Researching Bradford: A review of social research on Bradford District

A synthesis of findings from social research on the District of Bradford. This report synthesises the findings from a wide range of social research undertaken on the District of Bradford, primarily between 1995 and 2005. The researchers reviewed almost 200 pieces of work. The key results are summarised under thematic headings: - The social, economic and institutional context - Community cohesion - Housing, neighbourhoods and regeneration - Business and enterprise - Health, disability and social care - Children and young people - Education, skills and the labour market - Crime and community safety It also identifies a future research agenda. The main purpose of the review was to provide the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and local organisations in Bradford with a firm basis upon which to build future work in the District

Clusters in the Luminous Giant HII Regions in M101

(Abridged) We have obtained HST WFPC2 observations of three very luminous but morphologically different giant HII regions (GHRs) in M101, NGC5461, NGC5462, and NGC5471, in order to study cluster formation in GHRs. The measured (M_F547M - M_F675W) colors and M_F547M magnitudes are used to determine the ages and masses of the cluster candidates with M_F547M <= -9.0. NGC5461 is dominated by a very luminous core, and has been suggested to host a super-star cluster (SSC). Our observations show that it contains three R136-class clusters superposed on a bright stellar background in a small region. This tight group of clusters may dynamically evolve into an SSC in the future, and may appear unresolved and be identified as an SSC at large distances, but at present NGC5461 has no SSCs. NGC5462 has loosely distributed HII regions and clusters without a prominent core. It has the largest number of cluster candidates among the three GHRs, but most of them are faint and older than 10 Myr. NGC5471 has multiple bright HII regions, and contains a large number of faint clusters younger than 5 Myr. Two of the clusters in NGC5471 are older than R136, but just as luminous; they may be the most massive clusters in the three GHRs. The fraction of stars formed in massive clusters is estimated from the clusters' contribution to the total stellar continuum emission and a comparison of the ionizing power of the clusters to the ionizing requirement of the associated HII regions. Both estimates show that <~ 50% of massive stars are formed in massive clusters. The cluster luminosity functions (CLFs) of the three GHRs show different slopes. NGC5462 has the steepest CLF and the most loosely distributed interstellar gas, qualitatively consistent with the hypothesis that massive clusters are formed in high-pressure interstellar environments.Comment: 36 pages (figures not included), 16 figures (3 of them are color figures). Figures are in JPEG or GIF format with a lower resolution due to the size limit of the file. For a higher resolution version of the paper, please download from http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~c-chen/clusters.pdf. accepted for ApJ (scheduled for the ApJ 2005 February issue

Predicting VO2max in Collegiate American-Style Football Athletes

Introduction: Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is an important measurement for athletic performance. A common method of VO2max prediction is the Foster equation (MSSE, 1996). This equation produces accurate predictions in a normal population, however, significant difference has been noted between predicted and measured VO2max values when testing athletes. While other studies have produced new equations for athletes in general or even for soccer players, to our knowledge none have made one specifically for American-style football players. Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop an accurate VO2max prediction equation for collegiate American-style football athletes for testing on the treadmill with the standard Bruce protocol. Methods: Over 13 years, a total of 413 collegiate American football players (age: 18.5±1.15 yrs, height: 186.8±7.0 cm, weight 102.1±20.8 kg) were assessed for VO2max (Medical Graphics, Corp® Metabolic Cart) using the standard Bruce treadmill protocol. Linear regression analysis (JMP v. 12) determined which factor out of height, weight, or time spent on the test had a greater impact on VO2max. The linear regression analysis of the most significant factor against VO2max produced a prediction equation. Predicted VO2max was calculated using these data in both the Foster equation and this novel equation. Predicted values were compared to actual measured values with a t-test. α=0.05 for all statistical tests. Results: Of all the factors, time had the strongest relationship (p\u3c0.0001; r2=0.6464). The linear regression between VO2max and time produced a prediction equation: VO2max= -3.546 + 3.904(time in minutes). Both the Foster equation and this new equation were significantly and positively correlated with the actual VO2max values (Foster=0.805, New r=0.804). However, t-tests indicate that the Foster equation results were significantly different from the measured values (p=0.0007), and the new model’s results were not significantly different (p=1.0). Conclusion: The Foster equation is not a reliable predictor of VO2max as assessed on a treadmill in collegiate American-style football athletes. This new equation is more accurate to predict VO2max in this population

Embedding effective depression care: using theory for primary care organisational and systems change

Background: depression and related disorders represent a significant part of general practitioners (GPs) daily work. Implementing the evidence about what works for depression care into routine practice presents a challenge for researchers and service designers. The emerging consensus is that the transfer of efficacious interventions into routine practice is strongly linked to how well the interventions are based upon theory and take into account the contextual factors of the setting into which they are to be transferred. We set out to develop a conceptual framework to guide change and the implementation of best practice depression care in the primary care setting.Methods: we used a mixed method, observational approach to gather data about routine depression care in a range of primary care settings via: audit of electronic health records; observation of routine clinical care; and structured, facilitated whole of organisation meetings. Audit data were summarised using simple descriptive statistics. Observational data were collected using field notes. Organisational meetings were audio taped and transcribed. All the data sets were grouped, by organisation, and considered as a whole case. Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) was identified as an analytical theory to guide the conceptual framework development.Results: five privately owned primary care organisations (general practices) and one community health centre took part over the course of 18 months. We successfully developed a conceptual framework for implementing an effective model of depression care based on the four constructs of NPT: coherence, which proposes that depression work requires the conceptualisation of boundaries of who is depressed and who is not depressed and techniques for dealing with diffuseness; cognitive participation, which proposes that depression work requires engagement with a shared set of techniques that deal with depression as a health problem; collective action, which proposes that agreement is reached about how care is organised; and reflexive monitoring, which proposes that depression work requires agreement about how depression work will be monitored at the patient and practice level. We describe how these constructs can be used to guide the design and implementation of effective depression care in a way that can take account of contextual differences.Conclusions: ideas about what is required for an effective model and system of depression care in primary care need to be accompanied by theoretically informed frameworks that consider how these can be implemented. The conceptual framework we have presented can be used to guide organisational and system change to develop common language around each construct between policy makers, service users, professionals, and researchers. This shared understanding across groups is fundamental to the effective implementation of change in primary care for depressio

Signatures of the Youngest Starbursts: Optically-thick Thermal Bremsstrahlung Radio Sources in Henize 2-10

VLA radio continuum imaging reveals compact (<8 pc) ~1 mJy radio sources in the central 5" starburst region of the blue compact galaxy Henize 2-10. We interpret these radio knots as extremely young, ultra-dense HII regions. We model their luminosities and spectral energy distributions, finding that they are consistent with unusually dense HII regions having electron densities, 1500 cm^-3 < n_e < 5000 cm^-3, and sizes of 3-8 pc. Since these H II regions are not visible in optical images, we propose that the radio data preferentially reveal the youngest, densest, and most highly obscured starforming events. Energy considerations imply that each of the five \HII regions contains ~750 O7V equivalent stars, greater than the number found in 30 Doradus in the LMC. The high densities imply an over-pressure compared to the typical interstellar medium so that such objects must be short-lived (<0.5 Myr expansion timescales). We conclude that the radio continuum maps reveal the very young (<0.5 Myr) precursors of ``super starclusters'' or ``proto globular clusters'' which are prominent at optical and UV wavelengths in He 2-10. If the ultra-dense HII regions are typical of those which we predict will be found in other starbursting systems, then super starclusters spend 15% of their lifetime in heavily-obscured environments, similar to Galactic ultra-compact HII regions. This body of work leads us to propose that massive extragalactic star clusters (i.e. proto globular clusters) with ages <10^6 yr may be most easily identified by finding compact radio sources with optically-thick thermal bremsstrahlung spectral signatures.Comment: AASTeX, 8 figures 2 included with psfig in text; other 6 in jpeg format; Postscript versions of figures may be found at http://zem.ucolick.org/chip/Research/young_clusters.html -- Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Clusters of Extragalactic Ultra Compact HII Regions

We report on the detection of optically thick free-free radio sources in the galaxies M33, NGC 253, and NGC 6946 using data in the literature. We interpret these sources as being young, embedded star birth regions, which are likely to be clusters of ultracompact HII regions. All 35 of the sources presented in this article have positive radio spectral indices alpha>0 suggesting an optically thick thermal bremsstrahlung emission arising in the HII region surrounding hot stars. Energy requirements indicate a range of a several to >500 O7V star equivalents powering each HII region. Assuming a Salpeter IMF, this corresponds to integrated stellar masses of 0.1--60,000 Msun. For roughly half of the sources in our sample, there is no obvious optical counterpart, giving further support for their deeply embedded nature. Their luminosities and radio spectral energy distributions are consistent with HII regions having electron densities from 1500 cm^-3 to 15000 cm^-3 and radii of 1 - 7 pc. We suggest that the less luminous of these sources are extragalactic ultracompact HII region complexes, those of intermediate luminosity are similar to W49 in the Galaxy, while the brightest will be counterparts to 30 Doradus. These objects constitute the lower mass range of extragalactic ``ultradense HII regions'' which we argue are the youngest stages of massive star cluster formation yet observed. This sample is beginning to fill in the continuum of objects between small associations of ultracompact HII regions and the massive extragalactic clusters that may evolve into globular clusters.Comment: 37 pages, uses AASTeX; scheduled to appear in ApJ v. 559 October 2001. Full postscript version available from http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~chip/Papers/Johnson_Kobulnicky_etal_ApJ559.ps.g

Stellar Winds and Embedded Star Formation in the Galactic Center Quintuplet and Arches Clusters: Multifrequency Radio Observations

A multi-frequency, multi-configuration study has been made of the compact radio sources in the Galactic Center Quintuplet and Arches stellar clusters using the Very Large Array. Ten radio sources have been detected in the Quintuplet cluster. The majority of these radio sources have rising spectral indices and are positionally coincident with young massive stars that are known to have powerful stellar winds. We conclude that the three most compact of these sources are produced by stellar wind emission; thus, mass-loss rates can be derived and have an average value of 3 x 10^-5 solar masses/year. The remainder of the sources are likely to be a combination of stellar wind emission and free-free emission from surrounding ionized gas. In three cases, the radio sources have no stellar counterpart and the radio emission is thought to arise from compact or ultra-compact HII regions. If so, these sources would be the first detections of embedded massive stars to be discovered in the Galactic center clusters. The radio nebula associated with the Pistol star resembles the nebula surrounding the LBV star Eta Carina and may be related to the stellar wind of the Pistol star. Ten compact radio sources are detected in the Arches cluster and are interpreted to be stellar wind sources, consistent with previous findings. Several of the sources show moderate variability (10-30%) in their flux density, possibly related to a nonthermal component in the wind emission. A number of radio sources in both clusters have X-ray counterparts, which have been interpreted to be the shocked, colliding winds of massive binary systems.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

N-band Observations of He 2-10: Unveiling the Dusty Engine of a Starburst Galaxy

To better understand the early stages of massive star cluster evolution we have obtained J,H,K', and N (10.8 micron) images of the nuclear region of the starburst galaxy He 2-10. The N-band images were obtained with the Gemini North telescope and reveal four of the five enshrouded clusters, or "ultradense HII regions" (UDHIIs), recently discovered in radio maps. None of these sources appears in either the optical HST images or the near-infrared images. They comprise about 60% of the total N-band flux from He 2-10 and, we suspect, a similar fraction of the total far infrared flux measured by IRAS. The inferred spectra of the UDHIIs are very similar to those of Galactic ultracompact HII regions and we have modeled the UDHIIs under the assumption that they are "scaled-up" versions of these objects. The bolometric luminosity of the brightest UDHII is estimated to be ~2x10^9 L_sun, and the total mass of the dust and gas is ~10^7 M_sun. The mass of the enshrouded stellar cluster must be > 2.5x10^6 M_sun and the age must be < 4.8x10^6 yr. All of the stellar clusters within the UDHIIs must have ages less than about 5x10^6 yr and masses greater than about 5x10^5 M_sun. The logarithmic ratios of the radio to far infrared flux densities for the individual UDHIIs, and He 2-10 as a whole, are significantly larger than the average for normal galaxies, but comparable to those for ultraluminous infrared galaxies. Large ratios for some starburst galaxies may indicate that a significant fraction of the far infrared flux arises from UDHIIs. If all of the far infrared flux from He 2-10 and other starbursts is produced by heavily obscured regions, the observed correlation between UV continuum slope and infrared-to-ultraviolet flux ratio in starbursts cannot be due primarily to UV reprocessing by dust in a foreground screen.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figure