Investigations into the mechanical behavior of composite bolted joints

Testing procedures and data reduction and interpretation techniques were established for a program to study the mechanical behavior of bolted joints at room temperature, -157 C (-250 F), and 315 C (600 F). The load transfer characteristics, from one bolt to another, in double-bolt joints were investigated by examining data generated in previous investigations. From the results, it appears the increase in load-carrying capacity by adding a second bolt in tandem can be predicted

Stroke units: The implementation of a complex intervention

This article reports on selected findings from an action research study that looked at the lessons learnt from setting up a new in-patient stroke service in a London teaching hospital. Key participants in the design and evaluation of this 2-year study included members of the multi-professional stroke team and support staff within the unit, the hospital management team and representatives of patients and carers. Mixed methods (focus groups, indepth interviews, audits, documentary analysis, participant observation field notes) were used to generate data. Findings demonstrated positive change overtime with four main themes emerging from the process: building a team; developing practice-based knowledge and skills in stroke; valuing the central role of the nurse in stroke care; and creating an organisational climate for supporting change. The interplay of these non-linear, but interrelated factors is supported by complexity theory, which includes exploration of how the sum of a whole can be more than its constituent parts. Findings are likely to be of interest to practitioners, managers and policy makers interested in supporting change in a learning organisation

New insights into the biomechanics of Legg-Calvé-Perthes’ disease: The role of epiphyseal skeletal immaturity in vascular obstruction

ObjectivesLegg–Calvé–Perthes’ disease (LCP) is an idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head that is most common in children between four and eight years old. The factors that lead to the onset of LCP are still unclear; however, it is believed that interruption of the blood supply to the developing epiphysis is an important factor in the development of the condition.MethodsFinite element analysis modelling of the blood supply to the juvenile epiphysis was investigated to understand under which circumstances the blood vessels supplying the femoral epiphysis could become obstructed. The identification of these conditions is likely to be important in understanding the biomechanics of LCP.ResultsThe results support the hypothesis that vascular obstruction to the epiphysis may arise when there is delayed ossification and when articular cartilage has reduced stiffness under compression.ConclusionThe findings support the theory of vascular occlusion as being important in the pathophysiology of Perthes disease

’Eyes free’ in-car assistance: parent and child passenger collaboration during phone calls

This paper examines routine family car journeys, looking specifically at how passengers assist during a mobile telephone call while the drivers address the competing demands of handling the vehicle, interacting with various artefacts and controls in the cabin, and engage in co-located and remote conversations while navigating through busy city roads. Based on an analysis of video fragments, we see how drivers and child passengers form their conversations and requests around the call so as to be meaningful and paced to the demands, knowledge and abilities of their cooccupants, and how the conditions of the road and emergent traffic are oriented to and negotiated in the context of the social interaction that they exist alongside. The study provides implications for the design of car-based collaborative media and considers how hands- and eyesfree natural interfaces could be tailored to the complexity of activities in the car and on the road

Bulk/Boundary Thermodynamic Equivalence, and the Bekenstein and Cosmic-Censorship Bounds for Rotating Charged AdS Black Holes

We show that one may pass from bulk to boundary thermodynamic quantities for rotating AdS black holes in arbitrary dimensions so that if the bulk quantities satisfy the first law of thermodynamics then so do the boundary CFT quantities. This corrects recent claims that boundary CFT quantities satisfying the first law may only be obtained using bulk quantities measured with respect to a certain frame rotating at infinity, and which therefore do not satisfy the first law. We show that the bulk black hole thermodynamic variables, or equivalently therefore the boundary CFT variables, do not always satisfy a Cardy-Verlinde type formula, but they do always satisfy an AdS-Bekenstein bound. The universal validity of the Bekenstein bound is a consequence of the more fundamental cosmic censorship bound, which we find to hold in all cases examined. We also find that at fixed entropy, the temperature of a rotating black hole is bounded above by that of a non-rotating black hole, in four and five dimensions, but not in six or more dimensions. We find evidence for universal upper bounds for the area of cosmological event horizons and black-hole horizons in rotating black-hole spacetimes with a positive cosmological constant.Comment: Latex, 42 page

Water as an economic good: a solution, or a problem ?

Water resource management / Economic aspects / Economic analysis / Irrigated farming / Water rights / Pricing / Privatization / Marginal analysis / Water market / Water policy

Black and Asian police officers and support staff: prejudice, identity, agency and social cohesion

This primary research paper presents a review of research that finds that the British Government’s new social cohesion agenda does hold promise for racial and ethnic prejudice reduction – but that social cohesion policies and practice must include at their core policies to reduce institutional racism in British police services. Analysis of the literature reveals that considerably more research is required to examine the precise nature and dynamics of institutional racism within the police services. There is a need to understand how racism against Black and minority ethnic (BME) police employees, and police racism against BME communities, influences social cohesion. That this is important, given the British government’s current social cohesion policy agenda, is patently clear. Considerably more research is about to be undertaken in this area by the authors of this paper and the results will be published in the academic press, disseminated at conferences and presented in training programmes

Positive Improvements on Body Composition and Muscle Strength in Older Adults Consuming the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet Containing Beef

Objective: To determine the effect of beef consumption as a part of the DASH diet on measures of anthropometric and muscle health in adults 65 and older