Family matters: infants, toddlers and preschoolers of parents affected by mental illness

Contains fulltext : 102540.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)One in five young people in Australia, including infants, toddlers and preschoolers, lives in a family with a parent with a mental illness.1 Families affected by mental illness are more likely than other families to experience poverty and social isolation,2 and are more likely to have children taken into care.3 A combination of factors influences the child’s risk of psychopathology. These include psychosocial adversity, the child’s developmental status and age, genetics, family relationships, the severity and chronicity of parental psychiatric disorder, comorbidity, and the involvement of other carers in the child’s life. Not all children whose parents have mental health problems will experience difficulties themselves.4 Parental diagnosis itself does not confer risk, and many parents with severe depression, schizophrenia and other disorders are adequate caregivers.5 Rather, it is the severity and chronicity of psychopathology and the variation in parental personality, genetic characteristics, coping style and social circumstances that confer risk. Children’s characteristics, such as temperament and sex, can also influence the parent–child relationship and parenting behaviour.6 This article outlines the impact of three key mental health disorders on parenting and young offspring, and describes implications for practice

Family matters: infants, toddlers and preschoolers of parents affected by mental illness

Contains fulltext : 102540.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)One in five young people in Australia, including infants, toddlers and preschoolers, lives in a family with a parent with a mental illness.1 Families affected by mental illness are more likely than other families to experience poverty and social isolation,2 and are more likely to have children taken into care.3 A combination of factors influences the child’s risk of psychopathology. These include psychosocial adversity, the child’s developmental status and age, genetics, family relationships, the severity and chronicity of parental psychiatric disorder, comorbidity, and the involvement of other carers in the child’s life. Not all children whose parents have mental health problems will experience difficulties themselves.4 Parental diagnosis itself does not confer risk, and many parents with severe depression, schizophrenia and other disorders are adequate caregivers.5 Rather, it is the severity and chronicity of psychopathology and the variation in parental personality, genetic characteristics, coping style and social circumstances that confer risk. Children’s characteristics, such as temperament and sex, can also influence the parent–child relationship and parenting behaviour.6 This article outlines the impact of three key mental health disorders on parenting and young offspring, and describes implications for practice

Numerical modelling of plane strain tests on sands using a particulate approach

This paper describes the results of a series of numerical plane strain test simulations on a particulate material, carried out using the three-dimensional particle flow code PFC-3D. Samples comprised about 10 000 non-spherical particles, each formed by strongly bonding two spheres together. The simulations demonstrate the ability of such a model to capture the essential macro-features of soil behaviour as observed in laboratory tests, including the dependence of peak strengths on the initial void ratio relative to the critical. The development of strain localisations or shear bands associated with the use of rough loading platens, and the sensitivity of the model to the initial sample porosity, particle shape factor and interparticle friction angle, were also investigated.Cet exposé décrit les résultats d'une série de simulations numériques d'essais de déformation plane sur un maté-riau particulaire, essais effectués en utilisant le code de flux de particules en trois dimensions PFC-3D. Les échantillons étaient constitués d'environ 10 000 particules non sphériques, chacune ayant été formée en collant deux sphères ensemble. Les simulations démontrent la faculté d'un tel modèle à saisir les macro-caractéristiques essen-tielles du comportement du sol tel qu'il est observé dans les essais de laboratoire, y compris la dépendance des résistances de pointe sur le taux de pores initial par rapport au taux critique. Nous avons également étudié le développement des localisations de déformation ou de bandes de cisaillement associées à l'utilisation de plateaux de chargement grossiers, ainsi que la sensibilité du modèle à la porosité initiale de l'échantillon, le facteur forme de particule et l'angle de friction entre particules

Deformation and failure modes of drystone retaining walls

In this paper, the factors controlling the deformation of drystone retaining walls are investigated by means of discrete element analyses. It is shown that toppling failure of unweathered drystone retaining walls is likely to occur in a brittle manner, with wall crest deflections not exceeding 1% of the backtill height until the factor of safety (based on soil strength) falls below 1.05. A compressible sub-base and weathering of the blocks will both tend to reduce the backfill height at failure to below that indicated by a limit equilibrium analysis. Bulging failure is more likely to be associated with a deterioration in block joint stiffness due to weathering than a compressible sub-base, although the latter will decrease the reduction in joint stiffness needed to cause bulging failure. Bulging is much less brittle than toppling, and the proximity to failure of bulging walls could in some circumstances be assessed on the basis of the size of the bulge

Numerical modelling of full scale tests on drystone masonry retaining walls.

The behaviour of four drystone masonry retaining walls of different geometry has been modelled numerically using the discrete element code UDEC, and the results have been compared with the field trials carried out by Burgoyne in Ireland in 1834. By using appropriate soil and wall mass densities, strengths and stiffnesses, it was possible to reproduce in the numerical analyses the field behaviour observed by Burgoyne. Reasonably close agreement was obtained between the horizontal components of earth pressures calculated in the numerical analyses and using the earth pressure coefficients given by Caquot and Kerisel. Basal stress distributions calculated using the condition of equilibrium of the wall were also broadly consistent with those resulting from the numerical analyses. The results also confirm both the influence of the geometry of a drystone masonry retaining wall on its performance and ultimate stability, and the soundness of Burgoyne's engineering judgement in specifying his programme of field tests