8,833 research outputs found
Research activity among UK social work academics
Summary: The research activity of social work academics in the UK has been of interest and concern amongst academics and research funders. Multiple initiatives have been implemented to develop social work research activity, yet research by social work academics remains limited, hindered by lack of time, support infrastructures, funding and training. Through the use of a mixed-methods cross-sectional survey (Nâ=â200) and follow-up individual interviews (Nâ=â11), this study reports on the factors that were found to contribute to or impede the amount of time that social work academics reported spending on research.
Findings: The results from the survey indicated that 73% of respondents were research active. Bivariate analysis revealed that academics spent less time on research and teaching, and more time on administration than expected by their employing universities. Multivariate analysis found that less time spent on administration and teaching, more university supports, and being from a pre-1992 university predicted more time spent on research.
Applications: The findings indicate that the administrative burdens associated with teaching and assessment in social work education result in academics struggling to fit research into their busy lives, despite initiatives to raise the profile and productivity of social work research. Research support infrastructures and strategies should be reviewed in light of such findings
The prevalence of, and factors associated with, paying for sex among men resident in Britain: findings from the third national survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles (Natsal-3)
Objectives Men who pay for sex (MPS) are considered a bridging population for sexually transmitted infections (STI). However, the extent, characteristics and role of MPS in transmission is poorly understood. We investigate these questions using data from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
Methods We performed complex survey analyses of data from 6293 men aged 16â74â
years resident in Britain who completed Natsal-3, a probability sample survey undertaken during 2010â2012, using computer-assisted personal interviewing and computer-assisted self-interview.
Results 11.0% (95% CI10.1% to 11.9%) of all men reported ever paying for sex. Among MPS, 18.4% (95% CI 18.2% to 18.7%) of their lifetime sexual partners were paid. 3.6% (95% CI 3.1% to 4.2%) of men had paid for sex in the past 5â
years. Partners of MPS constitute 14.7% of all reported partners and MPS report 15.6% of all reported STI diagnoses in the past 5â
years. Paying for sex in the past 5â
years was strongly associated with reporting larger numbers of sexual partners (adjusted OR, AOR for 5+ partners, past 5 years, 31.50, 95% CI 18.69 to 53.09). After adjusting for partner numbers, paying for sex remained strongly associated with reporting new foreign partners outside the UK (AOR 7.96; 95% CI 4.97 to 12.73) and STI diagnosis/es (AOR 2.34; 95% CI 1.44 to 3.81), all in the past 5 years. Among men ever paying for sex, 62.6% (95% CI 58.3% to 66.8%) reported paying for sex outside the UK, most often in Europe and Asia.
Conclusions MPS in Britain remain at greater risk of STI acquisition and onward transmission than men who do not. They report high numbers of partners, but the minority are paid partners. They are an important core group in STI transmission
Experimental studies of the NaCs 12(0+) [7ÂčÎŁ+] state
We present results from experimental studies of the 11(0+) and 12(0+) electronic states of the NaCs molecule. An optical-optical double resonance method is used to obtain Doppler-free excitation spectra. Selected data from the 11(0+) and 12(0+) high-lying electronic states are used to obtain Rydberg-Klein-Rees and Inverse Perturbation Approach potential energy curves. Interactions between these two electronic states are evident in the patterns observed in the bound-bound and bound-free fluorescence spectra. A model, based on two separate interaction mechanisms, is presented to describe how the wavefunctions of the two states mix. The electronic parts of the wavefunctions interact via spin-orbit coupling, while the individual rotation-vibration levels interact via a second mechanism, which is likely to be non-adiabatic coupling. A modified version of the BCONT program was used to simulate resolved fluorescence from both upper states. Parameters of the model that describe the two interaction mechanisms were varied until simulations were able to adequately reproduce experimental spectra.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant no. PHY-0968898)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant no. PHY-1403060)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant no. CHEâ1361865
The Excitation of Extended Red Emission: New Constraints on its Carrier From HST Observations of NGC 7023
The carrier of the dust-associated photoluminescence process causing the
extended red emission (ERE) in many dusty interstellar environments remains
unidentified. Several competing models are more or less able to match the
observed broad, unstructured ERE band. We now constrain the character of the
ERE carrier further by determining the wavelengths of the radiation that
initiates the ERE. Using the imaging capabilities of the Hubble Space
Telescope, we have resolved the width of narrow ERE filaments appearing on the
surfaces of externally illuminated molecular clouds in the bright reflection
nebula NGC 7023 and compared them with the depth of penetration of radiation of
known wavelengths into the same cloud surfaces. We identify photons with
wavelengths shortward of 118 nm as the source of ERE initiation, not to be
confused with ERE excitation, however. There are strong indications from the
well-studied ERE in the Red Rectangle nebula and in the high-|b| Galactic
cirrus that the photon flux with wavelengths shortward of 118 nm is too small
to actually excite the observed ERE, even with 100% quantum efficiency. We
conclude, therefore, that ERE excitation results from a two-step process. While
none of the previously proposed ERE models can match these new constraints, we
note that under interstellar conditions most polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
(PAH) molecules are ionized to the di-cation stage by photons with E > 10.5 eV
and that the electronic energy level structure of PAH di-cations is consistent
with fluorescence in the wavelength band of the ERE. Therefore, PAH di-cations
deserve further study as potential carriers of the ERE. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Ap
Age, puberty and attractiveness judgments in adolescents
Previous work has suggested that judgments of the attractiveness of some facial and vocal features change during adolescence. Here, over 70 Czech adolescents aged 12â14 made forced-choice attractivenessjudgments on adolescent faces manipulated in symmetry, averageness and femininity, and on adolescent opposite-sex voices manipulated in fundamental frequency (perceived as pitch), and completed questionnaires on pubertal development. Consistent with typical adult judgments, adolescents selected the symmetric, average and feminine male and female faces as more attractive significantly more often than the asymmetric, non-average and masculine faces respectively. Moreover, preferences for symmetric faces were positively associated with adolescentsâ age and stage of pubertal development. Unexpectedly, voice pitch did not significantly influence adolescentsâ attractivenessjudgments. Collectively, these findings present new evidence using refined methodology that adolescent development is related to variation in attractivenessjudgments
Fragmentation Functions for Light Charged Hadrons with Complete Quark Flavour Separation
We present new sets of next-to-leading order fragmentation functions
describing the production of charged pions, kaons and protons from the gluon
and from each of the quarks, obtained by fitting to all relevant data sets from
e+ e- annihilation. The individual light quark flavour fragmentation functions
are obtained phenomenologically for the first time by including in the data the
light quark tagging probabilities obtained by the OPAL Collaboration
- âŠ