338 research outputs found

    The family law DOORS: research and practice updates

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    The Family Law DOORS (FL-DOORS) is a whole-of-family risk screening tool designed for use across the family law sector. It was released in Australia in March 2013. Following on from an earlier evaluation study by the Australian Institute for Family Studies that claimed only limited take-up of the tool, this article addresses the criticisms and presents new evidence on current use of and research with the FL-DOORS, referring to data from over 7,200 cases

    Incidence of WISE -selected obscured AGNs in major mergers and interactions from the SDSS

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    We use the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to confirm a connection between dust-obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and galaxy merging. Using a new, volume-limited (z ≀ 0.08) catalogue of visually selected major mergers and galaxy–galaxy interactions from the SDSS, with stellar masses above 2 × 1010 M⊙, we find that major mergers (interactions) are 5–17 (3–5) times more likely to have red [3.4] − [4.6] colours associated with dust-obscured or ‘dusty’ AGNs, compared to non-merging galaxies with similar masses. Using published fibre spectral diagnostics, we map the [3.4] − [4.6] versus [4.6] − [12] colours of different emission-line galaxies and find that one-quarter of Seyferts have colours indicative of a dusty AGN. We find that AGNs are five times more likely to be obscured when hosted by a merging galaxy, half of AGNs hosted by a merger are dusty, and we find no enhanced frequency of optical AGNs in merging over non-merging galaxies. We conclude that undetected AGNs missed at shorter wavelengths are at the heart of the ongoing AGN-merger connection debate. The vast majority of mergers hosting dusty AGNs are star forming and located at the centres of Mhalo < 1013 M⊙ groups. Assuming plausibly short-duration dusty-AGN phases, we speculate that a large fraction of gas-rich mergers experience a brief obscured AGN phase, in agreement with the strong connection between central star formation and black hole growth seen in merger simulations

    Incidence of WISE -selected obscured AGNs in major mergers and interactions from the SDSS

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    We use the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to confirm a connection between dust-obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and galaxy merging. Using a new, volume-limited (z ≀ 0.08) catalogue of visually selected major mergers and galaxy–galaxy interactions from the SDSS, with stellar masses above 2 × 1010 M⊙, we find that major mergers (interactions) are 5–17 (3–5) times more likely to have red [3.4] − [4.6] colours associated with dust-obscured or ‘dusty’ AGNs, compared to non-merging galaxies with similar masses. Using published fibre spectral diagnostics, we map the [3.4] − [4.6] versus [4.6] − [12] colours of different emission-line galaxies and find that one-quarter of Seyferts have colours indicative of a dusty AGN. We find that AGNs are five times more likely to be obscured when hosted by a merging galaxy, half of AGNs hosted by a merger are dusty, and we find no enhanced frequency of optical AGNs in merging over non-merging galaxies. We conclude that undetected AGNs missed at shorter wavelengths are at the heart of the ongoing AGN-merger connection debate. The vast majority of mergers hosting dusty AGNs are star forming and located at the centres of Mhalo < 1013 M⊙ groups. Assuming plausibly short-duration dusty-AGN phases, we speculate that a large fraction of gas-rich mergers experience a brief obscured AGN phase, in agreement with the strong connection between central star formation and black hole growth seen in merger simulations

    Highly Stereoselective Biocatalytic Synthesis of Key Cyclopropane Intermediate to Ticagrelor

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    Extending the scope of biocatalysis to important non-natural reactions such as olefin cyclopropanation will open new opportunities for replacing multistep chemical syntheses of pharmaceutical intermediates with efficient, clean, and highly selective enzyme-catalyzed processes. In this work, we engineered the truncated globin of Bacillus subtilis for the synthesis of a cyclopropane precursor to the antithrombotic agent ticagrelor. The engineered enzyme catalyzes the cyclopropanation of 3,4-difluorostyrene with ethyl diazoacetate on a preparative scale to give ethyl-(1R, 2R)-2-(3,4-difluorophenyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylate in 79% yield, with very high diastereoselectivity (>99% dr) and enantioselectivity (98% ee), enabling a single-step biocatalytic route to this pharmaceutical intermediate

    Beyond Spheroids and Discs: Classifications of CANDELS Galaxy Structure at 1.4 < z < 2 via Principal Component Analysis

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    Important but rare and subtle processes driving galaxy morphology and star-formation may be missed by traditional spiral, elliptical, irregular or S\'ersic bulge/disk classifications. To overcome this limitation, we use a principal component analysis of non-parametric morphological indicators (concentration, asymmetry, Gini coefficient, M20M_{20}, multi-mode, intensity and deviation) measured at rest-frame BB-band (corresponding to HST/WFC3 F125W at 1.4 1010M⊙10^{10} M_{\odot}) galaxy morphologies. Principal component analysis (PCA) quantifies the correlations between these morphological indicators and determines the relative importance of each. The first three principal components (PCs) capture ∌\sim75 per cent of the variance inherent to our sample. We interpret the first principal component (PC) as bulge strength, the second PC as dominated by concentration and the third PC as dominated by asymmetry. Both PC1 and PC2 correlate with the visual appearance of a central bulge and predict galaxy quiescence. PC1 is a better predictor of quenching than stellar mass, as as good as other structural indicators (S\'ersic-n or compactness). We divide the PCA results into groups using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering method. Unlike S\'ersic, this classification scheme separates compact galaxies from larger, smooth proto-elliptical systems, and star-forming disk-dominated clumpy galaxies from star-forming bulge-dominated asymmetric galaxies. Distinguishing between these galaxy structural types in a quantitative manner is an important step towards understanding the connections between morphology, galaxy assembly and star-formation.Comment: 31 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

    Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy: a qualitative inquiry and recommendations

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    This qualitative study explores infant-family mental health experts' perspectives and experiences regarding the inclusion of infants in the family therapy setting. Infant socioemotional development is relational in nature and evolves in the context of both dyadic attachment relationships and broader multi-person co-parenting systems. Given this, we sought to understand why family therapy interventions involving families with infants rarely include the infant in a triangular or family systemic approach. Interviews were completed by clinical and/or research experts whose work integrates tenets of both infant mental health (IMH) and family theory and therapy. All interviewees brought at least 5 years of expertise and were actively engaged in the field. Interviewees expressed consistent beliefs that infants have a rightful and helpful place in family therapy approaches. They maintained that infants' innate social drive and communicative capacities position them to make meaningful and clinically significant contributions within family and systemic psychotherapy contexts. Noting that infants have remained on the periphery of these practices, experts advocated expansion and greater integration between IMH and family therapy, while preserving each field's distinctive identity. Experts reported that the interplay between IMH and family therapy fields has been uni-directional as family systems concepts are embedded within IMH approaches, but few IMH premises are incorporated in mainstream family therapy practices. The disconnect was attributed to multiple factors, including graduate and professional training and theoretical, clinical, research, and sociocultural barriers, which were mutually reinforcing. Experts also identified clinical gains for both infants and family members when infants were meaningfully included in family interventions. Common ground was identified between the disciplines, with a belief that relationally distressed young children and parents are best served by clinical engagement with their network of relationships. Results call for greater collaboration between disciplines to challenge existing traditions and to more fully include infants in mainstream family therapy. Recommendations for integration of family therapy and IMH in clinical, theoretical, research, training, and sociocultural domains are offered

    Cyberinfrastructure Deployments on Public Research Clouds Enable Accessible Environmental Data Science Education

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    Modern science depends on computers, but not all scientists have access to the scale of computation they need. A digital divide separates scientists who accelerate their science using large cyberinfrastructure from those who do not, or who do not have access to the compute resources or learning opportunities to develop the skills needed. The exclusionary nature of the digital divide threatens equity and the future of innovation by leaving people out of the scientific process while over-amplifying the voices of a small group who have resources. However, there are potential solutions: recent advancements in public research cyberinfrastructure and resources developed during the open science revolution are providing tools that can help bridge this divide. These tools can enable access to fast and powerful computation with modest internet connections and personal computers. Here we contribute another resource for narrowing the digital divide: scalable virtual machines running on public cloud infrastructure. We describe the tools, infrastructure, and methods that enabled successful deployment of a reproducible and scalable cyberinfrastructure architecture for a collaborative data synthesis working group in February 2023. This platform enabled 45 scientists with varying data and compute skills to leverage 40,000 hours of compute time over a 4-day workshop. Our approach provides an open framework that can be replicated for educational and collaborative data synthesis experiences in any data- and compute-intensive discipline

    Identification of plasma proteins relating to brain neurodegeneration and vascular pathology in cognitively normal individuals

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    This project was funded by DPUK through MRC (grant no. MR/L023784/2) and the UK Medical Research Council Award to the University of Oxford (grant no. MC_PC_17215). L.S is funded by the Virtual Brain Cloud from European comission (grant no. H2020-SC1-DTH-2018-1). C.R.B is funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant R01AG054628. S.R.C is funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant (R01AG054628), Medical Research Council (MR/R024065/1), Age UK and Economic and Social Research Council. R.E.M. was supported by Alzheimer's Research UK major project grant ARUKPG2017B-10. C.H was supported by an MRC Human Genetics Unit programme grant “Quantitative traits in health and disease” (U.MC_UU_00007/10). H.C.W received funding from Wellcome Trust. J.W is funded by TauRx pharmaceuticals Ltd and received Educational grant from Biogen paid to Alzheimer Scotland/Brain Health Scotland. G.W received GRAMPIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST, Scottish Government—Chief Scientist Office, ROLAND SUTTON ACADEMIC TRUST, Medical Research Scotland, Sutton Academic Trust and ROLAND SUTTON ACADEMIC TRUST. J.M.W received Wellcome Trust Strategic Award, MRC UK Dementia Research Institute and MRC project grants, Fondation Leducq, Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation, Alzheimer Society, and the European Union H2020 PHC-03-15 SVDs@Target grant (666881). D.S received MRC (MR/S010351/1), MRC (MR/W002388/1) and MRC (MR/W002566/1). A.M is supported by the Wellcome Trust (104036/Z/14/Z, 216767/Z/19/Z, 220857/Z/20/Z) and UKRI MRC (MC_PC_17209, MR/S035818/1). This work is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 847776. In addition, A.M has received grant support from The Sackler Trust, outside of the work presented. N.B received grant to institution from GSK as part of GSK/Oxford FxG initiative. A.N.H received John Black Charitable Fund-Rosetrees, H2020 funding from European Comission-Project Virtual Brain Cloud, AI for the Discovery of new therapies in Parkinson's (A2926), Rising Start Initiative—stage 2, Brain-Gut Microbiome (Call: PAR-18-296; Award ID: 1U19AG063744-01), Gut-liver-brain biochemical axis in Alzheimer's disease (5RF1AG057452-01), Virtual Brain Cloud (Call: H2020-SC1-DTH- 2018-1; Grant agreement ID: 826421). Generation Scotland received core support from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates (CZD/16/6) and the Scottish Funding Council (HR03006) and is currently supported by the Wellcome Trust (216767/Z/19/Z). Genotyping of the GS:SFHS samples was carried out by the Genetics Core Laboratory at the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, University of Edinburgh, Scotland and was funded by the Medical Research Council UK and the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome Trust Strategic Award “STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally” [STRADL] Reference 104036/Z/14/Z). We are grateful to all the families who took part; the general practitioners and the Scottish School of Primary Care for their help in recruiting them; and the whole Generation Scotland team, which includes interviewers, computer and laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, managers, receptionists, health-care assistants, and nurses.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

    Bridging Alone: Religious Conservatism, Marital Homogamy, and Voluntary Association Membership

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    This study characterizes social insularity of religiously conservative American married couples by examining patterns of voluntary associationmembership. Constructing a dataset of 3938 marital dyads from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the author investigates whether conservative religious homogamy encourages membership in religious voluntary groups and discourages membership in secular voluntary groups. Results indicate that couples’ shared affiliation with conservative denominations, paired with beliefs in biblical authority and inerrancy, increases the likelihood of religious group membership for husbands and wives and reduces the likelihood of secular group membership for wives, but not for husbands. The social insularity of conservative religious groups appears to be reinforced by homogamy—particularly by wives who share faith with husbands
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