729 research outputs found
The experience of children with disabilities and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic; what lessons can we learn?
COVID-19 has had serious, negative impacts on children’s health and development. But the impacts have not been felt equally; disabled children and their families have been hit particularly hard. In this paper we summarise UK legislation to limit the spread of the virus and describe how services to disabled children changed as a result. We discuss the long-term deleterious impacts of changes in service provision on the health and wellbeing of disabled children and the parent carers supporting them. We close with lessons learned for resetting services to support the ongoing recovery of children and their families and recommendations for delivering services better in future emergencies to ensure that disabled children’s health and wellbeing is maintained
Regularity of higher codimension area minimizing integral currents
This lecture notes are an expanded version of the course given at the
ERC-School on Geometric Measure Theory and Real Analysis, held in Pisa,
September 30th - October 30th 2013. The lectures aim to explain the main steps
of a new proof of the partial regularity of area minimizing integer rectifiable
currents in higher codimension, due originally to F. Almgren, which is
contained in a series of papers in collaboration with C. De Lellis (University
of Zurich).Comment: This text will appear in "Geometric Measure Theory and Real
Analysis", pp. 131--192, Proceedings of the ERC school in Pisa (2013), L.
Ambrosio Ed., Edizioni SNS (CRM Series
Climate Variability and Ross River Virus Transmission in Townsville Region, Australia 1985 to 1996
Background How climate variability affects the transmission of infectious diseases at a regional level remains unclear. In this paper, we assessed the impact of climate variation on the Ross River virus (RRv) transmission in the Townsville region, Queensland, north-east Australia. Methods Population-based information was obtained on monthly variations in RRv cases, climatic factors, sea level, and population growth between 1985 and 1996. Cross-correlations were computed for a series of associations between climate variables (rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity and high tide) and the monthly incidence of RRv disease over a range of time lags. The impact of climate variability on RRv transmission was assessed using the seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model. Results There were significant correlations of the monthly incidence of RRv to rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and relative humidity, all at a lag of 2 months, and high tide in the current month. The results of SARIMA models show that monthly average rainfall (β=0.0012, p=0.04) and high tide (β=0.0262, p=0.01) were significantly associated with RRv transmission, although temperature and relative humidity did not seem to have played an important role in the Townsville region. Conclusions Rainfall, and high tide were likely to be key determinants of RRv transmission in the Townsville region
-minimal surface and manifold with positive -Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature
In this paper, we first prove a compactness theorem for the space of closed
embedded -minimal surfaces of fixed topology in a closed three-manifold with
positive Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature. Then we give a Lichnerowicz type
lower bound of the first eigenvalue of the -Laplacian on compact manifold
with positive -Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature, and prove that the lower
bound is achieved only if the manifold is isometric to the -shpere, or the
-dimensional hemisphere. Finally, for compact manifold with positive
-Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature and -mean convex boundary, we prove an
upper bound for the distance function to the boundary, and the upper bound is
achieved if only if the manifold is isometric to an Euclidean ball.Comment: 15 page
On Vanishing Theorems For Vector Bundle Valued p-Forms And Their Applications
Let be a strictly increasing function
with . We unify the concepts of -harmonic maps, minimal
hypersurfaces, maximal spacelike hypersurfaces, and Yang-Mills Fields, and
introduce -Yang-Mills fields, -degree, -lower degree, and generalized
Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld fields (with the plus sign or with the minus sign) on
manifolds. When and
the -Yang-Mills field becomes an ordinary Yang-Mills field,
-Yang-Mills field, a generalized Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld field with the plus
sign, and a generalized Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld field with the minus sign on a
manifold respectively. We also introduce the energy functional (resp.
-Yang-Mills functional) and derive the first variational formula of the
energy functional (resp. -Yang-Mills functional) with
applications. In a more general frame, we use a unified method to study the
stress-energy tensors that arise from calculating the rate of change of various
functionals when the metric of the domain or base manifold is changed. These
stress-energy tensors, linked to -conservation laws yield monotonicity
formulae. A "macroscopic" version of these monotonicity inequalities enables us
to derive some Liouville type results and vanishing theorems for forms with
values in vector bundles, and to investigate constant Dirichlet boundary value
problems for 1-forms. In particular, we obtain Liouville theorems for
harmonic maps (e.g. -harmonic maps), and Yang-Mills fields (e.g.
generalized Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld fields on manifolds). We also obtain
generalized Chern type results for constant mean curvature type equations for
forms on and on manifolds with the global doubling property
by a different approach. The case and is due to Chern.Comment: 1. This is a revised version with several new sections and an
appendix that will appear in Communications in Mathematical Physics. 2. A
"microscopic" approach to some of these monotonicity formulae leads to
celebrated blow-up techniques and regularity theory in geometric measure
theory. 3. Our unique solution of the Dirichlet problems generalizes the work
of Karcher and Wood on harmonic map
Detection of brown dwarf-like objects in the core of NGC3603
We use near-infrared data obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the
Hubble Space Telescope to identify objects having the colors of brown dwarfs
(BDs) in the field of the massive galactic cluster NGC 3603. These are
identified through use of a combination of narrow and medium band filters
spanning the J and H bands, and which are particularly sensitive to the
presence of the 1.3-1.5{\mu}m H2O molecular band - unique to BDs. We provide a
calibration of the relationship between effective temperature and color for
both field stars and for BDs. This photometric method provides effective
temperatures for BDs to an accuracy of {\pm}350K relative to spectroscopic
techniques. This accuracy is shown to be not significantly affected by either
stellar surface gravity or uncertainties in the interstellar extinction. We
identify nine objects having effective temperature between 1700 and 2200 K,
typical of BDs, observed J-band magnitudes in the range 19.5-21.5, and that are
strongly clustered towards the luminous core of NGC 3603. However, if these are
located at the distance of the cluster, they are far too luminous to be normal
BDs. We argue that it is unlikely that these objects are either artifacts of
our dataset, normal field BDs/M-type giants or extra-galactic contaminants and,
therefore, might represent a new class of stars having the effective
temperatures of BDs but with luminosities of more massive stars. We explore the
interesting scenario in which these objects would be normal stars that have
recently tidally ingested a Hot Jupiter, the remnants of which are providing a
short-lived extended photosphere to the central star. In this case, we would
expect them to show the signature of fast rotation.Comment: 26 Pages, 8 Figures, Accepted for publication on Ap
Impacts of health care service changes implemented due to COVID-19 on children and young people with long-term disability: A mapping review
This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: The data that supports the findings of this study are available in the supplementary material of this article.AIM: To identify the research on childhood disability service adaptations and their impact on children and young people with long-term disability during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: A mapping review was undertaken. We searched the World Health Organization Global COVID-19 database using the search terms 'children', 'chronic/disabling conditions', and 'services/therapies'. Eligible papers reported service changes for children (0-19 years) with long-term disability in any geographical or clinical setting between 1st January 2020 and 26th January 2022. Papers were charted across the effective practice and organization of care taxonomy of health system interventions and were narratively synthesized; an interactive map was produced. RESULTS: Reduction of face-to-face care and usual provision had a huge impact on children and families. Adoption of telehealth provided continuity for the care and management of some conditions. There was limited evidence of changes to mental health services, transitions of care, social care, or child-reported satisfaction or acceptability of service changes. INTERPRETATION: The long-term impacts of service change during the pandemic need full evaluation. However, widespread disruption seems to have had a profound impact on child and carer health and well-being. Service recovery needs to be specific to the individual needs of children with a disability and their families. This should be done through coproduction to ensure that service changes meet needs and are accessible and equitable.National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR
A Participatory Return-to-Work Intervention for Temporary Agency Workers and Unemployed Workers Sick-Listed Due to Musculoskeletal Disorders: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Introduction Within the labour force workers without an employment contract represent a vulnerable group. In most cases, when sick-listed, these workers have no workplace/employer to return to. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness on return-to-work of a participatory return-to-work program compared to usual care for unemployed workers and temporary agency workers, sick-listed due to musculoskeletal disorders. Methods The workers, sick-listed for 2–8 weeks due to musculoskeletal disorders, were randomly allocated to the participatory return-to-work program (n = 79) or to usual care (n = 84). The new program is a stepwise procedure aimed at making a consensus-based return-to-work plan, with the possibility of a temporary (therapeutic) workplace. Outcomes were measured at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The primary outcome measure was time to sustainable first return-to-work. Secondary outcome measures were duration of sickness benefit, functional status, pain intensity, and perceived health. Results The median duration until sustainable first return-to-work was 161 days in the intervention group, compared to 299 days in the usual care group. The new return-to-work program resulted in a non-significant delay in RTW during the first 90 days, followed by a significant advantage in RTW rate after 90 days (hazard ratio of 2.24 [95% confidence interval 1.28–3.94] P = 0.005). No significant differences were found for the measured secondary outcomes. Conclusions The newly developed participatory return-to-work program seems to be a promising intervention to facilitate work resumption and reduce work disability among temporary agency workers and unemployed workers, sick-listed due to musculoskeletal disorders
Weather Variability, Tides, and Barmah Forest Virus Disease in the Gladstone Region, Australia
In this study we examined the impact of weather variability and tides on the transmission of Barmah Forest virus (BFV) disease and developed a weather-based forecasting model for BFV disease in the Gladstone region, Australia. We used seasonal autoregressive integrated moving-average (SARIMA) models to determine the contribution of weather variables to BFV transmission after the time-series data of response and explanatory variables were made stationary through seasonal differencing. We obtained data on the monthly counts of BFV cases, weather variables (e.g., mean minimum and maximum temperature, total rainfall, and mean relative humidity), high and low tides, and the population size in the Gladstone region between January 1992 and December 2001 from the Queensland Department of Health, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland Department of Transport, and Australian Bureau of Statistics, respectively. The SARIMA model shows that the 5-month moving average of minimum temperature (β = 0.15, p-value < 0.001) was statistically significantly and positively associated with BFV disease, whereas high tide in the current month (β = −1.03, p-value = 0.04) was statistically significantly and inversely associated with it. However, no significant association was found for other variables. These results may be applied to forecast the occurrence of BFV disease and to use public health resources in BFV control and prevention
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