Family functioning differences across the deployment cycle in British Army families: the perceptions of wives and children

Introduction Military deployment can have an adverse effect on a soldier’s family, though little research has looked at these effects in a British sample. We investigated wives’ of UK serving soldiers perceptions of marital and family functioning, across three stages of the deployment cycle: currently deployed, post-deployment and pre-deployed, plus a non-military comparison group. Uniquely, young (aged 3.5 – 11 years) children’s perceptions of their family were also investigated, using the Parent-Child Alliance (PCA) coding scheme of drawings of the family. Materials and Methods Two hundred and twenty British military families of regular service personnel from the British Army’s Royal Armoured Corps (RAC), were sent survey packs distributed with a monthly welfare office newsletter. Wives were asked to complete a series of self-report items, and the youngest child in the family between the ages of 3.5 and 11 years was asked to draw a picture of their family. Complete data were available for 78 military families, and an additional 34 non-military families were recruited via opportunity sampling. Results Results indicated wives of currently deployed and recently returned personnel were less satisfied with their family and its communication, and children’s pictures indicated higher levels of dysfunctional PCA, whilst pre-deployed families responded similarly to non-military families. Marital satisfaction was similar across all groups except pre-deployed families who were significantly more satisfied. Non-military and pre-deployed families showed balanced family functioning, and currently and recently deployed families demonstrated poor family functioning. In comparison to non-military families, pre-deployed families showed a large ‘spike’ in the rigidity subscale of the FACES IV. Conclusion Wives’ perceptions of family functioning, but not marital satisfaction, differed between the deployment groups. The results from the coded children’s drawings correlated with the self-report measures from the wife/mother, indicating that children’s drawings could be a useful approach when working with younger children in this area. It is tentatively suggested that the differences across deployment stage on family functioning could be mediated not only by communication difficulties between deployed personnel and their families, but also by its effect on the children in the family. Larger-scale longitudinal research is needed to investigate this further

Hydrobiidae on North Uist

One of the problems of working on lochs that are slightly saline is a group of tiny (1-4mm) molluscs called mudsnails (Hydrobiidae). The rarest of these, Hydrobia acuta neglecta, was first identified in the UK in the Uists. This project aimed to eliminate any doubt about the identity. Genetic analyses funded by SNH and conducted by scientists at the National Museum of Scotland and Heriot-Watt University confirmed that there were healthy populations of this snail in three lochs in North Uist

Experimental correlation of natural convection losses from a scale-model solar cavity receiver with non-isothermal surface temperature distribution

Correlations for natural convection heat loss from solar cavity receivers are widely based on isothermal surface temperature assumptions, which do not occur in practice due to the local heat balance varying with position. An open question thus exists regarding the suitability of such correlations for non-isothermal conditions. This paper addresses this issue by presenting a new Nusselt correlation developed from an experimental investigation of natural convection heat loss from a non-isothermal scale-model cylindrical cavity receiver. Cavities that are considered in this work have length-to-diameter ratios of 1 and 2, are operated at peak temperatures ranging from 355 °C to 650 °C, and exhibit temperature differences along the cavity wall between 40 °C and 342 °C. Stagnation and convection zones, as well as view factor profiles, are observed to contribute to the wall temperature distribution as the cavity is inclined downwards. An energy balance undertaken for steady state provides insight into the effects of non-uniform surface temperature distribution and inclination-dependent surface areas on radiative and convective losses. Natural convection heat loss results from this work are compared with widely-used correlations from the literature that assume isothermal wall conditions, and systematic discrepancies are observed. The proposed Nusselt correlation which accounts for the temperature non-uniformity, cavity inclination and geometric aspect ratio is evaluated against experimental data from this and other studies. It is found to produce excellent predictions of Nusselt numbers for cylindrical cavity receivers in the Grashof number range of 2.6 × 105 to 1.4 × 107

Listening while reading promotes word learning from stories

Reading and listening to stories fosters vocabulary development. Studies of single word learning suggest that new words are more likely to be learnt when both their oral and written forms are provided, compared to when only one form is given. This study explores children’s learning of phonological, orthographic and semantic information about words encountered in a story context. Seventy-one children (8 - 9 years) were exposed to a story containing novel words in one of three conditions: 1) listening, 2) reading, or 3) simultaneous listening and reading (‘combined condition’). Half of the novel words were presented with a definition and half without. Phonological and orthographic learning were assessed through recognition tasks. Semantic learning was measured using three tasks assessing recognition of the word’s category, sub-category and definition. Phonological learning was observed in all conditions, showing that phonological recoding supported the acquisition of phonological forms when children were not exposed to phonology (the reading condition). In contrast, children showed orthographic learning of the novel words only when they were exposed to orthographic forms, indicating that exposure to phonological forms alone did not prompt the establishment of orthographic representations. Semantic learning was greater in the combined condition than in the listening and reading conditions. The presence of the definition was associated with better performance on the semantic sub-category and definition post-tests but not the phonological, orthographic or category post-tests. Findings are discussed in relation to the lexical quality hypothesis and the availability of attentional resources

Uist Lagoons Survey

Scotland has around a hundred saline lagoons, coastal lochs that are not quite as saline as the sea. A small number of organisms are confined to these lochs, but most of these are very small and belong to groups that are difficult to identify. A consortium of specialists in identification at the National Museum of Scotland and ecologists sampled most of the saline lagoons on designated sites (SSSI and SAC) in the Uists, the area believed to have the best biodiversity of lagoon organisms in Scotland. The study not only confirmed the presence of these specialist species, but also that they were more widely distributed in the Uists than had been believed. Samples of the organisms have been placed in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Scotland and (for plants) in the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, where they will be available for future study

Revealing effective regional decarbonisation measures to limit global temperature increase in uncertain transition scenarios with machine learning techniques

Climate change mitigation scenarios generated by integrated assessment models have been extensively used to support climate change negotiations on the global stage. To date, most studies exploring ensembles of these scenarios focus on the global picture, with more limited attention to regional metrics. A systematic approach is still lacking to improve the understanding of regional heterogeneity, highlighting key regional decarbonisation measures and their relative importance for meeting global climate goals under deep uncertainty. This study proposes a novel approach to gaining robust insights into regional decarbonisation strategies using machine learning techniques based on the IPCC SR1.5 scenario database. Random forest analysis first reveals crucial metrics to limit global temperature increases. Logistic regression modelling and the patient rule induction method are then used to identify which of these metrics and their combinations are most influential in meeting climate goals below 2 °C or below 1.5 °C. Solar power and sectoral electrification across all regions have been found to be the most effective measures to limit temperature increases. To further limit increase below 1.5 °C and not only 2 °C, decommissioning of unabated gas plants should be prioritised along with energy efficiency improvements. Bioenergy and wind power show higher regional heterogeneity in limiting temperature increases, with lower influences than aforementioned measures, and are especially relevant in Latin America (bioenergy) and countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Former Soviet Union (bioenergy and wind). In the future, a larger scenario ensemble can be applied to reveal more robust and comprehensive insights