The changing Chinese community in London: new migration, new needs.

London’s Chinese population in London is one of the most rapidly growing of any national group and is becoming increasingly diverse as new forms of migration develop and people arrive from regions of China which have previously seen little emigration. These developments are a product of political and economic changes in both China and in Britain. The ending of restrictions on travel within China and its growing participation in the global economy have opened up new opportunities for internal and international migration. These new migrants include the most privileged - students, the highly skilled with established jobs in London - as well as those for whom China’s transformation to a market economy has meant dispossession and loss of livelihood. Many have been forced to emigrate for survival, often leaving family in China. Britain, with other European countries, has become increasingly dependent on migrant labour but immigration policies are increasingly selective, welcoming those with recognised skills while restricting entry to those deemed unskilled. Many of the new thus migrants find themselves forced to rely on ‘agents’ to enter the country and their insecure status means they have limited rights once they have arrived and are vulnerable to exploitation. The deaths of 20 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004 drew attention to the ‘hidden’ population of new Chinese migrants. Many new migrants prosper and are able to take advantage of the opportunities which migration brings, but others, especially those with insecure legal and economic status, may struggle, often over a protracted period, to gain a foothold in British society. They may speak little English, have limited knowledge of British society and are poorly prepared to settle and find adequate work. They need support in order to access services, but many have little information about how to go about this and limited social networks to help them. Most of the established Chinese population in London migrated to Britain from Hong Kong and speak Cantonese, unlike the predominantly Mandarin-speaking new migrants. They have established a range of community, business and cultural organisations but these mainly cater for earlier generations. Some have struggled to respond to the new needs which these new migrants bring, but they often lack the necessary knowledge, language and resources. This report is based on research which focused on the experiences of this new population and ways in which service providers could support them in order to promote their inclusion. Although we focus on new migrants, we acknowledge that there is widespread poverty, exclusion and isolation among older generations of Chinese people, particularly as they reach retirement age. The research included all those identifying their ethnic origin as Chinese, including people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The majority of participants, however, came from mainland China. The study was based in London which has the largest and most diverse Chinese population in Britain and many Chinese organisations. We hope, however, that its findings and recommendations will also be relevant to the Chinese population across Britain. The research was carried out by researchers based at Middlesex University and working with Chinese community organisations in London. We are grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for their financial support and to the School of Health and Social Science at Middlesex University whose contribution ensured that the project was completed. We also wish to thank the informants from Chinese community organisations and the individuals interviewed for the research who have contributed generously with their time and ideas

Micro-bias and macro-performance

We use agent-based modeling to investigate the effect of conservatism and partisanship on the efficiency with which large populations solve the density classification task--a paradigmatic problem for information aggregation and consensus building. We find that conservative agents enhance the populations' ability to efficiently solve the density classification task despite large levels of noise in the system. In contrast, we find that the presence of even a small fraction of partisans holding the minority position will result in deadlock or a consensus on an incorrect answer. Our results provide a possible explanation for the emergence of conservatism and suggest that even low levels of partisanship can lead to significant social costs.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Eslicarbazepine acetate as monotherapy in clinical practice: Outcomes from Euro-Esli

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and safety/tolerability of eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) monotherapy in clinical practice in Europe. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Euro-Esli was a pooled analysis of 14 European clinical practice studies. Responder rate (≥50% seizure frequency reduction) and seizure freedom rate (seizure freedom at least since prior visit) were assessed after 3, 6 and 12 months of ESL treatment and at last visit. Adverse events (AEs) and AEs leading to ESL discontinuation were assessed throughout follow-up. A subanalysis was conducted to assess outcomes for patients treated initially with ESL monotherapy and for patients treated at the last visit with ESL monotherapy. RESULTS: ESL was used as monotherapy in 88/2045 (4.3%) patients initially and in 229/1340 (17.1%) patients at the last visit. At 12 months, responder and seizure freedom rates were 94.1% and 88.2%, respectively, in patients treated initially with ESL monotherapy, and 93.2% and 77.4%, respectively, in patients treated at the last visit with ESL monotherapy. Corresponding values for patients treated initially with ESL adjunctive therapy were 74.8% and 39.0%, respectively; and for patients treated at the last visit with ESL adjunctive therapy, corresponding values were 70.4% and 25.9%, respectively. Safety and tolerability were generally comparable in patients treated with ESL as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy. The most commonly reported AEs (≥5% of patients in any group) were dizziness, somnolence, instability/ataxia, and fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: These clinical practice data support the use of ESL as monotherapy, as well as adjunctive therapy, for focal-onset seizures, complementing evidence from clinical trials.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Complex itinerant ferromagnetism in noncentrosymmetric Cr11Ge19

The noncentrosymmetric ferromagnet Cr11Ge19 has been investigated by electrical transport, AC and DC magnetization, heat capacity, x-ray diffraction, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, and first principles electronic structure calculations. Complex itinerant ferromagnetism in this material is indicated by nonlinearity in conventional Arrott plots, unusual behavior of AC susceptibility, and a weak heat capacity anomaly near the Curie temperature (88 K). The inclusion of spin wave excitations was found to be important in modeling the low temperature heat capacity. The temperature dependence of the elastic moduli and lattice constants, including negative thermal expansion along the c axis at low temperatures, indicate strong magneto-elastic coupling in this system. Calculations show strong evidence for itinerant ferromagnetism and suggest a noncollinear ground state may be expected

Glomerulocystic kidney in two red piranhas Pygocentrus nattereri.

Glomerulocystic kidney (GCK) is defined by a dilatation of the Bowman's space (greater than 2 times the normal size) of more than 5% of all glomeruli. Although GCK has been occasionally documented in dogs, cats, and humans with renal failure, in fish, reports of spontaneous GCK are rare. For the present study, 2 captive adult red piranhas Pygocentrus nattereri from a closed population were submitted for post-mortem examination. Clinical history included lethargy, inappetence, dyspnea, and altered buoyancy. Macroscopically, the fish displayed coelomic distension and ascites. The kidneys were markedly enlarged and dark yellow. Histologically, Bowman's space was noticeably dilated, occasionally with atrophic glomerular tufts. Degeneration and necrosis of the tubular epithelium, infiltration, and nephrocalcinosis were also present. To the authors' knowledge, this present study is the first report of spontaneously occurring GCK in red piranhas and freshwater fish in general. Despite being rare, GCK is a condition with the potential to impair the health of fish and mammals, and further studies are needed to shed new light on this condition