Practical applications of small-angle neutron scattering.

Recent improvements in beam-line accessibility and technology have led to small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) becoming more frequently applied to materials problems. SANS has been used to study the assembly, dispersion, alignment and mixing of nanoscale condensed matter, as well as to characterise the internal structure of organic thin films, porous structures and inclusions within steel. Using time-resolved SANS, growth mechanisms in materials systems and soft matter phase transitions can also be explored. This review is intended for newcomers to SANS as well as experts. Therefore, the basic knowledge required for its use is first summarised. After this introduction, various examples are given of the types of soft and hard matter that have been studied by SANS. The information that can be extracted from the data is highlighted, alongside the methods used to obtain it. In addition to presenting the findings, explanations are provided on how the SANS measurements were optimised, such as the use of contrast variation to highlight specific parts of a structure. Emphasis is placed on the use of complementary techniques to improve data quality (e.g. using other scattering methods) and the accuracy of data analysis (e.g. using microscopy to separately determine shape and size). This is done with a view to providing guidance on how best to design and analyse future SANS measurements on materials not listed below

A Socio-Hydrologic Assessment of Mountain Water Supply Vulnerability to Changing Snowmelt

Climate change is accelerating disconnects between snowmelt-driven water supply and downstream demand. Identifying what makes people and places vulnerable to these disconnects can improve understanding of present conditions and help anticipate future changes in water management. This dissertation seeks to understand the potential for increasing disconnects between downstream agriculturally productive regions and their primary water supply—higher elevation, mountainous (upland) environments. We do so by focusing on agriculturally productive regions in the western United States (US) that are heavily reliant on seasonal snowmelt-driven streamflow, and using interdisciplinary tools such as big data, conceptual modeling, social science, and computational hydrology to assess vulnerability from the source (mountains) to demand (agriculture) We find that a process-based framework isolating three dominant mechanisms linking snow to streamflow helps explain changes in snowmelt-driven streamflow in 537 upland catchments throughout the US. We then use a hydrogeological framework and optimized averaging in a subset of our initial 537 catchments, highlighting the critical and often overlooked role of groundwater contributions in high, arid, and deep mountain catchments. Equipped with a more robust understanding of surface water and groundwater supplies in the western US, we then quantify the benefits of adaptation to changing snow resources particularly in hay-dominated agriculturally productive systems with smaller declines in snow relative to reservoir storage. Finally, we derive a flexible approach for expanding vulnerability assessments beyond the mountains and show that robust consideration of multiple aspects of vulnerability requires better measures of the social value of water as well as demand

« Parcourir les sentiers de nos ancêtres » : Un projet de revitalisation linguistique par le jeu

Cet article porte sur l’utilisation d’un jeu de société sur les noms de lieux dans le cadre d’un projet de revitalisation linguistique au sein de la communauté de la Première Nation Tlingit de la Taku River. Le jeu fait appel aux noms de lieux, aux histoires qui s’y rattachent et aux ressources qui sont utilisées par le peuple tlingit et intègre des informations sur le territoire traditionnel des Tlingits. Dans le cadre de cet article, nous souhaitons entre autres aborder le processus d’élaboration du jeu à partir d’un corpus de noms de lieux et d’histoires recueillis dans le cadre d’un voyage en compagnie de l’aînée Antonia Jack autour du lac Atlin. Le jeu représente pour les participants un moyen ludique d’apprendre leur langue. Cet article se propose de discuter de la façon dont le jeu est utilisé par les membres de la communauté. Nous nous penchons également sur le rôle que peuvent jouer le jeu et d’autres activités ludiques dans l’apprentissage des langues de façon générale. Nous discuterons aussi de l’importance du contexte et de la pertinence culturelle lorsqu’il est question d’acquisition d’une langue menacée de disparition.This paper will discuss the Taku River Tlingit First Nation’s use of a place names board game for the purpose of language revitalization within their community. The game integrates place names, stories, and information about their traditional territory and the resources utilized by the Tlingit people. The development of the game, which is based on place names and stories collected on a trip around Atlin Lake, with elder Antonia Jack, will also be discussed. The game provides a ludic experience for the players, while at the same time allowing them to learn their language. In its discussion, this paper will also outline the current use of the game in the community, as well as the role of games and having fun in language learning in general. The importance of relevance and context in language learning within endangered language communities is also discussed.Este artículo aborda la utilización de un juego sobre los nombres de lugares en el marco de un proyecto de revitalización lingüística en una comunidad de la Primera nación Tlingit de Taku River. El juego utiliza los nombres de lugares, las historias de esos lugares y los recursos que utiliza el pueblo tinglit, integrando así informaciones sobre el territorio tradicional de los Tinglits. En este artículo, deseamos abordar el proceso de elaboración del juego a partir de un acervo de nombres de lugares y de historias compiladas durante un viaje en compañía de la anciana Antonia Jack en los alrededores del lago Atlin. El juego representa para los participantes un medio lúdico para aprender su lengua. Este artículo examina el rol del juego y de otras actividades lúdicas en el aprendizaje de las lenguas de manera general. Asimismo examinaremos la importancia del contexto y la pertinencia cultural cuando se trata de adquirir una lengua amenazada por la desaparición

Social workers experiences of supporting children exposed to alcohol in utero: an interpretive phenomenological analysis

Background: Children with a diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder are a vulnerable population, particularly within Social Services. With regards to adopting these children, there is evidence that children diagnosed with a disability can be more challenging to place due to adopter preferences. Aims: The study aims to understand and explore Social Workers experiences of supporting children with a (suspected) diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder within Adoption Social Services. Method: Using semi-structured interviews, five Social Workers were recruited from Adoption Social Services in the West of Scotland. Each interview was transcribed verbatim and data analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: There were four superordinate themes identified from the analysis: lack of knowledge and awareness, dealing with uncertainty, impact of the diagnosis and vulnerability. Three separate experiences of the adoption process were identified: the Social Workers experiences and the perceived experiences of the adoptive parents and the child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Conclusion: The attitudes, experiences and decisions of the Social Worker affect the adoptive parent’s journeys, and ultimately the future of the child. The findings are important because they demonstrate the need to focus on the child’s diagnostic journey across both Health and Social Care settings to ensure consistency in the support offered to them, in line with the Scottish initiative of Health and Social Care Partnership. What this study adds: The findings highlight the potential negative attitudes, lack of understanding and stigma attached to the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, placing these vulnerable children at a further disadvantage

Quantum Monte Carlo : some theoretical and numerical studies

In Part I, theoretical derivations for Variational Monte Carlo calculations are compared with results from a numerical calculation of He; both indicate that minimization of the ratio estimate of Evar , denoted EMC ' provides different optimal variational parameters than does minimization of the variance of E MC • Similar derivations for Diffusion Monte Carlo calculations provide a theoretical justification for empirical observations made by other workers. In Part II, Importance sampling in prolate spheroidal coordinates allows Monte Carlo calculations to be made of E for the vdW molecule var He2' using a simplifying partitioning of the Hamiltonian and both an HF-SCF and an explicitly correlated wavefunction. Improvements are suggested which would permit the extension of the computational precision to the point where an estimate of the interaction energy could be made

Buprenorphine and Methadone in pregnancy: effects on the mother, fetus and neonate.

The current study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of buprenorphine maintenance for the treatment of illicit opioid dependence during pregnancy. Parameters investigated assessed pregnancy progression and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) compared to methadone maintenance and non-opioid exposed control pregnancies. This is the first study to present results comparing the two treatment groups to a control population. The trial was a prospective, non-randomised, open-label, flexible dosing study (n=25 for each group). Women were recruited up to a gestational age of 28 weeks and their infants observed postnatally for 4 weeks. Methadone and buprenorphine doses did not change significantly from recruitment to delivery and were 48.40±5.95 mg.day⁻¹ and 7.46±O.84 mg.day⁻¹ respectively at delivery. Both subjective and objective measures of maternal withdrawal were significantly lower for buprenorphine compared to the methadone group (p<O.Ol and p<O.05, respectively) at the sub-optimal does observed in this study. Direct drug effects were similar between methadone and buprenorphine groups and did not change over the course of pregnancy. Additional substance use during pregnancy was significantly higher for methadone and buprenorphine groups compared to controls but was not significantly different between each other. Patterns of maternal symptom complaints during pregnancy were higher for methadone and buprenorphine compared to controls but were not significantly different to each other and raised several issues regarding maternal health, and re-dosing in the antenatal period. Obstetric complications in the antenatal period and during labour and delivery were similar between the three groups. There was no significant difference between the three groups for infant gestational age at delivery or their Apgar scores. However, methadone exposed infants were significantly smaller than control infants (birth weight p<O.05, body length p<O.05, head circumference p<O.05) while buprenorphine exposed infants did not differ to controls. There was no significant difference between methadone and buprenorphine exposed infants for the percentage of infants who required pharmacological treatment to control NAS (methadone 60%, buprenorphine 48%). However, significantly less morphine was required to control NAS in buprenorphine compared to methadone exposed infants (methadone: 40.07 ± 3.95 mg, buprenorphine: 22.77 ± 4.29 mg; p<0.05) and may have been due to reduced placental transfer of buprenorphine. The current study observed buprenorphine to be at least as efficacious as methadone for the treatment of opioid dependence during pregnancy while minimising NAS.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Medical Sciences, 200

Reports on payments to governments: a report on early developments and experiences.

We are concerned in this report to review and discuss aspects of the Reports submitted in line with the Payments to Governments Regulations. We consider the process of transposition of this Accounting Law into UK law and the early implementation or operationalization of this law in the UK. Recommendations drawn from the study will be useful for Publish What You Pay (PWYP) and other interested stakeholders in communications with government, regulators and standard setters and in general campaign activity. This is the commissioned report for Publish What You Pay

Talking about depression during interactions with GPs: a qualitative study exploring older people’s accounts of their depression narratives

Background: Older people can struggle with revealing their depression to GPs and verbalising preferences regarding its management. This contributes to problems for GPs in both detecting and managing depression in primary care. The aim of this study was to explore older people’s accounts of how they talk about depression and possible symptoms to improve communication about depression when seeing GPs. Methods: Adopting a qualitative Interpretivist methodological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted by IG based on the principles of grounded theory and situational analysis. GPs working in north east England recruited patients aged over 65 with depression. Data analysis was carried out with a process of constant comparison, and categories were developed via open and axial coding and situational maps. There were three levels of analysis; the first developed open codes which informed the second level of analysis where the typology was developed from axial codes. The typology derived from second level analysis only is presented here as older people’s views are rarely reported in isolation. Results: From the sixteen interviews with older people, it was evident that there were differences in how they understood and accepted their depression and that this influenced what they shared or withheld in their narratives. A typology showing three categories of older people was identified: those who appeared to talk about their depression freely yet struggled to accept aspects of it (Superficial Accepter), those who consolidated their ideas about depression aloud (Striving to Understand) and those who shared minimal detail about their depression and viewed it as part of them rather than a treatable condition (Unable to Articulate). The central finding was that older people’s acceptance and understanding of their depression guided their depression narratives. Conclusions: This study identified differences between older people in ways they understand, accept and share their depression. Recognising that their depression narratives can change and listening for patterns in what older people share or withhold may help GPs in facilitating communication to better understand the patient when they need to implement alternative approaches to patient management