Determination of the longitudinal structure function FLF_{L} at HERA

Recent results from the HERA experiment H1 on the longitudinal stucture function $F_{L}$ of the proton are presented. They include proton structure function analyses with particular emphasis on those kinematic regions which are sensitive to $F_{L}$. All results can be consistently described within the framework of perturbative QCD.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures (requires iopart, iopams and epsfig); Talk presented in the Intern. Workshop on New Trends in HERA Physics 2001, 17-22 June 2001, Ringberg Castle, Tegernsee, Germany; To appear in the Proceeding

The Challenges of Pluralism: Locating Religion in a World of Diversity

This is a postprint (author's final draft) version of an article published in the journal Social Compass in 2010. The final version of this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768610362406 (login may be required). The version made available in OpenBU was supplied by the author.The author argues that religious pluralism is the normal state of affairs. Religion itself is multi-dimensional, and the several dimensions of religious and spiritual experience can be combined in myriad ways across individual lives. Preliminary findings from new research are presented, detailing modes of spiritual discourse that include mystery, majesty, meaning, moral compassion, and social connection. These dimensions find expression across multiple social institutions. In addition, religion is multi-traditional and organized by plural producers of the goods and services and events that embody and transform religious tradition. Finally, it is argued that religious pluralism must be studied in terms of the structures of power and privilege that allow some religious ideas to be given free voice, but limit the practice of other religious rituals or the gathering of dissident religious communities

From social rights to the market: neo-liberalism and the knowledge economy

Public higher education has a long history, with its growth associated with mass higher education and the extension of a social right to education from secondary schooling to university education. Following the rise in student numbers since the 1970s, the aspiration to higher education has been universalized, although opportunities remain structured by social background. This paper looks at changing policies for higher education in the UK and the emergence of a neoliberal knowledge regime. This subordinates higher education to the market and shifts the burden of paying for degree courses onto students. It seeks to stratify institutions and extend the role of for-profit providers. From a role in the amelioration of social inequality, universities are now asked to participate actively in the widening inequalities associated with a neoliberal global market order

Key worker services for disabled children: what characteristics of services lead to better outcomes for children and families?

Background: Research has shown that families of disabled children who have a key worker benefit from this service and recent policy initiatives emphasize the importance of such services. However, research is lacking on which characteristics of key worker schemes for disabled children are related to better outcomes for families. Methods: A postal questionnaire was completed by 189 parents with disabled children who were receiving a service in seven key worker schemes in England and Wales. Path analysis was used to investigate associations between characteristics of the services and outcomes for families (satisfaction with the service, impact of key worker on quality of life, parent unmet need, child unmet need). Results: The four path models showed that key workers carrying out more aspects of the key worker role, appropriate amounts of contact with key workers, regular training, supervision and peer support for key workers, and having a dedicated service manager and a clear job description for key workers were associated with better outcomes for families. Characteristics of services had only a small impact on child unmet need, suggesting that other aspects of services were affecting child unmet need. Conclusions: Implications for policy and practice are discussed, including the need for regular training, supervision and peer support for key workers and negotiated time and resources for them to carry out the role. These influence the extent to which key workers carry out all aspects of the key worker's role and their amount of contact with families, which in turn impact on outcomes

Structural Material Property Tailoring Using Deep Neural Networks

Advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are ushering in a new age of automation, as machines match or outperform human performance. Machine intelligence can enable businesses to improve performance by reducing errors, improving sensitivity, quality and speed, and in some cases achieving outcomes that go beyond current resource capabilities. Relevant applications include new product architecture design, rapid material characterization, and life-cycle management tied with a digital strategy that will enable efficient development of products from cradle to grave. In addition, there are also challenges to overcome that must be addressed through a major, sustained research effort that is based solidly on both inferential and computational principles applied to design tailoring of functionally optimized structures. Current applications of structural materials in the aerospace industry demand the highest quality control of material microstructure, especially for advanced rotational turbomachinery in aircraft engines in order to have the best tailored material property. In this paper, deep convolutional neural networks were developed to accurately predict processing-structure-property relations from materials microstructures images, surpassing current best practices and modeling efforts. The models automatically learn critical features, without the need for manual specification and/or subjective and expensive image analysis. Further, in combination with generative deep learning models, a framework is proposed to enable rapid material design space exploration and property identification and optimization. The implementation must take account of real-time decision cycles and the trade-offs between speed and accuracy

Theoretical aspects of high--Q^2 deep inelastic scattering

We present an overview of the theory of high--Q^2 deep inelastic scattering. We focus in particular on the theoretical uncertainties in the predictions for neutral and charged current cross sections obtained by extrapolating from lower Q^2.Comment: 10 (Latex) pages, including 6 embedded figures, uses epsfig.sty, ioplppt.sty and iopl12.sty; Plenary talk presented at the 3rd UK Phenomenology Workshop on HERA Physics, Durham, September 1998, to be published in the Proceeding

Thalidomide-induced Teratogenesis : History and Mechanisms

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The limits of social class in explaining ethnic gaps in educational attainment

This paper reports an analysis of the educational attainment and progress between age 11 and age 14 of over 14,500 students from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE). The mean attainment gap in national tests at age 14 between White British and several ethnic minority groups were large, more than three times the size of the gender gap, but at the same time only about one-third of the size of the social class gap. Socio-economic variables could account for the attainment gaps for Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, but not for Black Caribbean students. Further controls for parental and student attitudes, expectations and behaviours indicated minority ethnic groups were on average more advantaged on these measures than White British students, but this was not reflected proportionately in their levels of attainment. Black Caribbean students were distinctive as the only group making less progress than White British students between age 11 and 14 and this could not be accounted for by any of the measured contextual variables. Possible explanations for the White British-Black Caribbean gap are considered

The contribution of financial entities to the sustainable development through the reporting of corporate social responsibility information

This paper aims at examining the relationship between board composition and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of a sample of listed financial entities, discussing the driving reasons of these entities to disclose CSR information. We hypothesize that there is a positive association between outside (institutional and independent directors) and female directors and CSR disclosure and a negative relationship between inside directors and CSR reporting. Our findings provide evidence that the proportions of independent directors and female directors on boards encourage CSR disclosure. Moreover, the results also show that the proportions of inside directors and institutional directors on boards do not have influence on CSR reporting. Thus, our evidence suggests that board attributes such as independent and female directors encourage financial entities to report CSR matters, showing the effectiveness of these two corporate governance mechanisms. The paper shed light on the influence of board structure of financial entities on CSR disclosure. Therefore, this study contributes to past research by providing an index to measure CSR disclosure of financial entities and the importance of the distinction between outside and inside directors