Engaging fathers in preventive services: fathers and family centres

Although many fathers are spending more time caring for their children in the home, men continue to be conspicuous by their absence from mainstream family support services. Family centres - community-based services for families in need and at risk - are no exception to this, despite widespread enthusiasm for developing work with fathers in these settings. This qualitative study by the independent Policy Research Bureau focuses on the attitudes and experiences of over 90 fathers, mothers and staff in thirteen family centres across England and Wales. The study revealed that while family centres often cater well to fathers in particular circumstances, such as lone parents, fathers in more ordinary circumstances tended to be deterred by the feminised atmosphere of centres and by the limited range of activities more likely to appeal to men. The research strongly suggested that there is a need for greater clarity about who family centres are really intended for, in order to develop good practice in working with fathers in family support settings

Experimental and theoretical investigation for the suppression of the plasma arc drop in the thermionic converter

Ion generation and recombination mechanisms in the cesium plasma as they pertain to the advanced mode thermionic energy converter were studied. The decay of highly ionized cesium plasma was studied in the near afterglow to examine the recombination processes. Very low recombination in such a plasma may prove to be of considerable importance in practical converters. The approaches of external cesium generation were vibrationally excited nitrogen as an energy source of ionization of cesium ion, and microwave power as a means of resonant sustenance of the cesium plasma. Experimental data obtained so far show that all three techniques - i.e., the non-LTE high-voltage pulsing, the energy transfer from vibrationally excited diatomic gases, and the external pumping with a microwave resonant cavity - can produce plasmas with their densities significantly higher than the Richardson density. The implication of these findings as related to Lam's theory is discussed

Long-Lived Double-Barred Galaxies: Critical Mass and Length Scales

A substantial fraction of disk galaxies is double-barred. We analyze the dynamical stability of such nested bar systems by means of Liapunov exponents,by fixing a generic model and varying the inner (secondary) bar mass. We show that there exists a critical mass below which the secondary bar cannot sustain its own orbital structure, and above which it progressively destroys the outer (primary) bar-supporting orbits. In this critical state, a large fraction of the trajectories (regular and chaotic) are aligned with either bar, suggesting the plausibility of long-lived dynamical states when secondary-to-primary bar mass ratio is of the order of a few percent. Qualitatively similar results are obtained by varying the size of the secondary bar, within certain limits, while keeping its mass constant. In both cases, an important role appears to be played by chaotic trajectories which are trapped around (especially) the primary bar for long periods of time.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters (Vol. 595, 9/20/03 issue). Replaced by revised figure and corrected typo

Accurate Realizations of the Ionized Gas in Galaxy Clusters: Calibrating Feedback

Using the full, three-dimensional potential of galaxy cluster halos (drawn from an N-body simulation of the current, most favored cosmology), the distribution of the X-ray emitting gas is found by assuming a polytropic equation of state and hydrostatic equilibrium, with constraints from conservation of energy and pressure balance at the cluster boundary. The resulting properties of the gas for these simulated redshift zero clusters (the temperature distribution, mass-temperature and luminosity-temperature relations, and the gas fraction) are compared with observations in the X-ray of nearby clusters. The observed properties are reproduced only under the assumption that substantial energy injection from non-gravitational sources has occurred. Our model does not specify the source, but star formation and AGN may be capable of providing this energy, which amounts to 3 to 5 x10^{-5} of the rest mass in stars (assuming ten percent of the gas initially in the cluster forms stars). With the method described here it is possible to generate realistic X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich cluster maps and catalogs from N-body simulations, with the distributions of internal halo properties (and their trends with mass, location, and time) taken into account.Comment: Matches ApJ published version; 30 pages, 7 figure

The importance of considering fibular robusticity when inferring the mobility patterns of past populations

In this chapter we investigate the lower limb structural rigidity (using cross-sectional geometric properties of the diaphyseal midshaft) within a sample of 124 individuals from the Late Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic and Iron Age from Italy, Medieval Germany, and twenty-first Century Britain (long distance runners, field hockey players, and sedentary controls). Late Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic and Iron Age samples were settled in rugged areas, whereas the other samples inhabited plain areas. The aim of this study is to assess whether fibular diaphyseal properties reflect mobility patterns or terrain properties in past populations. Both fibular rigidity and relative fibular rigidity ratio (fibula/tibia) have been analyzed. Results reveal that Late Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic and Iron Age samples show high fibular rigidity and have values of relative fibular rigidity that are most similar to modern hockey players. The relative fibular diaphyseal rigidity of hockey players has been previously explained as the consequence of their dynamic and repetitive change of direction. Late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic individuals are thought to have been highly terrestrially mobile, while Iron Age people were probably fairly sedentary. However, all of the three groups lived in areas of uneven terrain. We conclude that fibular rigidity and relative fibular rigidity are influenced by factors that increase foot eversion/inversion such as frequent directional changes and uneven terrain. The results of this study suggest that inclusion of the fibula provides a valuable additional perspective that complements traditional predictions of mobility patterns based on the femur or the tibia alone

Customer satisfaction as a performance measurement and management tool in English social housing

Customer satisfaction measurement is argued to be the ultimate arbiter of the success of public organisations (Hill et al 2007). Despite being a regulatory requirement for English social housing providers to measure customer satisfaction throughout the 2000’s and remaining relevant after sector de-regulation in 2010 (Williams 2013), it is surprising there is little academic literature underpinning quality of service and customer satisfaction within English social housing. This study meets this gap by presenting the first academic research exploring the empirical evidence underpinning the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality orientated business performance in the UK social housing sector

Neural superposition and oscillations in the eye of the blowfly

Neural superposition in the eye of the blowfly Calliphora erythrocephala was investigated by stimulating single photoreceptors using corneal neutralization through water immersion. Responses in Large Monopolar Cells (LMCs) in the lamina were measured, while stimulating one or more of the six photoreceptors connected to the LMC. Responses to flashes of low light intensity on individual photoreceptors add approximately linearly at the LMC. Higher intensity light flashes produce a maximum LMC response to illumination of single photoreceptors which is about half the maximum response to simultaneous illumination of the six connecting photoreceptors. This observation indicates that a saturation can occur at a stage of synaptic transmission which precedes the change in the post-synaptic membrane potential. Stimulation of single photoreceptors yields high frequency oscillations (about 200 Hz) in the LMC potential, much larger in amplitude than produced by simultaneous stimulation of the six photoreceptors connected to the LMC. It is discussed that these oscillations also arise from a mechanism that precedes the change in the postsynaptic membrane potential.

CSF protein biomarkers predicting longitudinal reduction of CSF β-amyloid42 in cognitively healthy elders.

β-amyloid (Aβ) plaque accumulation is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is believed to start many years prior to symptoms and is reflected by reduced cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of the peptide Aβ1-42 (Aβ42). Here we tested the hypothesis that baseline levels of CSF proteins involved in microglia activity, synaptic function and Aβ metabolism predict the development of Aβ plaques, assessed by longitudinal CSF Aβ42 decrease in cognitively healthy people. Forty-six healthy people with three to four serial CSF samples were included (mean follow-up 3 years, range 2-4 years). There was an overall reduction in Aβ42 from a mean concentration of 211-195 pg ml(-1) after 4 years. Linear mixed-effects models using longitudinal Aβ42 as the response variable, and baseline proteins as explanatory variables (n=69 proteins potentially relevant for Aβ metabolism, microglia or synaptic/neuronal function), identified 10 proteins with significant effects on longitudinal Aβ42. The most significant proteins were angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE, P=0.009), Chromogranin A (CgA, P=0.009) and Axl receptor tyrosine kinase (AXL, P=0.009). Receiver-operating characteristic analysis identified 11 proteins with significant effects on longitudinal Aβ42 (largely overlapping with the proteins identified by linear mixed-effects models). Several proteins (including ACE, CgA and AXL) were associated with Aβ42 reduction only in subjects with normal baseline Aβ42, and not in subjects with reduced baseline Aβ42. We conclude that baseline CSF proteins related to Aβ metabolism, microglia activity or synapses predict longitudinal Aβ42 reduction in cognitively healthy elders. The finding that some proteins only predict Aβ42 reduction in subjects with normal baseline Aβ42 suggest that they predict future development of the brain Aβ pathology at the earliest stages of AD, prior to widespread development of Aβ plaques

The Complex Time WKB Approximation And Particle Production

The complex time WKB (CWKB) approximation has been an effective technique to understand particle production in curved as well as in flat spacetime. Earlier we obtained the standard results on particle production in time dependent gauge in various curved spacetime. In the present work we generalize the technique of CWKB to the equivalent problems in space dependent gauge. Using CWKB, we first obtain the gauge invariant result for particle production in Minkowski spacetime in strong electric field. We then carry out particle production in de-Sitter spacetime in space dependent gauge and obtain the same result that we obtained earlier in time dependent gauge. The results obtained for de-Sitter spacetime has a obvious extension to particle production in black hole spacetime. It is found that the origin of Planckian spectrum is due to repeated reflections between the turning points. As mentioned earlier, it is now explicitly shown that particle production is accompanied by rotation of currents.Comment: 12 pages, Revte