A preliminary description of the Chemical Camera

Spinning cryostat, or chemical camera, for sampling supersonic gas stream and recording chemical kinetic

Using Different Approaches to Evaluate Individual Social Equity in Transport

Inequalities not only exist in the field of economics in relation to income and wealth, but also in other areas, such as the transport sector, where access to and use of different transport modes varies markedly across population groups, and which provides the means to access everyday living activities. A key concern within the transport sector is that inequality has extended beyond the traditional measures of travel, and now covers a wide range of effects relating to social exclusion, freedom, well-being and being able to access reasonable opportunities and resources. In order to address the aforementioned issues, an important question to resolve is what type of methods can be used to measure inequalities in transport most effectively. Therefore, this study aims to apply different approaches, including the Capabilities Approach (CA) and a further six inequality indices, namely the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index, the Palma ratio, the Pietra ratio, the Schutz coefficient and the Theil index, to the case study using the relatively migrant-rich lower-income neighbourhood of Tuqiao, in Beijing, in order to assess individual transport-related social inequity issues. The findings suggest that the CA is useful in assessing transport-related inequalities where there are significant barriers to the take up of accessibility, for example where there are high levels of disadvantaged groups and disaggregated analysis can be undertaken. The Palma ratio appears to have a larger effect than the Gini coefficient and the other inequality indices when measuring transport-related social inequity. In addition, we also found that most income inequality methods adapted from econometrics may be better suited to measuring transport-related social inequity between different regions, cities or countries, or within the same area, but at different points in time, rather than to measuring a single neighbourhood as a whole. Finally, we argue that to what extent politicians or transport planners can use appropriate management tools to measure transport-related social inequalities may be significant in terms of the progress that can be made in the fight against social inequity in the transport field

A Comparative Evaluation of Gait between Children with Autism and Typically Developing Matched Controls

Anecdotal reports suggest children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ambulate differently than peers with typical development (TD). Little empirical evidence supports these reports. Children with ASD exhibit delayed motor skills, and it is important to determine whether or not motor movement deficits exist during walking. The purpose of the study was to perform a comprehensive lower-extremity gait analysis between children (aged 5–12 years) with ASD and age- and gender-matched-samples with TD. Gait parameters were normalized to 101 data points and the gait cycle was divided into seven sub-phases. The Model Statistic procedure was used to test for statistical significance between matched-pairs throughout the entire gait cycle for each parameter. When collapsed across all participants, children with ASD exhibited large numbers of significant differences (p \u3c 0.05) throughout the gait cycle in hip, knee, and ankle joint positions as well as vertical and anterior/posterior ground reaction forces. Children with ASD exhibited unique differences throughout the gait cycle, which supports current literature on the heterogeneity of the disorder. The present work supports recent findings that motor movement differences may be a core symptom of ASD. Thus, individuals may benefit from therapeutic movement interventions that follow precision medicine guidelines by accounting for individual characteristics, given the unique movement differences observed

Monitoring daily sleep, mood, and affect using digital technologies and wearables: A systematic review

Background: Sleep and affective states are closely intertwined. Nevertheless, previous methods to evaluate sleep-affect associations have been limited by poor ecological validity, with a few studies examining temporal or dynamic interactions in naturalistic settings. Objectives: First, to update and integrate evidence from studies investigating the reciprocal relationship between daily sleep and affective phenomena (mood, affect, and emotions) through ambulatory and prospective monitoring. Second, to evaluate differential patterns based on age, affective disorder diagnosis (bipolar, depression, and anxiety), and shift work patterns on day-to-day sleep-emotion dyads. Third, to summarise the use of wearables, actigraphy, and digital tools in assessing longitudinal sleep-affect associations. Method: A comprehensive PRISMA-compliant systematic review was conducted through the EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE(R), PsycINFO, and Scopus databases. Results: Of the 3024 records screened, 121 studies were included. Bidirectionality of sleep-affect associations was found (in general) across affective disorders (bipolar, depression, and anxiety), shift workers, and healthy participants representing a range of age groups. However, findings were influenced by the sleep indices and affective dimensions operationalised, sampling resolution, time of day effects, and diagnostic status. Conclusions: Sleep disturbances, especially poorer sleep quality and truncated sleep duration, were consistently found to influence positive and negative affective experiences. Sleep was more often a stronger predictor of subsequent daytime affect than vice versa. The strength and magnitude of sleep-affect associations were more robust for subjective (self-reported) sleep parameters compared to objective (actigraphic) sleep parameters

A J-band detection of the donor star in the dwarf nova OY Carinae, and an optical detection of its `iron curtain'

Purely photometric models can be used to determine the binary parameters of eclipsing cataclysmic variables with a high degree of precision. However, the photometric method relies on a number of assumptions, and to date there have been very few independent checks of this method in the literature. We present time-resolved spectroscopy of the P=90.9 min eclipsing cataclysmic variable OY Carinae obtained with X-shooter on the VLT, in which we detect the donor star from K I lines in the J-band. We measure the radial velocity amplitude of the donor star K2 = 470.0 +/- 2.7 km/s, consistent with predictions based upon the photometric method (470 +/- 7 km/s). Additionally, the spectra obtained in the UVB arm of X-shooter show a series of Fe I and Fe II lines with a phase and velocity consistent with an origin in the accretion disc. This is the first unambiguous detection at optical wavelengths of the `iron curtain' of disc material which has been previously reported to veil the white dwarf in this system. The velocities of these lines do not track the white dwarf, reflecting a distortion of the outer disc that we see also in Doppler images. This is evidence for considerable radial motion in the outer disk, at up to 90 km/s towards and away from the white dwarf.Comment: MNRAS accepted. 11 pages with 10 figures and 2 table

Improving interchanges in China: the experiential phenomenon

This paper examines the development of multimodal passenger rail hubs as part of the high-speed rail (HSR) network in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The instrumental, attitudinal and affective experience of the journey through the interchange is assessed from the user perspective. Surveys are used from three HSR stations: Beijing South, Chengdu East and Suzhou North (N = 150), representing three types of HSR stations, i.e. national capital, regional capital and sub-regional city. ‘Expected’ and ‘realised’ facilities are compared – with the difference representing the ‘disgruntlement’ factor (after Stradling et al., 2007). The unprecedented urbanisation process currently being witnessed in the PRC, together with the rapid development of the HSR network and associated multimodal interchanges, offers much opportunity to develop a leading-edge public transport system and urban development predicated on the use of public transport. Although the importance of intermodal interchange hubs is being increasingly recognised, the journey experience through the interchange often remains poor, with problems including Wi-Fi availability, waiting and seating, the availability of door-to-door ticketing, crowdedness, access to the hub, time of travel through and waiting in the hub. MANOVA analysis and factorial (three way) MANOVA analysis are used to explore the differences between intermodal hubs, with many instrumental and particularly attitudinal and affective factors being significantly influenced by location

The limitations of whiteness and the boundaries of Englishness: second-generation Irish identifications and positionings in multiethnic Britain

The focus of this article is the second-generation Irish in England. It is based on data collected as part of the Irish 2 project, which examined processes of identity formation amongst the second-generation Irish population in England and Scotland. The article examines and maps identifications and positionings of second-generation Irish people and discusses how two hegemonic domains - Ireland and England - intersect in the lives of the children of Irish-born parents, with material and psychological consequences. Their positionings in multiethnic Britain are compared with those of ‘visible’ minority ethnic groups, and their narratives of belonging and non-belonging are analysed in terms of the limitations of whiteness and the boundaries of Englishness

Protocol for a national monthly survey of alcohol use in England with 6-month follow-up: 'The Alcohol Toolkit Study'.

Timely tracking of national patterns of alcohol consumption is needed to inform and evaluate strategies and policies aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm. Between 2014 until at least 2017, the Alcohol Toolkit Study (ATS) will provide such tracking data and link these with policy changes and campaigns. By virtue of its connection with the 'Smoking Toolkit Study' (STS), links will also be examined between alcohol and smoking-related behaviour