Developing sexual competence? Exploring strategies for the provision of effective sexualities and relationships education

School-based sexualities and relationships education (SRE) offers one of the most promising means of improving young people's sexual health through developing 'sexual competence'. In the absence of evidence on whether the term holds the same meanings for young people and adults (e.g. teachers, researchers, policy-makers), the paper explores 'adult' notions of sexual competence as construed in research data and alluded to in UK Government guidance on SRE, then draws on empirical research with young people on factors that affect the contexts, motivations and outcomes of sexual encounters, and therefore have implications for sexual competence. These data from young people also challenge more traditional approaches to sexualities education in highlighting disjunctions between the content of school-based input and their reported sexual experience. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these insights for developing a shared notion of what SRE is trying to achieve and suggestions for recognition in the content and approaches to SRE.</p

A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Accreting Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS J121209.31+013627.7 and its Substellar Companion

The nature of the excess near-infrared emission associated with the magnetic white dwarf commonly known as SDSS 1212 is investigated primarily through spectroscopy, and also via photometry. The inferred low mass secondary in this system has been previously detected by the emission and variation of H$\alpha$, and the $1-2.5$ $\mu$m spectral data presented here are consistent with the presence of a late L or early T dwarf. The excess flux seen beyond 1.5 $\mu$m in the phase-averaged spectrum is adequately modeled with an L8 dwarf substellar companion and cyclotron emission in a 7 MG magnetic field. This interesting system manifests several observational properties typical of polars, and is most likely an old interacting binary with a magnetic white dwarf and a substellar donor in an extended low state.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, Accepted to Ap

Long-distance Spore Transport: Methods of Measurement, Vertical Spore Profiles and the Detection of Immigrant Spores

RESP-566

Long-distance Spore Transport: Vertical Sections of Spore Clouds over the Sea

RESP-566

Quasi-Moessbauer effect in two dimensions

Expressions for the absorption spectrum of a nucleus in a three- and a two-dimensional crystal respectively are obtained analytically at zero and at finite temperature respectively. It is found that for finite temperature in two dimensions the Moessbauer effect vanishes but is replaced by what we call a Quasi-Moessbauer effect. Possibilities to identify two-dimensional elastic behavior are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, notation simplifie

Public preferences for using quantitative faecal immunochemical test (FIT) vs colonoscopy (CC) as diagnostic test for colorectal cancer: Evidence from an online survey

Background: There has been interest in using the non-invasive, home-based quantitative faecal immunochemical test (FIT) to rule out colorectal cancer (CRC) in high-risk symptomatic patients. Aim: To elicit public preferences for FIT versus colonoscopy (CC) and its delivery in primary care. Design & setting: A cross-sectional online survey in England. Method: A total of 1057 adults (without CRC symptoms and diagnosis) aged 40–59 years were invited from an English online survey panel. Responders were asked to imagine they had been experiencing CRC symptoms that would qualify them for a diagnostic test. Participants were presented with choices between CC and FIT in ascending order of number of CRCs missed by FIT (from 1–10%). It was measured at what number of missed CRCs responders preferred CC over FIT. Results: While 150 participants did not want either of the tests when both missed 1% CRCs, the majority (n = 741, 70.0%) preferred FIT to CC at that level of accuracy. However, this preference reduced to 427 (40.4%) when FIT missed one additional cancer. Women were more likely to tolerate missing CRC when using FIT. Having lower numeracy and perceiving a higher level of risk meant participants were less likely to tolerate a false negative test. Most of those who chose FIT preferred to return it by mail (62.2%), to be informed about normal test results by letter (42.1%), and about abnormal test results face to face (32.5%). Conclusion: While the majority of participants preferred FIT over CC when both tests had the same sensitivity, tolerance for missed CRCs was low

Crystal Distortion and the Two-Channel Kondo Effect

We study a simple model of the two-channel Kondo effect in a distorted crystal. This model is then used to investigate the interplay of the Kondo and Jahn-Teller effects, and also the Kondo effect in an impure crystal. We find that the Jahn-Teller interaction modifies the characteristic energy scale of the system below which non-Fermi-liquid properties of the model become apparent. The modified energy scale tends to zero as the limit of a purely static Jahn-Teller effect is approached. We find also that the non-Fermi-liquid properties of the quadrupolar Kondo effect are not stable against crystal distortion caused by impurities.Comment: 11 page

The growth companies puzzle: can growth opportunities measures predict firm growth?

While numerous empirical studies include proxies for growth opportunities in their analyses, there is limited evidence as to the validity of the various growth proxies used. Based on a sample of 1942 firm-years for listed UK companies over the 1990-2004 period, we assess the performance of eight growth opportunities measures. Our results show that while all the growth measures show some ability to predict growth in company sales, total assets, or equity, there are substantial differences between the various models. In particular, Tobin's Q performs poorly while dividend-based measures generally perform best. However, none of the measures has any success in predicting earnings per share growth, even when controlling for mean reversion and other time-series patterns in earnings. We term this the 'growth companies puzzle'. Growth companies do grow, but they do not grow in the key dimension (earnings) theory predicts. Whether the failure of 'growth companies' to deliver superior earnings growth is attributable to increased competition, poor investments, or behavioural biases, it is still a puzzle why growth companies on average fail to deliver superior earnings growth

International capital mobility in an era of globalisation: adding a political dimension to the 'Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle'

The debate about the scope of feasible policy-making in an era of globalisation continues to be set within the context of an assumption that national capital markets are now perfectly integrated at the international level. However, the empirical evidence on international capital mobility contradicts such an assumption. As a consequence, a significant puzzle remains. Why is it, in a world in which the observed pattern of capital flows is indicative of a far from globalised reality, that public policy continues to be constructed in line with more extreme variants of the globalisation hypothesis? I attempt to solve this puzzle by arguing that ideas about global capital market integration have an independent causal impact on political outcomes which extends beyond that which can be attributed to the extent of their actual integration