PHOENIX: Public Health and Obesity in England – the New Infrastructure eXamined First interim report: the scoping review

The PHOENIX project aims to examine the impact of structural changes to the health and care system in England on the functioning of the public health system, and on the approaches taken to improving the public’s health. The scoping review has now been completed. During this phase we analysed: Department of Health policy documents (2010-2013), as well as responses to those documents from a range of stakeholders; data from 22 semi-structured interviews with key informants; and the oral and written evidence presented at the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee on the role of local authorities in health issues. We also gathered data from local authority (LA) and Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) websites and other sources to start to develop a picture of how the new structures are developing, and to collate demographic and other data on local authorities. A number of important themes were identified and explored during this phase. In summary, some key points related to three themes - governance, relationships and new ways of working - were: The reforms have had a profound effect on leadership within the public health system. Whilst LAs are now the local leaders for public health, in a more fragmented system, leadership for public health appears to be more dispersed amongst a range of organisations and a range of people within the LA. At national level, the leadership role is complex and not yet developed (from a local perspective). Accountability mechanisms have changed dramatically within public health, and many people still seem to be unclear about them. Some performance management mechanisms have disappeared, and much accountability now appears to rely on transparency and the democratic accountability that this would (theoretically) enable. The extent to which ‘system leaders’ within PHE are able to influence local decisions and performance will depend on the strength of relationships principally between the LA and the local Public Health England centre. These relationships will take time to develop. Many people have faced new ways of working, in new settings, and with new relationships to build. Public health teams in LAs have faced the most profound of these changes, having gone from a position of ‘expert voice’ to a position where they must defend their opinions and activities in the context of competing demands and severely restricted resources. Public health staff may require new skills, and may need to seek new ‘allies’ to thrive in the new environment. HWBs could be crucial in bringing together a fragmented system and dispersed leadership. The next phase of data collection will begin in March with the initiation of case study work. National surveys will be conducted in June/July this year (2014), and at the same time the following year. In this work, we will further explore the following themes: relationships, governance, decision making, new ways of working, and opportunities and difficulties

Temporal segregation between dung-inhabiting beetle and fly species

The coexistence of ecologically similar species (i.e. species utilizing the same resource) is a major topic in ecology. Communities are assembled either through the biotic interactions of ecologically similar species, e.g. competition, or by the abiotic separation of species along gradients of environmental conditions. Here, we investigated the temporal segregation, succession and seasonality of dung-inhabiting Coleoptera and Diptera that utilize an identical resource in exactly the same way. The data were collected from two temperate pastures, one in the United Kingdom and the second in the Czech Republic. There was no evident temporal separation between ecologically similar coleopterous or dipterous taxa during succession. In contrast, these two orders were almost perfectly separated seasonally in both combined and site-specific datasets. Flies were most abundant in the summer, and beetles were more abundant in the spring and autumn. Ecologically similar beetles and flies also displayed seasonal separation in both combined and site-specific data. Analyses within site-specific data sets revealed such a separation at both the order and species level. Season is therefore the main temporal axis separating ecologically similar species of dung-inhabiting insects in temperate habitats, while succession aggregates species that may have similar environmental tolerances (to e.g. dung moisture). This separation between ecologically similar taxa of beetles and flies may be attributable to either competition-based niche separation or to temperature tolerance-based habitat filtering, since flies have peak activity in warmer months while beetles have peak activity in cooler months

Generalized boson algebra and its entangled bipartite coherent states

Starting with a given generalized boson algebra U_(h(1)) known as the bosonized version of the quantum super-Hopf U_q[osp(1/2)] algebra, we employ the Hopf duality arguments to provide the dually conjugate function algebra Fun_(H(1)). Both the Hopf algebras being finitely generated, we produce a closed form expression of the universal T matrix that caps the duality and generalizes the familiar exponential map relating a Lie algebra with its corresponding group. Subsequently, using an inverse Mellin transform approach, the coherent states of single-node systems subject to the U_(h(1)) symmetry are found to be complete with a positive-definite integration measure. Nonclassical coalgebraic structure of the U_(h(1)) algebra is found to generate naturally entangled coherent states in bipartite composite systems.Comment: 15pages, no figur

New connection formulae for the q-orthogonal polynomials via a series expansion of the q-exponential

Using a realization of the q-exponential function as an infinite multiplicative sereis of the ordinary exponential functions we obtain new nonlinear connection formulae of the q-orthogonal polynomials such as q-Hermite, q-Laguerre and q-Gegenbauer polynomials in terms of their respective classical analogs.Comment: 14 page

Strangeness, charm and bottom in a chiral quark-meson model

In this paper we investigate an SU(3) extension of the chiral quark-meson model. The spectra of baryons with strangeness, charm and bottom are considered within a "rigid oscillator" version of this model. The similarity between the quark part of the Lagrangian in the model and the Wess-Zumino term in the Skyrme model is noted. The binding energies of baryonic systems with baryon number B=2 and 3 possessing strangeness or heavy flavor are estimated. The results obtained are in good qualitative agreement with those obtained previously in the topological soliton (Skyrme) model.Comment: 12 pages, no figures. Journal ref: submitted to Nucl.Phys.

A qualitative study of the experiences and perceptions of adults with chronic musculoskeletal conditions following a 12-week Pilates exercise programme

Introduction The aim of the present study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of adult patients with chronic musculoskeletal conditions following a Pilates exercise programme. A qualitative approach was taken to both data collection and analysis, with alignment to the philosophy of interpretive phenomenology. Participants included 15 women and seven men with a range of chronic musculoskeletal conditions, including nonspecific low back pain, peripheral joint osteoarthritis and a range of postsurgical conditions. The age range was from 36 years to 83 years, and the mean age was 57 years (standard deviation 14.1 years). Methods Data were collected via digital recordings of four focus groups in three North‐West of England physiotherapy clinics. The data were transcribed verbatim and then analysed using a thematic framework. Data were verified by a researcher and randomly selected participants, and agreement was achieved between all parties. Results The results were organized into five main themes: physical improvements; Pilates promotes an active lifestyle: improved performance at work and hobbies; psychosocial benefits and improved confidence; increased autonomy in managing their own condition; and motivation to continue with exercise. Conclusion The study was the first to investigate individual perceptions of the impact of Pilates on the daily lives of people with chronic conditions. The Pilates‐based exercise programme enabled the participants to function better and manage their condition more effectively and independently. Further to previous work, the study revealed psychological and social benefits which increase motivation to adhere to the programme and promote a healthier lifestyle

Basic Hypergeometric Functions and Covariant Spaces for Even Dimensional Representations of U_q[osp(1/2)]

Representations of the quantum superalgebra U_q[osp(1/2)] and their relations to the basic hypergeometric functions are investigated. We first establish Clebsch-Gordan decomposition for the superalgebra U_q[osp(1/2)] in which the representations having no classical counterparts are incorporated. Formulae for these Clebsch-Gordan coefficients are derived, and it is observed that they may be expressed in terms of the $Q$-Hahn polynomials. We next investigate representations of the quantum supergroup OSp_q(1/2) which are not well-defined in the classical limit. Employing the universal T-matrix, the representation matrices are obtained explicitly, and found to be related to the little Q-Jacobi polynomials. Characteristically, the relation Q = -q is satisfied in all cases. Using the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients derived here, we construct new noncommutative spaces that are covariant under the coaction of the even dimensional representations of the quantum supergroup OSp_q(1/2).Comment: 16 pages, no figure

Order-chaos transitions in field theories with topological terms: a dynamical systems approach

We present a comparative study of the dynamical behaviour of topological systems of recent interest, namely the non-Abelian Chern-Simons Higgs system and the Yang-Mills Chern-Simons Higgs system. By reducing the full field theories to temporal differential systems using the assumption of spatially homogeneous fields , we study the Lyapunov exponents for two types of initial conditions. We also examine in minute detail the behaviour of the Lyapunov spectra as a function of the various coupling parameters in the system. We compare and contrast our results with those for Abelian Higgs, Yang-Mills Higgs and Yang-Mills Chern-Simons systems which have been discussed by other authors recently. The role of the various terms in the Hamiltonians for such systems in determining the order-disorder transitions is emphasized and shown to be counter-intuitive in the Yang-Mills Chern-Simons Higgs systems.Comment: 19 pages,15 figures available in hard copy from C. Mukku, and through e-mail from [email protected]. To appear in J. Phys.