Care in my own home: Elders' accounts of receiving domiciliary care for the first time

Background: In England, over 700,000 people are supported to remain living in their own homes by receiving domiciliary care. The existing UK research focuses primarily on the quality and cost-effectiveness of care. Receiving care for the first time can be a significant change to daily life, yet there is a lack of research exploring elders’ experiences of first receiving domiciliary care. Aim: To explore elders’ accounts of receiving domiciliary care for the first time. Methodology: A critical realist approach was adopted. Individual semi-structured interviews took place with ten elders (aged 76-95) receiving domiciliary care in Southeast England. Interview transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Analysis: Two overarching themes were generated. The first overarching theme, ‘A new, important relationship’, comprises the themes: ‘Carers are like friends’ and ‘Support to continue with life’. The second overarching theme, ‘Who am I now? Changing view of oneself’, contains the themes: ‘Struggling to accept the need for help’ and ‘Lost parts of the self’. Conclusions: The findings suggest that receiving domiciliary care for the first time is a significant life event, which prompts realisation of one’s advancing age and a changing view of the self. A friendship-like relationship with carers promotes elders’ psychological well-being and supports elders to accept care into their lives. The findings highlight the considerable psychosocial value of domiciliary care. Potential implications include contributing to training for carers and health professionals supporting elders during the transition into receiving care

Glass bead shot peening retards stress corrosion failure of titanium tanks

Rigidly controlled shot peening retards the incompatibility between titanium alloys and nitrogen tetroxide in rocket-propellant storage tanks. This sets up a residual compressive stress in the surface of a material which reduces tensile stresses in the material fibers, alleviating stress corrosion

Controlled glass bead peening Patent

Method and apparatus for inducing compressive stresses in pressure vessel to prevent stress corrosio

Restoration of eucalypt grassy woodland: effects of experimental interventions on ground-layer vegetation

We report on the effects of broad-scale restoration treatments on the ground layer of eucalypt grassy woodland in south-eastern Australia. The experiment was conducted in two conservation reserves from which livestock grazing had previously been removed. Changes in biomass, species diversity, ground-cover attributes and life-form were analysed over a 4-year period in relation to the following experimental interventions: (1) reduced kangaroo density, (2) addition of coarse woody debris and (3) fire (a single burn). Reducing kangaroo density doubled total biomass in one reserve, but no effects on exotic biomass, species counts or ground cover attributes were observed. Coarse woody debris also promoted biomass, particularly exotic annual forbs, as well as plant diversity in one of the reserves. The single burn reduced biomass, but changed little else. Overall, we found the main driver of change to be the favourable growth seasons that had followed a period of drought. This resulted in biomass increasing by 67%, (mostly owing to the growth of perennial native grasses), whereas overall native species counts increased by 18%, and exotic species declined by 20% over the 4-year observation period. Strategic management of grazing pressure, use of fire where biomass has accumulated and placement of coarse woody debris in areas of persistent erosion will contribute to improvements in soil and vegetation condition, and gains in biodiversity, in the future.Funding and in-kind logistic support for this project was provided by the ACT Government as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP0561817; LP110100126). Drafts of the manuscript were read by Saul Cunningham and Ben Macdonald

Performance, emissions, and physical characteristics of a rotating combustion aircraft engine, supplement A

Testing was conducted using the basic RC2-75 engine, to which several modifications were incorporated which were designed to reduce the hydrocarbon emissions and reduce the specific fuel consumption. The modifications included close-in surface gap spark plugs, increased compression ratio rotors, and provisions for utilizing either side or peripheral intake ports, or a combination of the two if required. The proposed EPA emissions requirements were met using the normal peripheral porting. The specific fuel economy demonstrated for the modified RC2-75 was 283 g/kW-hr at 75% power and 101 brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) and 272.5 g/kW-hr at 75% power and 111 BMEP. The latter would result from rating the engine for takeoff at 285 hp and 5500 rpm, instead of 6000 rpm

Stomatopod crustacea collected by the Yale Seychelles Expedition

Although small in size and number of species, the collection contains several rare species as well as several new records from the Seychelles…

War and Peace in the Western Political Imagination

The study of war in all periods of prehistory and recorded history has always commanded the attention of historians, dramatists, poets and artists. The study of peace has, however, not yet gained a comparable readership, and the subject is attracting an increasing amount of scholarly research. This volume presents the first work of academic research to tackle this imbalance head on. It looks at war and peace through the ages, from the Classical world through to the 18th century. It considers the nature and advocacy of war and peace both from an historical perspective but also a philosophical one, particularly looking at how universal peace, which began as a personal philosophy, became over the centuries a political philosophy that underpins much of modern society’s attitudes towards warfare and militarism