Generational Equity and the Reformulation of Retirement

Starting from an examination of the essential components of the long established 'contract' between the generations, the analysis moves on to examine public policy responses to the ageing of populations. Observing an international inclination to panic at the growth of old age and to restrict expenditure on services to older people, the paper addresses practical questions of political economy within the generational contract. On the one hand cuts to pensions and services are seen not to be economically inevitable. On the other it is argued that modern retirement breaches the compact between the generations and will need to be reformulated, enabling more people to earn income well beyond current retirement ages.retirement policy; generational equity

Long-term Care in Turmoil

The reformulation of the regulation of long-term care seen in the recent White Paper and Royal Commission in the UK has led to topical debates on long-term care for older people. Given that there are over 500,000 people in residential nursing and dual registered homes across the country, there has, until now, been remarkably little research on the role of managers in the long-term care sector, the various tasks they undertake in the day-to-day operation of a care home, and the qualities and qualifications they bring to their work. This study investigates the range of tasks which managers of long-term care homes perform, and the skills they should possess to do their work. The opening chapter reproduced here provides a critical analysis of the current confusion which besets UK policy on long term care.long-term care; aging

Conditional preparation of states containing a definite number of photons

A technique for conditionally creating single- or multimode photon-number states is analyzed using Bayesian theory. We consider the heralded N-photon states created from the photons produced by an unseeded optical parametric amplifier when the heralding detector is the time-multiplexed photon-number-resolving detector recently demonstrated by Fitch, et al. [Phys. Rev. A 68, 043814 (2003).] and simultaneously by Achilles, et al. [Opt. Lett. 28, 2387 (2003).]. We find that even with significant loss in the heralding detector, fields with sub-Poissonian photon-number distributions can be created. We also show that heralded multimode fields created using this technique are more robust against detector loss than are single-mode fields.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, reference added, typos corrected, content update

Reactions of selected pupils on inquiry forms and by personal interviews seeking to discover present interests and attitudes in the science of their own age level

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Measurement properties of the SF-MPQ-2 neuropathic qualities subscale in persons with CRPs: Validity, responsiveness, and Rasch analysis

© 2018 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to conduct classical psychometric evaluation and Rasch analysis on the Neuropathic Qualities subscale of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 utilizing scores from persons with complex regional pain syndrome to consider reliability and person separation, validity (including unidimensionality), and responsiveness in this population. Methods. Secondary analysis of longitudinal data from persons with acute complex regional pain syndrome was utilized for analysis of the psychometric properties and fit to the Rasch model of the Neuropathic Qualities subscale. We followed an iterative process of Rasch analysis to evaluate and address data fitting challenges. Results. Repeated measures from 59 persons meeting the Budapest criteria were used for analysis. Both item-total correlations and unidimensionality analyses supported theoretical construct validity; all convergent construct validity hypotheses were also supported. Responsiveness was demonstrated comparing baseline and one-year data at d ¼ 0.92, with a standardized response mean of 0.97. Data were able to fit the Rasch model, but all Neuropathic Qualities items had disordered thresholds that required rescoring. Additionally, local dependency and differential item function were addressed by “bundling,” suggesting that no further item reduction would be possible. Conclusions. This study provided preliminary support for the validity and responsiveness of the Neuropathic Qualities subscale in persons with complex regional pain syndrome. Rasch analysis further endorses use of the Neuropathic Qualities subscale as a “stand-alone” measure for neuropathic features, but with substantial background data transformations. Replication with larger samples is recommended to increase confidence in these findings

Canine \u3cem\u3eRD3\u3c/em\u3e Mutation Establishes Rod-Cone Dysplasia Type 2 (\u3cem\u3ercd2\u3c/em\u3e) as Ortholog of Human and Murine \u3cem\u3erd3\u3c/em\u3e

Rod-cone dysplasia type 2 (rcd2) is an autosomal recessive disorder that segregates in collie dogs. Linkage disequilibrium and meiotic linkage mapping were combined to take advantage of population structure within this breed and to fine map rcd2 to a 230-kb candidate region that included the gene C1orf36 responsible for human and murine rd3, and within which all affected dogs were homozygous for one haplotype. In one of three identified canine retinal RD3 splice variants, an insertion was found that cosegregates with rcd2 and is predicted to alter the last 61 codons of the normal open reading frame and further extend the open reading frame. Thus, combined meiotic linkage and LD mapping within a single canine breed can yield critical reduction of the disease interval when appropriate advantage is taken of within-breed population structure. This should permit a similar approach to tackle other hereditary traits that segregate in single closed populations

Crystallization of Ranasmurfin, a blue-coloured protein from Polypedates leucomystax

A novel blue protein from frog nests has been crystallized

Dynamics of Gravitational Waves in 3D: Formulations, Methods, and Tests

The dynamics of gravitational waves is investigated in full 3+1 dimensional numerical relativity, emphasizing the difficulties that one might encounter in numerical evolutions, particularly those arising from non-linearities and gauge degrees of freedom. Using gravitational waves with amplitudes low enough that one has a good understanding of the physics involved, but large enough to enable non-linear effects to emerge, we study the coupling between numerical errors, coordinate effects, and the nonlinearities of the theory. We discuss the various strategies used in identifying specific features of the evolution. We show the importance of the flexibility of being able to use different numerical schemes, different slicing conditions, different formulations of the Einstein equations (standard ADM vs. first order hyperbolic), and different sets of equations (linearized vs. full Einstein equations). A non-linear scalar field equation is presented which captures some properties of the full Einstein equations, and has been useful in our understanding of the coupling between finite differencing errors and non-linearites. We present a set of monitoring devices which have been crucial in our studying of the waves, including Riemann invariants, pseudo-energy momentum tensor, hamiltonian constraint violation, and fourier spectrum analysis.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figure

Survey of the quality of experimental design, statistical analysis and reporting of research using animals

For scientific, ethical and economic reasons, experiments involving animals should be appropriately designed, correctly analysed and transparently reported. This increases the scientific validity of the results, and maximises the knowledge gained from each experiment. A minimum amount of relevant information must be included in scientific publications to ensure that the methods and results of a study can be reviewed, analysed and repeated. Omitting essential information can raise scientific and ethical concerns. We report the findings of a systematic survey of reporting, experimental design and statistical analysis in published biomedical research using laboratory animals. Medline and EMBASE were searched for studies reporting research on live rats, mice and non-human primates carried out in UK and US publicly funded research establishments. Detailed information was collected from 271 publications, about the objective or hypothesis of the study, the number, sex, age and/or weight of animals used, and experimental and statistical methods. Only 59% of the studies stated the hypothesis or objective of the study and the number and characteristics of the animals used. Appropriate and efficient experimental design is a critical component of high-quality science. Most of the papers surveyed did not use randomisation (87%) or blinding (86%), to reduce bias in animal selection and outcome assessment. Only 70% of the publications that used statistical methods described their methods and presented the results with a measure of error or variability. This survey has identified a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to improve experimental design and reporting in publications describing research using animals. Scientific publication is a powerful and important source of information; the authors of scientific publications therefore have a responsibility to describe their methods and results comprehensively, accurately and transparently, and peer reviewers and journal editors share the responsibility to ensure that published studies fulfil these criteria