Dark Matter: Introduction

This short review was prepared as an introduction to the Royal Society's 'Dark Matter' conference. It addresses the embarrassing fact that 95% of the universe is unaccounted for. Favoured dark matter candidates are axions or weakly-interacting particles that have survived from the very early universe, but more exotic options cannot be excluded. Experimental searches are being made for the 'dark' particles but we have indirect clues to their nature too. Comparisons of data (from, eg, gravitational lensing) with numerical simulations of galaxy formation can constrain (eg) the particle velocities and collision cross sections. The mean cosmic density of dark matter (plus baryons) is now pinned down to be only about 30% of the critical density However, other recent evidence -- microwave background anisotropies, complemented by data on distant supernovae -- reveals that our universe actually is 'flat', and that its dominant ingredient (about 70% of the total mass-energy) is something quite unexpected -- 'dark energy' pervading all space, with negative pressure. We now confront two mysteries: (i) Why does the universe have three quite distinct basic ingredients -- baryons, dark matter and dark energy -- in the proportions (roughly) 5%, 25% and 70%? (ii) What are the (almost certainly profound) implications of the 'dark energy' for fundamental physics?Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Late

New graduate doctors' preparedness for practice: A multistakeholder, multicentre narrative study

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMJ Publishing Group via the link in this recordData sharing statement The raw data for this research consist of audio-recordings of narrative interviews and audio diaries. The principal investigator (Professor Lynn V Monrouxe) has access to this specific data set, including audio-recordings of interviews and interview transcripts, in addition to participant contact details and signed consent forms. All authors have access to anonymised data from this set. All data are stored securely on password-protected and encrypted computers. Participants have not given their permission for data sharing outside the research group. Thus, no additional data are available.Objective While previous studies have begun to explore newly graduated junior doctors' preparedness for practice, findings are largely based on simplistic survey data or perceptions of newly graduated junior doctors and their clinical supervisors alone. This study explores, in a deeper manner, multiple stakeholders' conceptualisations of what it means to be prepared for practice and their perceptions about newly graduated junior doctors' preparedness (or unpreparedness) using innovative qualitative methods. Design A multistakeholder, multicentre qualitative study including narrative interviews and longitudinal audio diaries. Setting Four UK settings: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Participants Eight stakeholder groups comprising n=185 participants engaged in 101 narrative interviews (27 group and 84 individual). Twenty-six junior doctors in their first year postgraduation also provided audio diaries over a 3-month period. Results We identified 2186 narratives across all participants (506 classified as 'prepared', 663 as 'unprepared', 951 as 'general'). Seven themes were identified; this paper focuses on two themes pertinent to our research questions: (1) explicit conceptualisations of preparedness for practice; and (2) newly graduated junior doctors' preparedness for the General Medical Council's (GMC) outcomes for graduates. Stakeholders' conceptualisations of preparedness for practice included short-term (hitting the ground running) and long-term preparedness, alongside being prepared for practical and emotional aspects. Stakeholders' perceptions of medical graduates' preparedness for practice varied across different GMC outcomes for graduates (eg, Doctor as Scholar and Scientist, as Practitioner, as Professional) and across stakeholders (eg, newly graduated doctors sometimes perceived themselves as prepared but others did not). Conclusion Our narrative findings highlight the complexities and nuances surrounding new medical graduates' preparedness for practice. We encourage stakeholders to develop a shared understanding (and realistic expectations) of new medical graduates' preparedness. We invite medical school leaders to increase the proportion of time that medical students spend participating meaningfully in multiprofessional teams during workplace learning.General Medical Counci

Improving well-being and outcomes for looked after children in Wales: A context sensitive review of interventions

Improving outcomes for looked after children and young people has been a longstanding concern in Wales. This article reports the findings of a scoping study which sought to identify interventions aimed at improving outcomes for looked after children that are effective or promising. The study was commissioned by an independent funding body to inform a £5 million investment programme for Wales. It comprised a rapid review of literature, informed through consultation with an expert advisory panel and groups of young people who had been in care. The article outlines the rapid review method, provides details of shortlisted interventions and describes the interventions subsequently approved for investment. It concludes that although there are many promising interventions which address the factors associated with poor outcomes for looked after children, the evidence base is weak. It is argued that decision-making on interventions should be informed by appraisal of the empirical evidence available, but should also be guided by professional judgement that considers the needs, priorities and preferences of service users, carers, practitioners and policy-makers

Postcolonial Transplants: Cinema, Diaspora and the Body Politic

This essay examines depictions of migrant workers in French and British postcolonial cinema as transplanted interlopers, 'exotic' or transgendered bodies that are perceived as a threat to the integrity of the body politic

Mechanism for the Suppression of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

A model for the formation of supermassive primordial black holes in galactic nuclei with the simultaneous suppression of the formation of intermediate-mass black holes is presented. A bimodal mass function for black holes formed through phase transitions in a model with a "Mexican hat" potential has been found. The classical motion of the phase of a complex scalar field during inflation has been taken into account. Possible observational manifestations of primordial black holes in galaxies and constraints on their number are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Fermion correlators in non-abelian holographic superconductors

We consider fermion correlators in non-abelian holographic superconductors. The spectral function of the fermions exhibits several interesting features such as support in displaced Dirac cones and an asymmetric distribution of normal modes. These features are compared to similar ones observed in angle resolved photoemission experiments on high T_c superconductors. Along the way we elucidate some properties of p-wave superconductors in AdS_4 and discuss the construction of SO(4) superconductors.Comment: 49 pages, 11 figure

Revealing Nuclear Pions Using Electron Scattering

A model for the pionic components of nuclear wave functions is obtained from light front dynamical calculations of binding energies and densities. The pionic effects are small enough to be consistent with measured nuclear di-muon production data and with the nucleon sea. But the pion effects are large enough to predict substantial nuclear enhancement of the cross section for longitudinally polarized virtual photons for the kinematics accessible at Jefferson Laboratory.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Radio Sources in Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. III. "AGNs" in a Distance-Limited Sample of "LLAGNs"

(abbreviated): This paper presents the results of a high resolution radio imaging survey of all known (96) low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs) at D<19Mpc. We find that almost half of all LINERs and low-luminosity Seyferts have flat-spectrum radio cores when observed at 150mas resolution. Higher (2mas) resolution observations of a flux-limited subsample have provided a 100% (16 of 16) detection rate of pc-scale radio cores, with implied brightness temperatures > 10^8 K. The five LLAGNs with the highest core radio fluxes also have pc-scale `jets.' Compact radio cores are almost exclusively found in massive ellipticals and in type1 nuclei. The core radio power is correlated with the nuclear optical `broad' Halpha luminosity, the nuclear optical `narrow' emission line luminosity and width, and with the galaxy luminosity. In these correlations LLAGNs fall close to the low-luminosity extrapolations of more powerful AGNs. About half of all LLAGNs with multiple epoch data show significant inter-year radio variability. Investigation of a sample of ~150 nearby bright galaxies, most of them LLAGNs, shows that the nuclear (<150mas size) radio power is strongly correlated with both the black hole mass and the galaxy bulge luminosity; linear regression fits to all ~150 galaxies give: log P(2cm) = 1.31 log M_blackhole + 8.77 and log P(2cm) = 1.89 log L_B(bulge) - 0.17. Low accretion rates are implied in both advection- and jet-type models. In brief, all evidence points towards the presence of accreting massive black holes in a large fraction, perhaps all, of LLAGNs.Comment: to appear in A&

Interim Design Report

The International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) was established by the community at the ninth "International Workshop on Neutrino Factories, super-beams, and beta- beams" which was held in Okayama in August 2007. The IDS-NF mandate is to deliver the Reference Design Report (RDR) for the facility on the timescale of 2012/13. In addition, the mandate for the study [3] requires an Interim Design Report to be delivered midway through the project as a step on the way to the RDR. This document, the IDR, has two functions: it marks the point in the IDS-NF at which the emphasis turns to the engineering studies required to deliver the RDR and it documents baseline concepts for the accelerator complex, the neutrino detectors, and the instrumentation systems. The IDS-NF is, in essence, a site-independent study. Example sites, CERN, FNAL, and RAL, have been identified to allow site-specific issues to be addressed in the cost analysis that will be presented in the RDR. The choice of example sites should not be interpreted as implying a preferred choice of site for the facility

Trend in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children in context of social inequality: three cross-sectional surveys 2002, 2006 and 2010

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intermittent monitoring of food intake at the population level is essential for the planning and evaluation of national dietary intervention programs. Social-economic changes in Lithuania have likely affected dietary habits, but only a limited number of temporal studies on food intake trends among young population groups have been published. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children from 2002 to 2010, and to explore the association of these changes with the respondents' reported socio-economic status (SES).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used Lithuanian data from the cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Analyses were conducted on comparable questionnaire-based data from children aged 11, 13 and 15 (total n = 17,189) from a random sample of schools. A food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate frequencies of food consumption. Logistic regression was used to examine the affects of changing social variables on reported diet trends.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Lithuania, school-aged children have low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Only 21.1% of boys and 27.1% of girls reported daily fruit consumption. Similarly, 24.9% of boys and 29.6% of girls disclosed vegetable intake at least once daily. Comparing 2010 to 2002, the proportion of girls who consumed fruits daily increased from 24.2% to 31.0% (p < 0.001) but the proportion of boys who consumed vegetables daily decreased from 29.3% to 23.1% (p < 0.001). In 2006, for both sexes, there were observed increases in regular (at least five days a week) intake of sweets and chocolates, biscuits and pastries, and soft drinks; however, in the next survey (2010) these figures decreased. In addition, between 2006 and 2010, a substantial decrease in regular consumption of chips and fast food was also detected. Fruit and vegetable consumption as well as intake of sweets and chocolates, biscuits and pastries and soft drinks increased with family social-economic status and family material wealth. Trends in consumption of fruits, and other foods, and their association with changing social variables were demonstrated using the ORs estimated by three logistic models, using 2002 as the reference point. Changes in social variables from 2002 to 2010 affected the likelihood of daily consumption of fruits among boys by 22.5% (the corresponding OR decreased from 1.11 to 0.86) and among girls by 34.0% (the corresponding OR decreased from 1.41 to 1.12). Over the study period, changing social variables had little impact on the daily consumption of vegetables and other foods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the food consumption trends observed in Lithuania, increases in consumption of fruits and vegetables should be promoted, along with a reduction in the intake of less healthy choices, such as soft drinks and high-fat, high-sugar snack foods, by diminishing social inequalities in food consumption.</p