Search

Children are shaped in part by their environment and one rich in communication is therefore beneficial. Activities such as play and reading have long lasting positive effects on development. This study examined the social and demographic characteristics of mothers who play with, read to and tell stories to their child, using data from the UK-wide Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).The study included 14 034 mothers of singleton 5-year-old children. Using data from the first and third sweeps of the MCS, we examined how often mothers engaged with their child in playing, reading and telling stories, according to their social and demographic characteristics: ethnicity, socio-economic status, highest academic qualification, lone mother status, age at birth of cohort child, number of children and employment status. Adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted using Stata.When their children were 5 years old, 22% of mothers reported playing, 51% reading and 13% telling stories everyday. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black mothers were significantly less likely to play with their child at least weekly compared with White mothers. The same applied to lone mothers compared with those living with a partner. Mothers with academic qualifications lower than degree level were less likely to read at least once weekly. Compared with mothers who worked full-time, those who worked part-time, were 'on-leave' or unemployed, were more likely to play with, and read to, their child at least weekly. Mothers with more than one child were significantly less likely to engage at least weekly in any of the three activities studied.We found significant inequalities in the frequency of playing, reading and telling stories according to sociodemographic characteristics. This information is important to be able to target more effectively vulnerable children using established public health initiatives, like 'Bookstart' and 'Surestart', aimed at promoting play, reading and story telling.

This paper presents a discussion of the applications of adaptive array processing methods in mobile communication systems. A brief history of the development of adaptive arrays is presented together with a summary of current methodologies used for implementation. A “best estimate” of what adaptive applications axe likely in communication systems in the future is provided together with a description of the significant technical challenges. The paper is intended as an overview and does not contain detailed mathematical development.

The mechanical behaviour of carbon-fibre-composite specimens of fibre volume fractions from 30 to 60% and various fibre orientation has been investigated experimentally for compression loading up to 200 MN m−2 and duration approximately 30 μs. A split Hopkinson pressure bar technique has been employed with an optical recording method to monitor the displacements of the end faces of the cylindrical specimen. For specimens loaded along the fibre direction the deformation is characterized by two approximately linear regions of different slope, and an empirical relation has been derived between volume fraction and the modulus obtained from the initial slope.

A gas gun is described which enables a projectile of novel design containing a steel rod to be accelerated to a maximum velocity of 37 m s-1 in a distance of just over 1 m. On impact with a loading bar a stress pulse is produced of ideal trapezoidal shape with a duration of 70 mu s and an amplitude which can be accurately controlled up to a maximum of 700 MPa. The gun differs from conventional systems in that instead of being of narrow bore operating under high driving-gas pressures it uses a wide-bore evacuated tube with atmospheric driving pressure. This enables the system to be much more compact, as well as being simpler and safer to operate.

An improved version of the split-Hopkinson pressure bar system for materials testing at high rates of loading is described. This new system has a preloading bar together with a pulse-shaping dummy specimen of the same material as the test specimen. Using the transmitted pulse through the pulse shaper as a tailored incident pulse for loading the test specimen enables testing to be carried out at virtually constant rates of strain, from about 100 s-1 to 300 s -1. This represents a significant improvement over the normal method where there can be considerable variation in strain rate throughout a test with a consequent uncertainty in the interpretation of the results.

A camera for use in a demountable, continuously evacuated cathode-ray oscillograph is described. It incorporates an air-lock system so that the photographic plate can be replaced without letting down the main vacuum. The volume of air to be pumped out after each change is only of the order of one-quarter litre and the whole operation is accomplished by the rotation of a single ground joint. The camera may be used equally well in an electron microscope or in an electron diffraction apparatus.

The purpose of this workshop was twofold: First, to provide basic background material and information relating to the application of AR methods to the analysis of practical data and second, to discuss current, state of the art theoretical and practical questions relating to a detailed understanding of the AR technique.