National Evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme in English Local Government: Annex 3. Direct Support in Poor and Weak Local Authorities: Emerging findings

This report summarises emerging findings from initial scoping analysis and case study fieldwork with authorities that have received Direct Support from the Capacity Building Programme (CBP) for local government. The report is one of a series of outputs from the national evaluation of the CBP, being undertaken by a team of researchers at the Policy Research Institute (PRI) at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Cities Research Unit at the University of West of England

Promoting and maintaining health of people with sight loss: A scoping study

This study was undertaken in response to a request by the Thomas Pocklington Trust to identify and explore the following issues: • The needs and concerns regarding immediate risks to health and safety related to sight loss; • Additional risks arising from sight loss for those who are also managing a long term disease; • The difficulties in maintaining and promoting health; • Whether or not health promotion activities and policies sufficiently address perceived needs. Findings pertaining to these objectives have been generated from data collected in Leeds, UK, a city where innovative programming for sight loss has either been planned or is being incorporated into health planning and a review of the literature. Findings related to the last two issues indicate that gaps exist in service provision for maintaining health and emphasise the need for more explicitly targeted health promotion initiatives that could address current weaknesses. - A review of the literature; - Focus group discussions with a range of people who had experienced sight loss; - Interviews with professional practitioners engaged in service provision to this population; - An expert hearing with four professional practitioners, one of whom had sight loss, and two service users with sight loss. Most participants were from the West Yorkshire region and the services described in the study are largely located in Leeds. Evidence from the literature review suggests that people with visual impairment have increased risk of accidents within the home and that ensuing consequences include injuries incurred and decreased confidence. Rates of depression among people who are blind or partially sighted are far higher than in the wider population and the likelihood of depression increases with age, although psycho-social interventions and technological assistance can be successfully implemented to improve quality of life. Sight loss together with other long term health conditions exacerbates the impact of other health conditions and has particularly severe impact on the wellbeing of older people insofar as it may affect their mobility, which in turn increases their risk of falls and depression. The nature and level of support available to people is variable but it is clear that access both to the right information at the right time and to appropriate services is a critical issue. Focus group discussions, interviews and the expert hearing corroborated and extended the themes noted in the literature and discuss the differential impact of different risks to health and the difficulties of coping with these at different times in a person’s life. A simple typology was defined using two dimensions of experience (‘stage of life’ and ‘early/late onset of sight loss’) as a means of organizing findings and providing a means of making further distinctions in interpreting the data. Potentially, this scheme can allow health promotion initiatives to be targeted more effectively to stages at which people with sight loss are more likely to encounter specific difficulties in managing and maintaining their health. There was a clear consensus throughout the study that interventions to meet the needs of people with sight loss must be tailored to meet the specific needs of individuals: people with sight loss are not a homogeneous group and the way in which each person experiences the challenges of sight loss and of managing their health will inevitably vary from person to person. Recommendations generated by this study include: • The scope for more pro-active services and need for closer collaboration between service providers; • The need for provision and promotion of targeted information; • The need for greater awareness of the needs of people with visual impairments among generic service providers; and • Further research that explores the usefulness of the typology with a larger sample more representative of population demographics such as BME communities that are more likely to slip through the cracks of service provision

National Evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme in English Local Government: Annex 4: Follow On Study of Progress in Seven Case Study Improvement Partnerships

This report is one of a series of outputs from the national evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme for local government in England (CBP), being undertaken by a team of researchers at the Policy Research Institute (PRI) at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Cities Research Unit at the University of West of England. This report summarises the findings from the second phase of fieldwork with regional and sub-regional Improvement Partnerships, established to facilitate capacity building and improvement activity in local authorities. The research underpinning this report was undertaken in seven case study Improvement Partnerships (see Section 2) in October and November 2006 and follows a similar – baseline – exercise undertaken during the same period during 2005. It thus both draws on the earlier research (see Section 3) and identifies evidence of progress and impact (see Section 10) since the baseline phase

National Evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme in English Local Government: Overall Final Report

This report is one of a series of outputs from the National Evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme for local government in England (CBP), undertaken by a team of researchers at the Policy Research Institute (PRI) at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Cities Research Unit at the University of West of England. This report summarises the findings from all four key strands of the evaluation. Because of the difficulties associated with quantifying the capacity of local authorities, much less the sector, in relation to the dynamic roles and objectives that they pursue, the report focuses on what has worked, why and in what circumstances, rather than providing a definitive assessment of the extent of change of capacity building enabled by the CBP. The CBP was launched in 2003 as a joint Department for Communities and Local Government/Local Government Association (LGA) initiative to support capacity building and improvement activities within local authorities in England. The CBP has supported four main streams of improvement and capacity building activity in local authorities (see Section 1.2; p13)

National Evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme in English Local Government: Annex 1. Seven Case Studies: The Pilot Programme

This report presents the findings of the evaluation of the Capacity Building pilots. The evaluation of the pilots is part of the on-going evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme and has been undertaken in the early scoping phase of the main evaluation in order to capture key learning points and insights into the programme. It is intended that the ongoing evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme will be formative and assist in the development of the programme over time. In what follows the background to the pilots programme is discussed, highlighting the kinds of capacity building activities the pilots are engaged with and the link between the Capacity Building Programme and the CPA. The report outlines the structure and purpose of the pilots programme and the nature and characteristics of the different pilots that were undertaken. The seven case studies are then discussed in more detail in the main body of 1 Introduction | 5 the report. These are drawn together in key themes and findings which can be used to strengthen future project development

DC field induced enhancement and inhibition of spontaneous emission in a cavity

We demonstrate how spontaneous emission in a cavity can be controlled by the application of a dc field. The method is specially suitable for Rydberg atoms. We present a simple argument for the control of emission.Comment: 3-pages, 2figure. accepted in Phys. Rev.

Broadband, radio spectro-polarimetric study of 100 radiative-mode and jet-mode AGN

We present the results from a broadband (1 to 3 GHz), spectro-polarimetry study of the integrated emission from 100 extragalactic radio sources with the ATCA, selected to be highly linearly polarized at 1.4 GHz. We use a general purpose, polarization model-fitting procedure that describes the Faraday rotation measure (RM) and intrinsic polarization structure of up to three distinct polarized emission regions or 'RM components' of a source. Overall, 37%/52%/11% of sources are best fit by one/two/three RM components. However, these fractions are dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in polarization (more RM components more likely at higher S/N). In general, our analysis shows that sources with high integrated degrees of polarization at 1.4 GHz have low Faraday depolarization, are typically dominated by a single RM component, have a steep spectral index, and a high intrinsic degree of polarization. After classifying our sample into radiative-mode and jet-mode AGN, we find no significant difference between the Faraday rotation or Faraday depolarization properties of jet-mode and radiative-mode AGN. However, there is a statistically significant difference in the intrinsic degree of polarization between the two types, with the jet-mode sources having more intrinsically ordered magnetic field structures than the radiative-mode sources. We also find a preferred perpendicular orientation of the intrinsic magnetic field structure of jet-mode AGN with respect to the jet direction, while no clear preference is found for the radiative-mode sources.Comment: 29 pages (including Appendix), 28 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Endothelial HO-1 induction by model TG-rich lipoproteins is regulated through a NOX4-Nrf2 pathway

Circulating levels of chylomicron remnants (CMRs) increase postprandially and their composition directly reflects dietary lipid intake. These TG-rich lipoproteins likely contribute to the development of endothelial dysfunction, albeit via unknown mechanisms. Here, we investigated how the FA composition of CMRs influences their actions on human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) by comparing the effects of model CMRs—artificial TG-rich CMR-like particles (A-CRLPs)—containing TGs extracted from fish, DHA-rich algal, corn, or palm oils. HAECs responded with distinct transcriptional programs according to A-CRLP TG content and oxidation status, with genes involved in antioxidant defense and cytoprotection most prominently affected by n-3 PUFA-containing A-CRLPs. These particles were significantly more efficacious inducers of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) than n-6 PUFA corn or saturated FA-rich palm CRLPs. Mechanistically, HO-1 induction by all CRLPs requires NADPH oxidase 4, with PUFA-containing particles additionally dependent upon mitochondrial reactive oxygen species. Activation of both p38 MAPK and PPARβ/δ culminates in increased nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) expression/nuclear translocation and HO-1 induction. These studies define new molecular pathways coupling endothelial cell activation by model CMRs with adaptive regulation of Nrf2-dependent HO-1 expression and may represent key mechanisms through which dietary FAs differentially impact progression of endothelial dysfunction

A simple derivation of the electromagnetic field of an arbitrarily moving charge

The expression for the electromagnetic field of a charge moving along an arbitrary trajectory is obtained in a direct, elegant, and Lorentz invariant manner without resorting to more complicated procedures such as differentiation of the Lienard-Wiechert potentials. The derivation uses arguments based on Lorentz invariance and a physically transparent expression originally due to J.J.Thomson for the field of a charge that experiences an impulsive acceleration.Comment: The following article has been accepted by the American Journal of Physics. After it is published, it will be found at http://scitation.aip.org/ajp; 12 pages, 1 figur