Care Planning and Review for Looked After Children: Fifteen Years of Slow Progress?

This Critical Commentary reviews progress in research into planning and reviewing for children in care in England and Wales since the publication of two major studies in the late 1990s (roughly coinciding with the New Labour period). It briefly considers the changing context of law, regulation and guidance and the aims and objectives of the care planning and review system. It then reviews the limited research literature available, in relation to a series of key topics. Consideration is also given to guides for children and practitioners on the subject. The commentary concludes by suggesting that this is an area in which research has failed to keep pace with changes in policy and practice, and recommends a more systematic approach

Three American Frontiers: Writings of Thomas D. Clark

The casual and the serious of American history—fiddlers, yarn spinners, and riverboat gamblers, politicians, educators, and social reformers—have all concerned Thomas D. Clark, celebrated historian of the Western frontier and the changing South. Three American Frontiers, a volume of his selected writings, draws from works produced throughout Clark\u27s long career as a writer, teacher, and lecturer on the frontier West, social change in the South, and the cutting-edge of historical research. An avid researcher and a tenacious collector of original materials, Clark looks to the everyday items like the record book of a country store, the file of a small-town newspaper, or the diary of a young Gold Rusher for aids to the analysis of larger trends in history. Holman Hamilton conveys Clark\u27s unique approach to his material and his enthusiasm for the common man in America\u27s past. Among the many books by Thomas Clark are The Rampaging Frontier, The Emerging South, and Pills, Petticoats and Plows. Holman Hamilton was a reporter and columnist with the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette before receiving his Ph.D. in history from the University of Kentucky. He was a Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and professor of history at the University of Kentucky as well as President of the Kentucky Civil War Round Table and University Fellow. He was the author or editor of many books, including Three Kentucky Presidents and Prologue to Conflict.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/1054/thumbnail.jp

Photometry of Irregular Satellites of Uranus and Neptune

We present BVR photometric colors of six Uranian and two Neptunian irregular satellites, collected using the Magellan Observatory (Las Campanas, Chile) and the Keck Observatory, (Manua Kea, Hawaii). The colors range from neutral to light red, and like the Jovian and the Saturnian irregulars (Grav et al. 2003) there is an apparent lack of the extremely red objects found among the Centaurs and Kuiper belt objects. The Uranian irregulars can be divided into three possible dynamical families, but the colors collected show that two of these dynamical families, the Caliban and Sycorax-clusters, have heterogeneous colors. Of the third possible family, the 168-degree cluster containing two objects with similar average inclinations but quite different average semi-major axis, only one object (U XXI Trinculo) was observed. The heterogeneous colors and the large dispersion of the average orbital elements leads us to doubt that they are collisional families. We favor single captures as a more likely scenario. The two neptunians observed (N II Nereid and S/2002 N1) both have very similar neutral, sun-like colors. Together with the high collisional probability between these two objects over the age of the solar system (Nesvorny et al. 2003, Holman et al. 2004), this suggests that S/2002 N1 be a fragment of Nereid, broken loose during a collision or cratering event with an undetermined impactor.Comment: 13 pages (including 3 figures and 2 tables). Submitted to ApJ Letter

Continuous direct compression as manufacturing platform for sustained release tablets

This study presents a framework for process and product development on a continuous direct compression manufacturing platform. A challenging sustained release formulation with high content of a poorly flowing low density drug was selected. Two HPMC grades were evaluated as matrix former: standard Methocel CR and directly compressible Methocel DC2. The feeding behavior of each formulation component was investigated by deriving feed factor profiles. The maximum feed factor was used to estimate the drive command and depended strongly upon the density of the material. Furthermore, the shape of the feed factor profile allowed definition of a customized refill regime for each material. Inline NIRs was used to estimate the residence time distribution (RTD) in the mixer and monitor blend uniformity. Tablet content and weight variability were determined as additional measures of mixing performance. For Methocel CR, the best axial mixing (i.e. feeder fluctuation dampening) was achieved when an impeller with high number of radial mixing blades operated at low speed. However, the variability in tablet weight and content uniformity deteriorated under this condition. One can therefore conclude that balancing axial mixing with tablet quality is critical for Methocel CR. However, reformulating with the direct compressible Methocel DC2 as matrix former improved tablet quality vastly. Furthermore, both process and product were significantly more robust to changes in process and design variables. This observation underpins the importance of flowability during continuous blending and die-filling. At the compaction stage, blends with Methocel CR showed better tabletability driven by a higher compressibility as the smaller CR particles have a higher bonding area. However, tablets of similar strength were achieved using Methocel DC2 by targeting equal porosity. Compaction pressure impacted tablet properties and dissolution. Hence controlling thickness during continuous manufacturing of sustained release tablets was crucial to ensure reproducible dissolution. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Precision spectroscopy and density-dependent frequency shifts in ultracold Sr

By varying the density of an ultracold $^{88}$Sr sample from $10^9$ cm$^{-3}$ to $> 10^{12}$ cm$^{-3}$, we make the first definitive measurement of the density-related frequency shift and linewidth broadening of the $^1S_0$ - $^3P_1$ optical clock transition in an alkaline earth system. In addition, we report the most accurate measurement to date of the $^{88}$Sr $^1S_0 - ^3P_1$ optical clock transition frequency. Including a detailed analysis of systematic errors, the frequency is ($434 829 121 312 334 \pm 20_{stat} \pm 33_{sys}$) Hz.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. submitte

Prospective relationships between body weight and physical activity: an observational analysis from the NAVIGATOR study

Objectives: While bidirectional relationships exist between body weight and physical activity, direction of causality remains uncertain and previous studies have been limited by self-reported activity or weight and small sample size. We investigated the prospective relationships between weight and physical activity. Design: Observational analysis of data from the Nateglinide And Valsartan in Impaired Glucose Tolerance Outcomes Research (NAVIGATOR) study, a double-blinded randomised clinical trial of nateglinide and valsartan, respectively. Setting Multinational study of 9306 participants. Participants: Participants with biochemically confirmed impaired glucose tolerance had annual measurements of both weight and step count using research grade pedometers, worn for 7 days consecutively. Along with randomisation to valsartan or placebo plus nateglinide or placebo, participants took part in a lifestyle modification programme. Outcome measures: Longitudinal regression using weight as response value and physical activity as predictor value was conducted, adjusted for baseline covariates. Analysis was then repeated with physical activity as response value and weight as predictor value. Only participants with a response value preceded by at least three annual response values were included. Results: Adequate data were available for 2811 (30%) of NAVIGATOR participants. Previous weight (χ2=16.8; p<0.0001), but not change in weight (χ2=0.1; p=0.71) was inversely associated with subsequent step count, indicating lower subsequent levels of physical activity in heavier individuals. Change in step count (χ2=5.9; p=0.02) but not previous step count (χ2=0.9; p=0.34) was inversely associated with subsequent weight. However, in the context of trajectories already established for weight (χ2 for previous weight measurements 747.3; p<0.0001) and physical activity (χ2 for previous step count 432.6; p<0.0001), these effects were of limited clinical importance. Conclusions: While a prospective bidirectional relationship was observed between weight and physical activity, the magnitude of any effect was very small in the context of natural trajectories already established for these variables