List Size, Standards and Perfromance in General Practice - A Pilot Study in the South East Thames Region

This is a report of a piolt study carried out among 155 general practitioner trainers in South East Thames region. Similar pilot studies have been carried out among trainers in four other regions on England. Separate reports have been prepared for each of the five regions, together with a summary report comparing the findings among the regions. The pilot studies were funded by the DHSS and carried out by staff of the Health Services Research Unit at the University of Kent at Camterbury

Corrugation of Roads

We present a one dimensional model for the development of corrugations in roads subjected to compressive forces from a flux of cars. The cars are modeled as damped harmonic oscillators translating with constant horizontal velocity across the surface, and the road surface is subject to diffusive relaxation. We derive dimensionless coupled equations of motion for the positions of the cars and the road surface H(x,t), which contain two phenomenological variables: an effective diffusion constant Delta(H) that characterizes the relaxation of the road surface, and a function alpha(H) that characterizes the plasticity or erodibility of the road bed. Linear stability analysis shows that corrugations grow if the speed of the cars exceeds a critical value, which decreases if the flux of cars is increased. Modifying the model to enforce the simple fact that the normal force exerted by the road can never be negative seems to lead to restabilized, quasi-steady road shapes, in which the corrugation amplitude and phase velocity remain fixed.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, typos correcte

Ranking the importance of nuclear reactions for activation and transmutation events

Pathways-reduced analysis is one of the techniques used by the Fispact-II nuclear activation and transmutation software to study the sensitivity of the computed inventories to uncertainties in reaction cross-sections. Although deciding which pathways are most important is very helpful in for example determining which nuclear data would benefit from further refinement, pathways-reduced analysis need not necessarily define the most critical reaction, since one reaction may contribute to several different pathways. This work examines three different techniques for ranking reactions in their order of importance in determining the final inventory, comparing the pathways based metric (PBM), the direct method and one based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. Reasons why the PBM is to be preferred are presented.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure

Adult sibling relationships, shame and vulnerability to depression

OBJECTIVES. This research has examined adult sibling relationship factors (warmth, rivalry, conflict, sibling comparisons and shaming and put down) in relation to external shame and depression.DESIGN. This is based on a case control study design. A cross-sectional design was chosen in order to increase the response rate.METHODS. The sample includes 33 depressed and 49 control participants. All participants completed the following measures the Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (ASRQ), Sibling Comparison scale, Others as Shamer, Sibling Put Down and Shaming questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II).RESULTS. This research has found that rivalry; negative sibling comparisons, put down and shaming and external shame were significantly more likely to occur in a depressed group. Warmth within a sibling relationship was significantly more likely to occur in the control group. It seems that the following dimensions were highly correlated (i) external shame and sibling comparisons (ii) external shame and rivalry (iii) depression and external shame (iv) sibling put down/shaming and external shame. Furthermore, how often siblings see each other significantly contributes to warmth and rivalry higher order dimensions. In terms of factors affecting how often siblings see each other, it seems that gender contributes to this, with females having more contact with their sibling. Sibling dyad (sister-sister, brother-brother, sister -brother) also appears to affect contact, in which sister-sister relationships have the most contact. The results found in this research have been examined in relation to current literature and clinical practice

Movement ecology of gemsbok in the central Kalahari in response to vegetation greenness as assessed by satellite imagery

Centre of African Ecology Animal, Plants and the Environmental Sciences University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Arid African savannas experience seasonal, variable rainfall, resulting in unpredictable patterns in vegetation distribution. Understanding the spatio-temporal variability in primary productivity and the resulting behavioural responses of native herbivores is essential for the analysis of the vulnerability of savanna ecosystems to climatic and human-induced threats. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Botswana, is open to free-ranging wildlife to its south and west. The mostly homogeneous dune landscape is interspersed with valley and pan systems, which deviate considerably from dune regions in their soil and vegetation structures. I assessed the phenology of green vegetation across the pan-valley and dune habitats of the northern CKGR, using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery, and related variations in greenness to the ecology of gemsbok (Oryx gazella), a herbivore species that is highly adapted to arid conditions. Eight female gemsbok were collared in the northern CKGR, and their patterns of habitat selection and responses to three greenness measures (NDVI, ΔNDVI and Relative Greenness) were assessed using logistic regression models. Gemsbok 12-hour displacement distances for each herd were compared seasonally to assess whether gemsbok in the northern CKGR differ in their movement strategies depending on the prevailing environmental conditions at that point in time and space. The northern CKGR experiences high inter-annual variability in NDVI greenness and phenology. Pan-valley and dune habitats did not have significantly different rates of green-up or green season durations, but dune habitats had higher NDVI levels. Patches with the highest greenness levels showed little spatial persistence from year to year. Gemsbok did not select for higher NDVI or ΔNDVI, but they selected for categories of relative greenness that were higher than the lowest relative greenness level. Gemsbok selected pan-valleys over dunes during the green season, but were not selective during the brown season, probably as a result of the loss of green grasses in pan-valley habitats during this period. Finally, gemsbok had no specific general trend in seasonal displacement distances. Gemsbok in the CKGR are likely to be opportunistic feeders, and herds probably made varying behavioural decisions based on their immediate environmental conditions

Parental Bonding and Self Esteem of Higher Secondary School Students in Tiruchirappalli District

Parenting is an art. Of the many different relationships formed over the course of the life span, the   relationship between parent and child is among the most important (Steinberg, 2001). Parental bonding is characterized by a positive, stable, emotional bond. It is measured by acceptance, spending time together, the parent's availability to the child and enjoyment of being with the child. It is a very tough and challenging during adolescent period. Adolescent perception of parental bonding positively or negatively affects their sense of psychological well-being.  The present study aims to find the parental bonding and self esteem of higher secondary school students in Trichy District. Sample consists of 320 students, 160 from rural schools and 160 from urban schools,80 boys and 80 girls in each locality and the researcher studied the perceived parental bonding  and self esteem  among them. Keywords: Parents, Adolescent, Student

Identifying key players in soccer teams using network analysis and pass difficulty

We use a unique dataset to identify the key members of a football team. The methodology uses a statistical model to determine the difficulty of a pass from one player to another, and combines this information with results from network analysis, to identify which players are pivotal to each team in the English Premier League during the 2012–13 season. We demonstrate the methodology by looking closely at one game, whilst also summarising player performance for each team over the entire season. The analysis is hoped to be of use to managers and coaches in identifying the best team lineup, and in the analysis of opposition teams to identify their key players