Queering the grammar school boy: class, sexuality and authenticity in the works of Colin MacInnes and Ray Gosling

In 1959 Colin MacInnes published the fourth in his series of social issue novels, Absolute Beginners. In it the unnamed protagonist is constructed as the iconic teenager, slick, cool, creative, with his ex-lover Crépe Suzette as the object of his art and as his Achilles heel. The novel is framed over one summer, against a backdrop of racial tension, which ultimately led the Boy towards adulthood. MacInnes’s protagonist has been dismissed as an emblem rather than a character, and MacInnes himself derided by George Melly as a perpetual teenager. However in this chapter, we will suggest that taken as a whole MacInnes’ work constructs a complex understanding of The Boy’s political possibilities intersecting with sexuality, gender, race and class. By integrating his novelistic work with his journalistic and activist writing, we will demonstrate the complexity of MacInnes’ Boy as an autonomous, queer political agent, embodied in the ultimate Boy; Ray Gosling. Gosling’s own writing becomes a lens through which to root historical understanding of teenagers and teenage cultures as sexual and racial constructs

Medipix3 Demonstration and understanding of near ideal detector performance for 60 & 80 keV electrons

In our article we report first quantitative measurements of imaging performance for the current generation of hybrid pixel detector, Medipix3, as direct electron detector. Utilising beam energies of 60 & 80 keV, measurements of modulation transfer function (MTF) and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) have revealed that, in single pixel mode (SPM), energy threshold values can be chosen to maximize either the MTF or DQE, obtaining values near to, or even exceeding, those for an ideal detector. We have demonstrated that the Medipix3 charge summing mode (CSM) can deliver simultaneous, near ideal values of both MTF and DQE. To understand direct detection performance further we have characterized the detector response to single electron events, building an empirical model which can predict detector MTF and DQE performance based on energy threshold. Exemplifying our findings we demonstrate the Medipix3 imaging performance, recording a fully exposed electron diffraction pattern at 24-bit depth and images in SPM and CSM modes. Taken together our findings highlight that for transmission electron microscopy performed at low energies (energies <100 keV) thick hybrid pixel detectors provide an advantageous and alternative architecture for direct electron imagin

Autonomous three-dimensional formation flight for a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles

This paper investigates the development of a new guidance algorithm for a formation of unmanned aerial vehicles. Using the new approach of bifurcating potential fields, it is shown that a formation of unmanned aerial vehicles can be successfully controlled such that verifiable autonomous patterns are achieved, with a simple parameter switch allowing for transitions between patterns. The key contribution that this paper presents is in the development of a new bounded bifurcating potential field that avoids saturating the vehicle actuators, which is essential for real or safety-critical applications. To demonstrate this, a guidance and control method is developed, based on a six-degreeof-freedom linearized aircraft model, showing that, in simulation, three-dimensional formation flight for a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles can be achieved

An examination of service user satisfaction in forensic mental health settings

High levels of service user satisfaction are viewed as a reliable indicator of a service providing good care and treatment. There has been limited research looking into levels of satisfaction in forensic mental health settings with most work focused on staff satisfaction in these settings. This study examined service users' levels of satisfaction with a forensic mental health service in the UK. The service covered two sites; one a purpose-built secure unit and the other based in an old cottage hospital. Thirty-nine in-patients completed a 60-item validated forensic satisfaction scale. The scale measured seven domains of satisfaction as well as reporting an overall satisfaction score. The results indicated the service users were reasonably satisfied with the care and treatment they received. The domains of rehabilitation, safety, staff interaction and overall care showed the highest level of satisfaction. The high rehabilitation satisfaction score demonstrated the importance of meaningful activities for users accessing forensic services and may have been influenced by the security measures on the wards. The high safety domain score indicated respondents felt safe and secure within the wards and likely to be influenced by positive interpersonal interactions. Good staff interaction was also an important factor in helping service users feel safe on the wards. These interactions are likely to be associated with the longer periods of admission in secure services allowing therapeutic relationships to develop. Financial advice/support was the one domain that recorded negative satisfaction levels. Financial literacy training may help develop money management skills

A PC parallel port button box provides millisecond response time accuracy under Linux

For psychologists, it is sometimes necessary to measure people's reaction times to the nearest millisecond. This article describes how to use the PC parallel port to receive signals from a button box to achieve millisecond response time accuracy. The workings of the parallel port, the corresponding port addresses, and a simple Linux program for controlling the port are described. A test of the speed and reliability of button box signal detection is reported. If the reader is moderately familiar with Linux, this article should provide sufficient instruction for him or her to build and test his or her own parallel port button box. This article also describes how the parallel port could be used to control an external apparatus

Finding apparent horizons and other two-surfaces of constant expansion

Apparent horizons are structures of spacelike hypersurfaces that can be determined locally in time. Closed surfaces of constant expansion (CE surfaces) are a generalisation of apparent horizons. I present an efficient method for locating CE surfaces. This method uses an explicit representation of the surface, allowing for arbitrary resolutions and, in principle, shapes. The CE surface equation is then solved as a nonlinear elliptic equation. It is reasonable to assume that CE surfaces foliate a spacelike hypersurface outside of some interior region, thus defining an invariant (but still slicing-dependent) radial coordinate. This can be used to determine gauge modes and to compare time evolutions with different gauge conditions. CE surfaces also provide an efficient way to find new apparent horizons as they appear e.g. in binary black hole simulations.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures; two references adde

The appropriation of hegemonic masculinity within selected research on men's health

Connell's hegemonic masculinity thesis (HMT) has occupied a relatively dominant position within contemporary research exploring the lives of men. Messerschmidt has conducted a review of recent literature that purports to use HMT, he describes in detail some of the ways Connell's work has been appropriated. Taking Messerschmidt's lead, this paper explores a small selection of men's health research that employ HMT as a central organising theme. Such a narrow focus and limited sample enables the theoretical, conceptual and empirical contributions of engagements with Connell's work to be critically explored in detail. This paper provides colleagues with clear examples of ways in which reified and reductive account of masculinity, are still being reproduced in contemporary analyses of men's lives. In calling for researchers to critically reflect upon their usage of Connell's thesis in more detail, my aim is to increase the subtlety and sophistication of such works. A further hope is that by highlighting specific examples of the need to appraise the relevance and adequacy of HMT as a conceptual frame of lived experiences, we might encourage researchers to access the multitude of different theoretical positions that speak to the lives of men

Can't Count or Won't Count? Embedding Quantitative Methods in Substantive Sociology Curricula: A Quasi-Experiment.

This paper reports on a quasi-experiment in which quantitative methods (QM) are embedded within a substantive sociology module. Through measuring student attitudes before and after the intervention alongside control group comparisons, we illustrate the impact that embedding has on the student experience. Our findings are complex and even contradictory. Whilst the experimental group were less likely to be distrustful of statistics and appreciate how QM inform social research, they were also less confident about their statistical abilities, suggesting that through 'doing' quantitative sociology the experimental group are exposed to the intricacies of method and their optimism about their own abilities is challenged. We conclude that embedding QM in a single substantive module is not a 'magic bullet' and that a wider programme of content and assessment diversification across the curriculum is preferential