Gravitational lensing reveals ionizing ultraviolet photons escaping from a distant galaxy

During the epoch of reionisation, neutral gas in the early Universe was ionized by hard ultraviolet radiation emitted by young stars in the first galaxies. To do so, ionizing ultraviolet photons must escape from the host galaxy. We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of the gravitationally lensed galaxy PSZ1-ARC G311.6602-18.4624, revealing bright, multiply-imaged ionizing photon escape from a compact star-forming region through a narrow channel in an optically thick gas. The gravitational lensing magnification shows how ionizing photons escape this galaxy, contributing to the re-ionization of the Universe. The multiple sight lines to the source probe absorption by intergalactic neutral hydrogen on scales of no more than a few hundred, perhaps even less than ten, parsec.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. Published in Scienc

Child injury prevention: a survey of local authorities and health boards

Aims: Unintentional home injuries are a significant global public health issue and are a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Within each country, injuries disproportionately affect children from low income families. Recent guidance issued in the UK recommends actions to be taken by local authorities to reduce injury rates and inequalities. This study aimed to describe and quantify child home injury prevention activities of local authorities (LAs) in England and health boards (HBs) in Wales. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to Directors of Public Health (DsPH) in all 153 upper-tier LAs in England and 7 HBs in Wales. The questionnaire covered the five broad areas recommended for injury prevention activities by NICE guidelines. Results: A response rate of 58% was achieved. NICE guidance (75%) and Public Health England guidance (57%) were most commonly used to support child injury prevention decision making. Half (50%) of respondents had a child injury prevention alliance in their area. One fifth (19%) reported that their area had a written child injury prevention strategy. Fewer than half of responders provided training to practitioners about child unintentional injury prevention (43%), home safety assessments (43%) or an equipment scheme (43%). Of the 43% of areas with equipment schemes, most (59%) were small scale, supplying up to 200 families per year with equipment. Conclusions: Although some LAs/HBs show implementation of recent guidance on preventing home injuries in childhood, most do not. LAs/HBs are likely to need support to implement guidance in order that child injury rates and inequalities can be reduced

The Lantern and the Sword

A creation myth of a new universe where brother deities of light and darkness battle for dominance. Light creates a Lantern to illuminate all reality and Darkness creates a Sword to help control the extent of the light. The god of light then creates a champion to lead his forces against his dark brother and the war intensifies. In his struggle the champion discovered he could control not only light but the darkness as well. He created a dark fire with great power to match the deities. Light and darkness come together and create peace and a balance. The champion works on his own to engineer the downfall of the dark god and burn his blight from all reality

Designing for designers: Towards the development of accessible ICT products and services using the VERITAS framework

Among key design practices which contribute to the development of inclusive ICT products and services is user testing with people with disabilities. Traditionally, this involves partial or minimal user testing through the usage of standard heuristics, employing external assisting devices, and the direct feedback of impaired users. However, efficiency could be improved if designers could readily analyse the needs of their target audience. The VERITAS framework simulates and systematically analyses how users with various impairments interact with the use of ICT products and services. Findings show that the VERITAS framework is useful to designers, offering an intuitive approach to inclusive design.The work presented in this article forms part of VERITAS, which is funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7) (grant agreement # 247765 FP7-ICT-2009.7.2)