"More than a game": the impact of sport-based youth mentoring schemes on developing resilience toward violent extremism

This paper draws upon the findings of an evaluation of “More than a Game”, a sport-focused youth mentoring program in Melbourne, Australia that aimed to develop a community-based resilience model using team-based sports to address issues of identity, belonging, and cultural isolation amongst young Muslim men in order to counter forms of violent extremism. In this essay we focus specifically on whether the intense embodied encounters and emotions experienced in team sports can help break down barriers of cultural and religious difference between young people and facilitate experiences of resilience, mutual respect, trust, social inclusion and belonging. Whilst the project findings are directly relevant to the domain of countering violent extremism, they also contribute to a growing body of literature which considers the relationship between team-based sport, cross-cultural engagement and the development of social resilience, inclusion and belonging in other domains of youth engagement and community-building

Stationarity, soft ergodicity, and entropy in relativistic systems

Recent molecular dynamics simulations show that a dilute relativistic gas equilibrates to a Juettner velocity distribution if ensemble velocities are measured simultaneously in the observer frame. The analysis of relativistic Brownian motion processes, on the other hand, implies that stationary one-particle distributions can differ depending on the underlying time-parameterizations. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate how this relativistic phenomenon can be understood within a deterministic model system. We show that, depending on the time-parameterization, one can distinguish different types of soft ergodicity on the level of the one-particle distributions. Our analysis further reveals a close connection between time parameters and entropy in special relativity. A combination of different time-parameterizations can potentially be useful in simulations that combine molecular dynamics algorithms with randomized particle creation, annihilation, or decay processes.Comment: 4 page

Growth and wool production of Merino wethers after treatment with testosterone

The results were variable with there being no response to the testosterone treatment of the weaners in year 2 which were weaned onto dry feed. In the other two years, the weaners grazed at the lower stocking rates were heavier and there appeared to be a general increase in the weight of those injected with testosterone. However, the level of response was not consistent and in year 3 there was no response while the sheep grazed green feed for four months or so following weaning

The declining representativeness of the British party system, and why it matters

In a recent article, Michael Laver has explained ‘Why Vote-Seeking Parties May Make Voters Miserable’. His model shows that, while ideological convergence may boost congruence between governments and the median voter, it can reduce congruence between the party system and the electorate as a whole. Specifically, convergence can increase the mean distance between voters and their nearest party. In this article we show that this captures the reality of today’s British party system. Policy scale placements in British Election Studies from 1987 to 2010 confirm that the pronounced convergence during the past decade has left the Conservatives and Labour closer together than would be optimal in terms of minimising the policy distance between the average voter and the nearest major party. We go on to demonstrate that this comes at a cost. Respondents who perceive themselves as further away from one of the major parties in the system tend to score lower on satisfaction with democracy. In short, vote-seeking parties have left the British party system less representative of the ideological diversity in the electorate, and thus made at least some British voters miserable

A study of the social and physical environment in catering kitchens and the role of the chef in promoting positive health and safety behaviour

This is the account of a mixed method study of chefs and their kitchens in order to identify the nature of their workplace and how this affects their ability to manage health and safety in the kitchen. It included extended periods of observation, monitoring of physical parameters, analysis of records of reported accidents, and a series of reflexive interviews. The findings were integrated and then fed back in a smaller number of second interviews in order to test whether the findings fitted in with the chefs' understanding of their world. Major factors identified included survival in a market environment, the status of the chef (and the kitchen) within organisations, marked autocracy of chefs, and an increasing tempo building up to service time with commensurate heat, noise, and activity. In particular during the crescendo, a threshold shift in risk tolerance was identified. The factors, their interplay, and their implications for health and safety in the catering kitchen are discussed

A Transiting Planet of a Sun-like Star

A planet transits an 11th magnitude, G1V star in the constellation Corona Borealis. We designate the planet XO-1b, and the star, XO-1, also known as GSC 02041-01657. XO-1 lacks a trigonometric distance; we estimate it to be 200+-20 pc. Of the ten stars currently known to host extrasolar transiting planets, the star XO-1 is the most similar to the Sun in its physical characteristics: its radius is 1.0+-0.08 R_Sun, its mass is 1.0+-0.03 M_Sun, V sini < 3 km/s, and its metallicity [Fe/H] is 0.015+-0.04. The orbital period of the planet XO-1b is 3.941534+-0.000027 days, one of the longer ones known. The planetary mass is 0.90+-0.07 M_Jupiter, which is marginally larger than that of other transiting planets with periods between 3 and 4 days. Both the planetary radius and the inclination are functions of the spectroscopically determined stellar radius. If the stellar radius is 1.0+-0.08 R_Sun, then the planetary radius is 1.30+-0.11 R_Jupiter and the inclination of the orbit is 87.7+-1.2 degrees. We have demonstrated a productive international collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers that was important to distinguishing this planet from many other similar candidates.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, accepted for part 1 of Ap

Phase Separation in Ti-6Al-4V Alloys with Boron Additions for Biomedical Applications: Scanning Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy Investigation of Microgalvanic Couples and Corrosion Initiation

To investigate the effect of boron additions on the corrosion behavior of Ti-6Al-4V for potential use in biomedical implants and devices, cast samples of Ti-6Al-4V were alloyed with 0.01% to 1.09% boron by weight and subjected to hot isostatic pressing. Subsequent analysis via scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy revealed the presence of both alpha (α) and beta (β) phase titanium, enriched in aluminum and vanadium, respectively. At all concentrations, boron additions affected the grain structure and were dispersed throughout both phases, but above the solubility limit, needle-like TiB structures also formed. The TiB needles and β phase exhibited similar surface potentials, whereas that of the α phase was found to be significantly lower. Nevertheless, when subjected to high applied electrochemical potentials in saline solutions, corrosion initiation was observed exclusively within the more noble β phase

XO-5b: A Transiting Jupiter-sized Planet With A Four Day Period

The star XO-5 (GSC 02959-00729, V=12.1, G8V) hosts a Jupiter-sized, Rp=1.15+/-0.12 Rjup, transiting extrasolar planet, XO-5b, with an orbital period of P=4.187732+/-0.00002 days. The planet mass (Mp=1.15+/-0.08 Mjup) and surface gravity (gp=22+/-5 m/s^2) are significantly larger than expected by empirical Mp-P and Mp-P-[Fe/H] relationships. However, the deviation from the Mp-P relationship for XO-5b is not large enough to suggest a distinct type of planet as is suggested for GJ 436b, HAT-P-2b, and XO-3b. By coincidence XO-5 overlies the extreme H I plume that emanates from the interacting galaxy pair NGC 2444/NGC 2445 (Arp 143).Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures, Submitted to Ap