Galaxy Halo Masses from Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing

We present measurements of the extended dark halo profiles of bright early type galaxies at redshifts 0.1 to 0.9 obtained via galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis of images taken at the CFHT using the UH8K CCD mosaic camera. Six half degree fields were observed for a total of 2 hours each in I and V, resulting in catalogs containing ~20 000 galaxies per field. We used V-I color and I magnitude to select bright early type galaxies as the lens galaxies, yielding a sample of massive lenses with fairly well determined redshifts and absolute magnitudes M ~ M_* \pm 1. We paired these with faint galaxies lying at angular distances 20" to 60", corresponding to physical radii of 26 to 77 kpc (z = 0.1) and 105 to 315 kpc (z = 0.9), and computed the mean tangential shear of the faint galaxies. The shear falls off with radius roughly as expected for flat rotation curve halos. The shear values were weighted in proportion to the square root of the luminosity of the lens galaxy. Our results give a value for the average mean rotation velocity of an L_* galaxy halo at r~50-200 kpc of v_* = 238^{+27}_{-30} km per sec for a flat lambda (Omega_m0 = 0.3, Omega_l0 = 0.7) cosmology (v_* = 269^{+34}_{-39} km per sec for Einstein-de Sitter), and with little evidence for evolution with redshift. We compare to halo masses measured by other groups/techniques. We find a mass-to-light ratio of ~121\pm28h(r/100 kpc) and these halos constitute Omega ~0.04 \pm 0.01(r/100 kpc) of closure density. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (minor modifications) - 32 pages, 11 figs, 5 table

Early primary care physician contact and health service utilisation in a large sample of recently released ex-prisoners in Australia: prospective cohort study

Objective To describe the association between ex-prisoner primary care physician contact within 1 month of prison release and health service utilisation in the 6 months following release. Design A cohort from the Passports study with a mean follow-up of 219 (±44) days post release. Associations were assessed using a multivariate Andersen-Gill model, controlling for a range of other factors. Setting Face-to-face, baseline interviews were conducted in a sample of prisoners within 6 weeks of expected release from seven prisons in Queensland, Australia, from 2008 to 2010, with telephone follow-up interviews 1, 3 and 6 months post release. Participants From an original population-based sample of 1325 sentenced adult (≥18 years) prisoners, 478 participants were excluded due to not being released from prison during follow-up (n=7, 0.5%), loss to follow-up (n=257, 19.4%), or lacking exposure data (n=214, 16.2%). A total of 847 (63.9%) participants were included in the analyses. Exposure Primary care physician contact within 1 month of follow-up as a dichotomous measure. Main outcome measures Adjusted time-to-event hazard rates for hospital, mental health, alcohol and other drug and subsequent primary care physician service utilisations assessed as multiple failure time-interval data. Results Primary care physician contact prevalence within 1 month of follow-up was 46.5%. One-month primary care physician contact was positively associated with hospital (adjusted HR (AHR)=2.07; 95% CI 1.39 to 3.09), mental health (AHR=1.65; 95% CI 1.24 to 2.19), alcohol and other drug (AHR=1.48; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.90) and subsequent primary care physician service utilisation (AHR=1.47; 95% CI 1.26 to 1.72) over 6 months of follow-up. Conclusions Engagement with primary care physician services soon after prison release increases health service utilisation during the critical community transition period for ex-prisoners. Trial registration number Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12608000232336)

Simulating Ionising Radiation in Gazebo for Robotic Nuclear Inspection Challenges

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-07-02, pub-electronic 2021-07-07Publication status: PublishedFunder: UK Research and Innovation; Grant(s): EP/P018505/1, EP/R026084/1Funder: Royal Academy of Engineering; Grant(s): CiET1819\13The utilisation of robots in hazardous nuclear environments has potential to reduce risk to humans. However, historical use has been largely limited to specific missions rather than broader industry-wide adoption. Testing and verification of robotics in realistic scenarios is key to gaining stakeholder confidence but hindered by limited access to facilities that contain radioactive materials. Simulations offer an alternative to testing with actual radioactive sources, provided they can readily describe the behaviour of robotic systems and ionising radiation within the same environment. This work presents a quick and easy way to generate simulated but realistic deployment scenarios and environments which include ionising radiation, developed to work within the popular robot operating system compatible Gazebo physics simulator. Generated environments can be evolved over time, randomly or user-defined, to simulate the effects of degradation, corrosion or to alter features of certain objects. Interaction of gamma radiation sources within the environment, as well as the response of simulated detectors attached to mobile robots, is verified against the MCNP6 Monte Carlo radiation transport code. The benefits these tools provide are highlighted by inclusion of three real-world nuclear sector environments, providing the robotics community with opportunities to assess the capabilities of robotic systems and autonomous functionalities

A systematic review of interventions to improve involvement in physical activity among adults with intellectual disability

Background: Evidence suggests that most adults with intellectual disability do not participate in sufficient amounts of physical activity (PA). A systematic review of peer-reviewed studies that reported an intervention aiming to improve PA levels of adults with intellectual disability was conducted. Methods: Keywords related to intellectual disability and physical activity were used to search relevant databases. Studies were excluded if they did not measure PA as an outcome for adults with intellectual disability, were non-English, and were not peer-reviewed. All relevant studies were included in the review regardless of methodological quality and design. Results: Six articles met the inclusion criteria. These included health education or health promotion programs with PA, nutrition, and weight loss components. The quality of studies included in this review was generally poor. Most studies used a prepost design, sample sizes were small, and measurement tools were used that are not valid and reliable for the population assessed. Conclusions: PA interventions have the potential to improve the health and wellbeing of people with intellectual disability, a vulnerable group who require attention from public health practitioners and researchers. Given the health inequities that exist, public health researchers should target efforts to improve PA levels among this group

Advancing the curriculum for young people who have an intellectual disability. Advocacy in health : a pilot study

Abstract \ud This article reports on the pilot work for a collaborative National Health and Medical Research Council project in Australia involving education and health professionals to improve the health and well-being of young people who have an intellectual disability. The pilot study was a qualitative exploration of teacher experiences using a health diary as part of the special education curriculum over a six-month period. The research questions were: (1) How did teachers include health-related matters in the curriculum before use of the Ask Health Diary?; and (2) How did teachers and students use the Ask Health Diary as a component of the school curriculum and what were the benefits? The Ask Health Diary was used to introduce students to the concept of self-advocacy in relation to their health needs and provide practical strategies for supporting students' learning about self-advocacy in relation to their health. The reported data indicates that the Ask Health Diary was a popular resource for students and teachers and raised awareness of the importance of developing the communication skills and independent living abilities necessary for young people to advocate for their own health needs. The pilot study indicates that there is merit in including the diary in a health-based school curriculum for adolescents who have an intellectual disability

Mapping the needs of adults with autism and co-morbid intellectual disability

With less than 2 % of autism research funding directed towards adults, the health-related needs of adults on the autism spectrum are relatively poorly understood. Poorer still is our understanding of the needs of those adults with comorbid autism and intellectual disability. This lack of understanding represents a significant knowledge gap, particularly given that the needs of this group are likely to be unique and nuanced. In this paper, we attempt to map the limited evidence base relating to the physical health of adults living with comorbid autism and intellectual disability and present a commentary on this obviously overlooked group. Specifically, we explore prevalence of and physical health-related needs among adults with comorbid autism and intellectual disability and the availability of evidence-based guidelines for health professionals. It is apparent that a distinct research agenda relating to comorbid autism and intellectual disability—particularly as it relates to adulthood and physical health—does not exist. Consequently, we have had to explore the separate intellectual disability and autism literatures to better understand where research gaps lie. In doing so, we hope to offer a synthesised approach to an otherwise disparate body of literature to inform future, and urgently needed, research efforts aiming to improve health and wellbeing among adults with comorbid autism and intellectual disability