Safeguarding children in dentistry: 1. Child protection training, experience and practice of dental professionals with an interest in paediatric dentistry

* Few dental professionals with child protection training have experience of making referrals. * There is a wide gap in practice between recognising signs of child abuse and neglect and responding effectively. * This may indicate missed opportunities to save children from continuing abuse. * There is a need for improved child protection information, support and training for dental professionals. Abstract Following several highly publicised inquiries into the deaths of children from abuse and neglect, there has been much recent interest in the role and responsibility of all health professionals to protect children at risk of maltreatment. The findings of a postal questionnaire, sent in March 2005 to 789 dentists and dental care professionals with an interest in paediatric dentistry working in varied settings in the UK, are presented in a two-part report and discussed in the context of current multi-agency good practice in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This first part explores reported child protection training, experience and practice. There was a significant gap between recognising signs of abuse and responding effectively: 67% of respondents had suspected abuse or neglect of a child patient at some time in their career but only 29% had ever made a child protection referral. The dental profession is alerted to the need to ensure necessary appropriate action to safeguard children is always taken when child abuse or neglect are suspected

A Simple System Dynamics Model for the Global Production Rate of Sand, Gravel, Crushed Rock and Stone, Market Prices and Long-Term Supply Embedded into the WORLD6 Model

A model for global supply of sand, gravel and cut stone for construction based on a system dynamics model was developed for inclusion in the WORLD6 model. The Sand-Gravel-Stone model simulates production and market supply, demand and price for natural sand and gravel, sand and gravel from crushed rock and cut stone. The model uses market mechanisms where the demand is depending on population size, maintenance and price. For the period 2000–2050, the WORLD6 model outputs correlate with the GINFORS model outputs (r 2 = 0.98), but they may take different pathways after 2050. The resources of sand and gravel are estimated at 12 trillion ton each, another 125 trillion tons of rock is suitable for crushing to sand and gravel and at least 42 trillion ton of quality stone is available for production of cut stone. The simulation, under assumed business-as-usual conditions, shows that cut stone production will reach a maximum level by about 2020–2030 and stabilize after that. The cause for this is that demand exceeds extraction as well as slow exhaustion of the known reserves of high-quality stone. Sand and gravel show plateau behaviour and reach their maximum production rate in 2060–2070. The reason for the slight peak towards a plateau behaviour is partly driven by an expected population decline and increasing prices for sand and gravel, limiting demand. Assuming business-as-usual conditions rates remain at that level for centuries