Community experiences of organised crime in Scotland

The research explored community experiences of serious organised crime in Scotland (SOC). The report provides information on the nature and extent of the impact of SOC on everyday life in the community, as well as offering suggestions for policy development. The study sought to answer the following questions: 1)What are the relationships that exist between SOC and communities in Scotland? 2)What are the experiences and perceptions of residents, stakeholders and organisations of the scope and nature of SOC within their local area? and 3)How does SOC impact on community wellbeing, and to what extent can the harms associated with SOC be mitigated

The Development of the WISE (Writing to Inspire Successful Education) Writing Mentoring Program: A University-School Collaboration

Abstract This paper describes the development of a service learning writing mentoring program designed to close the achievement gap in writing proficiency for economically disadvantaged seventh grade students. Compared to writing mentoring studies found in the published literature, this program has three distinguishing components. First, it focused on economically disadvantaged middle school students. Second, it provided writing mentoring through a university-school partnership in which college students provided the intervention in collaboration with a seventh-grade teacher. Third, the program used technology to facilitate the mentoring process. Over the course of an academic year, mentors created videos with feedback on 19 writing assignments. The writing mentoring program was associated with a four-fold increase in the percentage of students who were graded as ‘proficient’ on a state standardized writing exam. These results suggest that semi-virtual, intensive writing mentoring and individualized feedback from college students can close the achievement gap and improve the quality of middle level education provided to economically disadvantaged students

Consequences of warming and acidification for the temperate articulated coralline alga, Calliarthron tuberculosum (Florideophyceae, Rhodophyta)

Global climate changes, such as warming and ocean acidification (OA), are likely to negatively impact calcifying marine taxa. Abundant and ecologically important coralline algae may be particularly susceptible to OA; however, multi-stressor studies and those on articulated morphotypes are lacking. Here, we use field observations and laboratory experiments to elucidate the impacts of warming and acidification on growth, calcification, mineralogy, and photophysiology of the temperate articulated coralline alga, Calliarthron tuberculosum. We conducted a 4-week fully factorial mesocosm experiment exposing individuals from a southern CA kelp forest to current and future temperature and pH/pCO2 conditions (+2°C, −0.5 pH units). Calcification was reduced under warming (70%) and further reduced by high pCO2 or high pCO2 x warming (~150%). Growth (change in linear extension and surface area) was reduced by warming (40% and 50%, respectively), high pCO2 (20% and 40%, respectively), and high pCO2 x warming (50% and 75%, respectively). The maximum photosynthetic rate (Pmax) increased by 100% under high pCO2 conditions, but we did not detect an effect of pCO2 or warming on photosynthetic efficiency (α). We also did not detect the effect of warming or pCO2 on mineralogy. However, variation in Mg incorporation in cell walls of different cell types (i.e., higher mol % Mg in cortical vs. medullary) was documented for the first time in this species. These results support findings from a growing body of literature suggesting that coralline algae are often more negatively impacted by warming than OA, with the potential for antagonistic effects when factors are combined

An algorithm for the direct reconstruction of the dark matter correlation function from weak lensing and galaxy clustering

The clustering of matter on cosmological scales is an essential probe for studying the physical origin and composition of our Universe. To date, most of the direct studies have focused on shear-shear weak lensing correlations, but it is also possible to extract the dark matter clustering by combining galaxy-clustering and galaxy-galaxy-lensing measurements. In this study we develop a method that can constrain the dark matter correlation function from galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy-lensing measurements, by focusing on the correlation coefficient between the galaxy and matter overdensity fields. To generate a mock galaxy catalogue for testing purposes, we use the Halo Occupation Distribution approach applied to a large ensemble of N-body simulations to model pre-existing SDSS Luminous Red Galaxy sample observations. Using this mock catalogue, we show that a direct comparison between the excess surface mass density measured by lensing and its corresponding galaxy clustering quantity is not optimal. We develop a new statistic that suppresses the small-scale contributions to these observations and show that this new statistic leads to a cross-correlation coefficient that is within a few percent of unity down to 5 Mpc/h. Furthermore, the residual incoherence between the galaxy and matter fields can be explained using a theoretical model for scale-dependent bias, giving us a final estimator that is unbiased to within 1%. We also perform a comprehensive study of other physical effects that can affect the analysis, such as redshift space distortions and differences in radial windows between galaxy clustering and weak lensing observations. We apply the method to a range of cosmological models and show the viability of our new statistic to distinguish between cosmological models.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, accepted by PRD; minor changes to V1, 1 new figure, more detailed discussion of the covariance of the new ADSD statisti

Football Banning Orders: The Highly Effective Cornerstone of a Preventative Strategy?

The chapter examines the development, use and effectiveness of football banning orders in the UK, comparing their use in England to address issues of football 'hooliganism' with their distinct evolution in Scotland to address concerns around sectarian disorder

Strategies for the evolution of sex

We find that the hypothesis made by Jan, Stauffer and Moseley [Theory in Biosc., 119, 166 (2000)] for the evolution of sex, namely a strategy devised to escape extinction due to too many deleterious mutations, is sufficient but not necessary for the successful evolution of a steady state population of sexual individuals within a finite population. Simply allowing for a finite probability for conversion to sex in each generation also gives rise to a stable sexual population, in the presence of an upper limit on the number of deleterious mutations per individual. For large values of this probability, we find a phase transition to an intermittent, multi-stable regime. On the other hand, in the limit of extremely slow drive, another transition takes place to a different steady state distribution, with fewer deleterious mutations within the asexual population.Comment: RevTeX, 11 pages, multicolumn, including 12 figure

Incidence of major complications from embolo-sclerotherapy of head and neck vascular malformations in a single specialist centre

Objective: Current data on the nature and rate of major complications for embolo-sclerotherapy (EST) of vascular malformations are scarce. However, even fewer studies focus on vascular malformations specific to the head and neck, which confer an increased specific risk of airway compromise, neurologic and ophthalmologic injury. More understanding is required surrounding the type and incidence of complications to improve treatment planning and informed consent. Therefore, this study aimed to review major complications secondary to EST of head and neck vascular malformations over a 5-year period in a single specialized multidisciplinary centre for vascular anomalies. / Methods: All interventions were decided by the multidisciplinary team. Demographic, procedural and complication data between 1st January 2013 and 31st December 2017 were prospectively documented in a dedicated database and analysed. EST of high-flow vascular malformations (HFVMs) was performed by selective catheter angiography or direct injection, and by direct injection only for low-flow vascular malformations (LFVMs). Major complications were defined as any tissue or functional damage caused by direct injection, distal embolization or tissue reaction and were decided by the multidisciplinary team. / Results: Forty-eight patients (median age of 35 years; range of 14–70 years; 18 men and 30 women) had 100 EST procedures for head and neck vascular malformation. Of these, 14 patients had EST for HFVM and 34 patients for LFVM, total 43 and 57 procedures, respectively. Overall, five patients with HFVM developed major complications from EST when compared with two patients with LFVM (p = 0.0167). Two patients required pre-emptive tracheostomy due to risk of post-operative airway compromise. Overall, seven (14.6%) patients experienced major complication from EST. In the HFVM group, major complications from EST occurred in five patients; four cases of tissue ulceration and necrosis (two needed debridement, one healed with resultant fibrosis that impeded speech and one resolved spontaneously) and one post-procedural airway compromise requiring tracheostomy. Meanwhile, in the LFVM group, major complications occurred in two patients; one case of severe necrosis involving the alar cartilage, lip and cheek requiring debridement and reconstruction under plastics and one simple cellulitis. No patients sustained stroke or vision impairment. / Conclusions: EST is relatively safe for head and neck vascular malformations in a high-volume experienced centre. Our major complication rate of 14.6% per patient (35.7% for HFVM; 5.9% for LFVM) or 7% per procedure (11.6% for HFVM; 3.5% LFVM) compares favourably with published data from other centres. These data will improve treatment planning and informed consent for EST for both HFVM and LFVM of the head and neck

Dirichlet sigma models and mean curvature flow

The mean curvature flow describes the parabolic deformation of embedded branes in Riemannian geometry driven by their extrinsic mean curvature vector, which is typically associated to surface tension forces. It is the gradient flow of the area functional, and, as such, it is naturally identified with the boundary renormalization group equation of Dirichlet sigma models away from conformality, to lowest order in perturbation theory. D-branes appear as fixed points of this flow having conformally invariant boundary conditions. Simple running solutions include the paper-clip and the hair-pin (or grim-reaper) models on the plane, as well as scaling solutions associated to rational (p, q) closed curves and the decay of two intersecting lines. Stability analysis is performed in several cases while searching for transitions among different brane configurations. The combination of Ricci with the mean curvature flow is examined in detail together with several explicit examples of deforming curves on curved backgrounds. Some general aspects of the mean curvature flow in higher dimensional ambient spaces are also discussed and obtain consistent truncations to lower dimensional systems. Selected physical applications are mentioned in the text, including tachyon condensation in open string theory and the resistive diffusion of force-free fields in magneto-hydrodynamics.Comment: 77 pages, 21 figure