344 research outputs found
Discount Brokerage Services, The Glass-Steagall Act, and Branch Banking in Texas.
Abstract Forthcoming
Educational change in Scotland: Policy, context and biography
The poor success rate of policy for curriculum change has been widely noted in the educational change literature. Part of the problem lies in the complexity of schools, as policymakers have proven unable to micromanage the multifarious range of factors that impact upon the implementation of policy. This paper draws upon empirical data from a local authority-led initiative to implement Scotland’s new national curriculum. It offers a set of conceptual tools derived from critical realism (particularly the work of Margaret Archer), which offer significant potential in allowing us to develop greater understanding of the complexities of educational change. Archer’s social theory developed as a means of explaining change and continuity in social settings. As schools and other educational institutions are complex social organisations, critical realism offers us epistemological tools for tracking the ebbs and flows of change cycles over time, presenting the means for mapping the multifarious networks and assemblages that form their basis
Velocity Selection for Propagating Fronts in Superconductors
Using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations we study the propagation
of planar fronts in superconductors, which would appear after a quench to zero
applied magnetic field. Our numerical solutions show that the fronts propagate
at a unique speed which is controlled by the amount of magnetic flux trapped in
the front. For small flux the speed can be determined from the linear marginal
stability hypothesis, while for large flux the speed may be calculated using
matched asymptotic expansions. At a special point the order parameter and
vector potential are dual, leading to an exact solution which is used as the
starting point for a perturbative analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
The depression in visual impairment trial (DEPVIT): trial design and protocol
<b>Background</b>
The prevalence of depression in people with a visual disability is high but screening for depression and referral for treatment is not yet an integral part of visual rehabilitation service provision. One reason for this may be that there is no good evidence about the effectiveness of treatments in this patient group. This study is the first to evaluate the effect of depression treatments on people with a visual impairment and co morbid depression.<p></p>
<b>Methods/design</b>
The study is an exploratory, multicentre, individually randomised waiting list controlled trial. Participants will be randomised to receive Problem Solving Therapy (PST), a ‘referral to the GP’ requesting treatment according to the NICE’s ‘stepped care’ recommendations or the waiting list arm of the trial. The primary outcome measure is change (from randomisation) in depressive symptoms as measured by the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI-II) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes include change in depressive symptoms at 3 months, change in visual function as measured with the near vision subscale of the VFQ-48 and 7 item NEI-VFQ at 3 and 6 months, change in generic health related quality of life (EQ5D), the costs associated with PST, estimates of incremental cost effectiveness, and recruitment rate estimation.<p></p>
<b>Discussion</b>
Depression is prevalent in people with disabling visual impairment. This exploratory study will establish depression screening and referral for treatment in visual rehabilitation clinics in the UK. It will be the first to explore the efficacy of PST and the effectiveness of NICE’s ‘stepped care’ approach to the treatment of depression in people with a visual impairment.<p></p>
Whatever happened to curriculum theory? Critical realism and curriculum change
In the face of what has been characterised as a ‘crisis’ in curriculum – an apparent decline of some aspects of curriculum studies combined with the emergence of new types of national curriculum which downgrade knowledge – some writers have been arguing for the use of realist theory to address these issues. This paper offers a contribution to this debate, drawing upon critical realism, and especially upon the social theory of Margaret Archer. The paper first outlines the supposed crisis in curriculum, before providing an overview of some of the key tenets of critical realism. The paper concludes by speculating on how critical realism may offer new ways of thinking to inform policy and practice in a key curricular problematic. This is the issue of curriculum change
Life Expectancy at Birth for People with Serious Mental Illness and Other Major Disorders from a Secondary Mental Health Care Case Register in London
Despite improving healthcare, the gap in mortality between people with serious mental illness (SMI) and general population persists, especially for younger age groups. The electronic database from a large and comprehensive secondary mental healthcare provider in London was utilized to assess the impact of SMI diagnoses on life expectancy at birth.People who were diagnosed with SMI (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder), substance use disorder, and depressive episode/disorder before the end of 2009 and under active review by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) in southeast London during 2007-09 comprised the sample, retrieved by the SLAM Case Register Interactive Search (CRIS) system. We estimated life expectancy at birth for people with SMI and each diagnosis, from national mortality returns between 2007-09, using a life table method.A total of 31,719 eligible people, aged 15 years or older, with SMI were analyzed. Among them, 1,370 died during 2007-09. Compared to national figures, all disorders were associated with substantially lower life expectancy: 8.0 to 14.6 life years lost for men and 9.8 to 17.5 life years lost for women. Highest reductions were found for men with schizophrenia (14.6 years lost) and women with schizoaffective disorders (17.5 years lost).The impact of serious mental illness on life expectancy is marked and generally higher than similarly calculated impacts of well-recognised adverse exposures such as smoking, diabetes and obesity. Strategies to identify and prevent causes of premature death are urgently required
KELT-9 b's Asymmetric TESS Transit Caused by Rapid Stellar Rotation and Spin-Orbit Misalignment
KELT-9 b is an ultra hot Jupiter transiting a rapidly rotating, oblate
early-A-type star in a polar orbit. We model the effect of rapid stellar
rotation on KELT-9 b's transit light curve using photometry from the Transiting
Exoplanet Survey Satellite (\tess) to constrain the planet's true spin-orbit
angle and to explore how KELT-9 b may be influenced by stellar gravity
darkening. We constrain the host star's equatorial radius to be
times as large as its polar radius and its local surface brightness to vary by
\% between its hot poles and cooler equator. We model the stellar
oblateness and surface brightness gradient and find that it causes the transit
light curve to lack the usual symmetry around the time of minimum light. We
take advantage of the light curve asymmetry to constrain KELT-9 b's true spin
orbit angle (), agreeing with
\citet{gaudi2017giant} that KELT-9 b is in a nearly polar orbit. We also apply
a gravity darkening correction to the spectral energy distribution model from
\citet{gaudi2017giant} and find that accounting for rapid rotation gives a
better fit to available spectroscopy and yields a more reliable estimate for
the star's polar effective temperature.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1911.0502
Revisiting the warm sub-Saturn TOI-1710b
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) provides a continuous suite
of new planet candidates that need confirmation and precise mass determination
from ground-based observatories. This is the case for the G-type star TOI-1710,
which is known to host a transiting sub-Saturn planet
(28.34.7) in a long-period orbit
(P=24.28\,d). Here we combine archival SOPHIE and new and archival HARPS-N
radial velocity data with newly available TESS data to refine the planetary
parameters of the system and derive a new mass measurement for the transiting
planet, taking into account the impact of the stellar activity on the mass
measurement. We report for TOI-1710b a radius of
5.150.12, a mass of
18.44.5, and a mean bulk density of
0.730.18, which are consistent at
1.2, 1.5, and 0.7, respectively, with previous
measurements. Although there is not a significant difference in the final mass
measurement, we needed to add a Gaussian process component to successfully fit
the radial velocity dataset. This work illustrates that adding more
measurements does not necessarily imply a better mass determination in terms of
precision, even though they contribute to increasing our full understanding of
the system. Furthermore, TOI-1710b joins an intriguing class of planets with
radii in the range 4-8 that have no counterparts in the
Solar System. A large gaseous envelope and a bright host star make TOI-1710b a
very suitable candidate for follow-up atmospheric characterization.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 21 pages, 14 figure
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