A redshift survey towards the CMB Cold Spot

We have carried out a redshift survey using the VIMOS spectrograph on the VLT towards the Cosmic Microwave Background cold spot. A possible cause of the cold spot is the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect imprinted by an extremely large void (hundreds of Mpc in linear dimension) at intermediate or low redshifts. The redshift distribution of over seven hundred z<1 emission-line galaxies drawn from an I-band flux limited sample of galaxies in the direction of the cold spot shows no evidence of a gap on scales of Delta-z> 0.05 as would be expected if such a void existed at 0.35<z<1. There are troughs in the redshift distribution on smaller scales (Delta-z ~0.01) indicating that smaller scale voids may connect regions separated by several degrees towards the cold spot. A comparison of this distribution with that generated from similarly-sized subsamples drawn from widely-spaced pointings of the VVDS survey does not indicate that the redshift distribution towards the cold spot is anomalous or that these small gaps can be uniquely attributed to real voids.Comment: MNRAS in press, 6 page

Status of the ILC Main Linac BPM R&D

An introduction and the status of R&D activities for a high-resolution, "cold" beam position monitor (BPM) and the related read-out electronics are discussed. Two different BPM detector concepts, to be attached to the SC quadrupole and located inside the ILC cryomodule, are currently under investigation: A resonant dipole-mode cavity-style BPM pickup, developed at Fermilab, and a re-entrant resonant coaxial waveguide BPM, designed by CEA-Saclay. While the 1.5 GHz dipole-mode cavity BPM is still in the R&D phase, the re-entrant BPM has already passed first beam tests, including its read-out system. Furthermore, the LAPP group is developing radiation tolerant digital read-out systems, which are tested at the CLIC test facility (CTF).Comment: LCWS / ILC08 conference contribution, 6 pages, 6 figure

Memory effects in vibrated granular systems

Granular materials present memory effects when submitted to tapping processes. These effects have been observed experimentally and are discussed here in the context of a general kind of model systems for compaction formulated at a mesoscopic level. The theoretical predictions qualitatively agree with the experimental results. As an example, a particular simple model is used for detailed calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; to appear in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (Special Issue: Proceedings of ESF SPHINX Workshop on ``Glassy behaviour of kinetically constrained models.''

Becoming effective communicators with children: developing practitioner capability through social work education

Social workers employed within statutory settings in countries such as the UK are subject to legal and policy requirements to communicate directly and effectively with children and young people. Qualifying social work education is expected to prepare students so that they can practice competently. However, in England at least, practice and education are both falling short. While active attention is now being given to ways of facilitating improvements in practice, almost nothing is known about how qualifying courses might best promote student learning. This paper reports some of the findings from a UK-based empirical study into factors and processes which support students in developing the self-efficacy and ‘applied understanding’ they need to undertake effective direct work with children. A superficial focus on the ‘doing’ of communication (techniques and skills) appears to be inadequate: courses must additionally provide a range of experiential, participatory, didactic and critically reflective learning opportunities which can enable deep learning of the underpinning knowledges, ethical commitments and personal qualities also needed. A model is presented of an integrated and coherent learning sequence which could be used by programmes to ensure students develop the necessary generic, child-centred and ‘applied child-specialist’ capabilities in communication with children

Variation in sport participation, fitness and motor coordination with socioeconomic status among Flemish children

Socioeconomic status (SES) is often indicated as a factor that influences physical activity and associated health outcomes. This study examined the relationship between SES and sport participation, morphology, fitness and motor coordination in a sample of 1955 Flemish children 6-11 years of age. Gender, age and SES-specific values for morphologic dimensions, amount and type of sport participation and fitness and motor coordination tests were compared. SES was positively and significantly associated with sport participation and sports club membership in both sexes. Although differences were not consistently significant, morphologic dimensions and tests of fitness and motor coordination showed a trend in favor of children from higher SES. The results suggest that public and local authorities should consider providing equal opportunities for children in all social strata and especially those in the lower SES to experience the beneficial effects of sport participation through which they can enhance levels of physical fitness and motor coordination

African perceptions of female attractiveness

Little is known about mate choice preferences outside Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic societies, even though these Western populations may be particularly unrepresentative of human populations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test which facial cues contribute to African perceptions of African female attractiveness and also the first study to test the combined role of facial adiposity, skin colour (lightness, yellowness and redness), skin homogeneity and youthfulness in the facial attractiveness preferences of any population. Results show that youthfulness, skin colour, skin homogeneity and facial adiposity significantly and independently predict attractiveness in female African faces. Younger, thinner women with a lighter, yellower skin colour and a more homogenous skin tone are considered more attractive. These findings provide a more global perspective on human mate choice and point to a universal role for these four facial cues in female facial attractiveness.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe