufficient baryon asymmetry of the Universe.Comment: 18pages, latex2e, to appear in PR

Large lepton asymmetry from Q-balls

We propose a scenario which can explain large lepton asymmetry and small baryon asymmetry simultaneously. Large lepton asymmetry is generated through Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism and almost all the produced lepton numbers are absorbed into Q-balls (L-balls). If the lifetime of the L-balls is longer than the onset of electroweak phase transition but shorter than the epoch of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), the large lepton asymmetry in the L-balls is protected from sphaleron effects. On the other hand, small (negative) lepton numbers are evaporated from the L-balls due to thermal effects, which are converted into the observed small baryon asymmetry by virtue of sphaleron effects. Large and positive lepton asymmetry of electron type is often requested from BBN. In our scenario, choosing an appropriate flat direction in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we can produce positive lepton asymmetry of electron type but totally negative lepton asymmetry.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, ReVTeX

Single-grain and multi-grain OSL dating of river terrace sediments in the Tabernas Basin, SE Spain

River terraces represent important records of landscape response to e.g. base-level change and tectonic movement. Both these driving forces are important in the southern Iberian Peninsula. In this study, Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating was used to date two principal river terraces in the Tabernas Basin, SE Spain. A total of 23 samples was collected from the fluvial terraces for dating using quartz OSL. Sixteen of the samples could not be dated because of low saturation levels (e.g. typical 2xD0 < 50 Gy). The remaining seven samples (5 fossil and 2 modern analogues) were investigated using both multi-grain and single-grain analysis. Single grain results show that: (i) measurements from multi-grain aliquots overestimate ages by up to ∼ 4 ka for modern analogues and young samples (<5 ka), presumably because (ii) the presence of many saturated grains has biased the multi-grain results to older ages. Despite the unfavourable luminescence characteristics we are able to present the first numerical ages for two terrace aggradation stages in the Tabernas Basin, one at ∼16 ka and the other within the last 2 ka

Measurement of 7Li(n,γ0)8Li cross sections at En=1.5-1340 eV

The 7Li(n,γ)8Li cross section is important in inhomogeneous big bang models, and as a constraint on model parameters used to determine the solar 7Be(p,γ)8B reaction rate. Values of the 7Li(n,γ0)8Li reaction cross section were measured for neutron energies between 1.5 and 1340 eV at the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator. The normalization of the cross section was determined by measuring the gamma-ray yield from the 7Li(n,γ0)8Li reaction relative to that from the 10B(n,αγ)7Li reaction. The cross section was found to have the inverse neutron-velocity relationship (1/υ) indicative of s-wave capture. These results help resolve ambiguities in previous measurements