6,099 research outputs found
Proxy models of legal need: can they contribute to equity of access to justice?
Prioritisation of cases and resources as a means of rationing the limited legal aid budget has recently become a feature of access to justice in the UK. This article explores the utility of devising proxymodels of ‘legal need’ as a means of enabling the rational and equitable planning of legal services in these circumstances. Different conceptual and methodological approaches are considered, highlighting preliminary development work in Scotland. The likelihood of developing ‘legal needs’ measures that promote equity of access to appropriate legal services is discussed in the light of problems with defining ‘legal need’ and the diversity of services
available for the resolution of legal problems
A visual motor psychological test as a predictor to treatment in nocturnal enuresis
Background and Aims: The neurological control of bladder function and the ability to be dry at night involves not only the acquisition of normal daytime control, but also the establishment of a circadian rhythm in vasopressin release and the ability to arouse to a full bladder during sleep. We postulated that in some children there might be a delay in maturation of the normal neurological pathways involved in establishment of nocturnal continence and examined this by using a specific neuropsychological test.
Methods: Children attending an established nocturnal enuresis clinic were examined using the Rey–Osterrieth test to assess the presence or absence of boundary errors in both copy and memory reproductions. The results of the test were scored independently and blind to the response to treatment with the vasopressin analogue DDAVP.
Results: A significant association was found between boundary type errors and response to DDAVP, with non-responders making significantly more errors. No child with three or more errors responded to DDAVP. Using this test, the ability to predict response to treatment was 70%.
Conclusions: It is postulated that the Rey–Osterrieth test, through the presence or absence of boundary errors, reflects a delay in maturation and/or a disorganisation of the retinal-hypothalamic-cortical pathways in the brain. The association previously described with growth hormone neurosecretory dysfunction syndrome would be compatible with this
Geodesics at Sudden Singularities
We show that a general solution of the Einstein equations that describes
approach to an inhomogeneous and anisotropic sudden spacetime singularity does
not experience geodesic incompleteness. This generalises the result established
for isotropic and homogeneous universes. Further discussion of the weakness of
the singularity is also included.Comment: v2: 7 pages, minor improvements, version to appear in PR
Cosmological dynamics of exponential gravity
We present a detailed investigation of the cosmological dynamics based on
gravity. We apply the dynamical system approach to both
the vacuum and matter cases and obtain exact solutions and their stability in
the finite and asymptotic regimes. The results show that cosmic histories exist
which admit a double de-Sitter phase which could be useful for describing the
early and the late-time accelerating universe.Comment: 17 pages LaTeX, 3 figure
Series expansions and sudden singularities
We construct solutions of the Friedmann equations near a sudden singularity
using generalized series expansions for the scale factor, the density, and the
pressure of the fluid content. In this way, we are able to arrive at a solution
with a sudden singularity containing two free constants, as required for a
general solution of the cosmological equations.Comment: 4 pages, contribution for the Proceedings of the MG13 Meeting on
General Relativity, Stockholm, July 201
Cosmological Co-evolution of Yang-Mills Fields and Perfect Fluids
We study the co-evolution of Yang-Mills fields and perfect fluids in Bianchi
type I universes. We investigate numerically the evolution of the universe and
the Yang-Mills fields during the radiation and dust eras of a universe that is
almost isotropic. The Yang-Mills field undergoes small amplitude chaotic
oscillations, which are also displayed by the expansion scale factors of the
universe. The results of the numerical simulations are interpreted analytically
and compared with past studies of the cosmological evolution of magnetic fields
in radiation and dust universes. We find that, whereas magnetic universes are
strongly constrained by the microwave background anisotropy, Yang-Mills
universes are principally constrained by primordial nucleosynthesis and the
bound is comparatively weak, and Omega_YM < 0.105 Omega_rad.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Stellar footprints of a variable G
Theories with varying gravitational constant have been studied since long
time ago. Among them, the most promising candidates as alternatives of the
standard General Relativity are known as scalar-tensor theories. They provide
consistent descriptions of the observed universe and arise as the low energy
limit of several pictures of unified interactions. Therefore, an increasing
interest on the astrophysical consequences of such theories has been sparked
over the last few years. In this essay we comment on two methodological
approaches to study evolution of astrophysical objects within a varying-
theory, and the particular results we have obtained for boson and white dwarf
stars.Comment: This essay received Honorable Mention in the 1999 Essay Competition
of the Gravity Research Foundatio
The Power of General Relativity
We study the cosmological and weak-field properties of theories of gravity
derived by extending general relativity by means of a Lagrangian proportional
to . This scale-free extension reduces to general relativity when
. In order to constrain generalisations of general relativity of
this power class we analyse the behaviour of the perfect-fluid Friedmann
universes and isolate the physically relevant models of zero curvature. A
stable matter-dominated period of evolution requires or . The stable attractors of the evolution are found. By considering the
synthesis of light elements (helium-4, deuterium and lithium-7) we obtain the
bound We evaluate the effect on the power spectrum of
clustering via the shift in the epoch of matter-radiation equality. The horizon
size at matter--radiation equality will be shifted by for a value of
We study the stable extensions of the Schwarzschild
solution in these theories and calculate the timelike and null geodesics. No
significant bounds arise from null geodesic effects but the perihelion
precession observations lead to the strong bound assuming that Mercury follows a timelike geodesic. The combination of
these observational constraints leads to the overall bound on theories of this type.Comment: 26 pages and 5 figures. Published versio
Dynamical study of the empty Bianchi type I model in generalised scalar-tensor theory
A dynamical study of the generalised scalar-tensor theory in the empty
Bianchi type I model is made. We use a method from which we derive the sign of
the first and second derivatives of the metric functions and examine three
different theories that can all tend towards relativistic behaviours at late
time. We determine conditions so that the dynamic be in expansion and
decelerated at late time.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio
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