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Using data from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) we examined associations between salivary testosterone (Sal-T) and sexual function and behavior. Single morning saliva samples were self-collected from a subsample of participants aged 18–74 years and analyzed using mass spectrometry. 1,599 men and 2,123 women were included in the analysis (40.6% of those invited to provide a sample). We adjusted for confounders in a stepwise manner: in model 1 we adjusted for age only; model 2 for age, season and relationship status, and model 3 we added BMI and self-reported health. In the fully adjusted models, among men, Sal-T was positively associated with both partnered sex (vaginal sex and concurrent partners) and masturbation. Among women, Sal-T was positively associated with masturbation, the only association with partnered sex was with ever experience of same-sex sex. We found no clear association between Sal-T and sexual function. Our study contributes toward addressing the sparsity of data outside the laboratory on the differences between men and women in the relationship between T and sexual function and behavior. To our knowledge, this is the first population study, among men and women, using a mass spectrometry Sal-T assay to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the importance of climate change for the UK building stock and reviews the predictions of the United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme 2002 (UKCIP02) scenarios for the future climate that are of relevance to buildings and construction. The possible impacts of these changes on flooding, wind damage, driving rain impact, subsidence and the internal environment of buildings are reviewed and the steps that might be taken to mitigate these impacts discussed. The current response of regulators, standardisation bodies, building owners and the insurance industry to these impacts is examined, and it is shown that each body acts in different ways to different impacts. Some bodies, such as government departments responsible for building regulations and the insurance industry, are taking the possibility of climate change very seriously. However, the uncertainty of future climate predictions, especially as regards wind speed, means that it is not easy to incorporate these issues in formal legislation. The whole culture of standardisation, which is based on well-established data, such as mean climate data over the last 30 years, makes it difficult for British and European Standards, which underpin regulations, to react to the changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part 1 of this paper (Cheng and Shipstone, International Journal of Science Education, 2003) described a new approach to the teaching of electric circuit theory using box and AVOW diagrams and discussed the potential of the diagrams for supporting learning and problem solving. This, second paper presents the results of preliminary trials which suggest that the programme devised helped UK Year 12 (A-level) learners to develop useful concepts of current and voltage, acquire a more integrated understanding of circuit behavior and overcome their tendencies towards localized and sequential reasoning. In addition the approach provided learners with a valuable aid for problem solving. The programme had quite broad appeal amongst learners and has earned the approval of teachers who have used it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is both growing concern about ethical standards in sport and also rapid expansion in the number of local and national schemes designed to encourage youth sports development. Child abuse in youth sport has become a 'moral panic' in British society but there is evidence of a child protection policy vacuum between national and club level. Sport club child protection schemes are rarely informed by the work of their respective national governing bodies but there is an almost complete absence of empirical data with which to support or challenge claims about child safety in voluntary sector sports clubs. The research reported addresses this knowledge gap. It was designed to explore the extent to which one English midlands county had made provision for child protection and to assess the main issues confronting the county in its efforts to enhance child protection in voluntary sport. Voluntary sector junior sports clubs (n = 396) were sent a postal survey; 129 responded. 19 junior sports focus groups and selected county officers and staff were invited to participate in group or individual interviews during the second half of 1999 (prior to the establishment of the NSPCC/ Sport England Child Protection in Sport Unit). This paper reports the survey and interview data from the voluntary clubs. Results show an extremely varied pattern of awareness of the main child protection issues in the various sports clubs. One common theme emerged, however: there was a clear misapprehension that children are safest amongst those whom they know best and most at risk from those currently outside their sports clubs. This view is firmly contradicted by research statistics on sources of child abuse. The paper argues that the unwillingness of club personnel to challenge their own assumptions is causally linked to a culture of complacency about child protection in voluntary sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England and Wales, the legal framework for substitute decision-making for adults who lack capacity to make financial decisions is provided by the Court of Protection through Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs)and Receiverships. Little is known about the 'patients'of the Court and the capacity assessments made before implementing substitute decision-making. A sample of records (N = 800) indicated that the typical client is an older woman, living in a residential home, with limited financial resources and dementia. Of concern, formal capacity assessment was minimal: for EPAs, the data were too limited to analyse, whilst, for Receiverships, few (21.5 per cent) referred to relevant skills. Compared with other medical practitioners, psychiatrists were significantly more likely to make complex assessments. Nevertheless, none addressed fully the accepted definition of incapacity. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of the proposals (Lord Chancellor's Department, 1999) to reform the current substitute decisionmaking framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of estimating a single equation model of an attendance function for British Rugby League over the seasons 1982/83 to 1990/91. The data are panel data covering virtually every team which played in the two division league over the nine year time period. Diagnostic tests indicate that the appropriate model is a semilog random effects model, where the dependent variable is league attendance weighted by population. The major results are as follows: there are significant positive relationships between league attendance and various measures of team success (although the direction of causality is moot), team quality (as proxied by the two divisions) and the economic quality of team location (as proxied by the unemployment rate); but there is no discernible relationship between league attendance and either success in nonleague trophy competitions or measures of exceptional player quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1944 Education Act is a highly significant moment in educational history. It heralded numerous, far reaching reforms in the provision and governance of English schooling. There were several strands. These included clearly distinguishing between primary and secondary education with the elimination of the former all-age (5-14) elementary sector; ending fees charged for pupils attending publicly provided or grant aided secondary schools (part of a package introducing secondary education for all pupils); the introduction of more equitable funding to localities and to different school sectors. Under the Act the Board of Education was reconstituted as a new Ministry with extended power and plans were announced to extend the school leaving age from 14 to 15. The Act also enabled additional provision at nursery school and Further Education levels and brought in a new system for determining teacher salaries in the maintained sector. This paper reviews some aspects of the authorships and fine-grain construction of the 1944 Act. There is coverage of some of the tensions and debates which prefaced legislation. The paper seeks to critically evaluate some implications of the Act and to explore whether it was as progressive and benevolent as has sometimes been assumed and asserted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the training practices and needs of several British manufacturing organizations of different sizes and product ranges. Impact of innovation on training needs; Training needs brought about by the need to implement statistical process control in manufacturing industries; Use of computer-based training and learning environments.

In this paper long-run changes in infant mortality for 55 regions of Great Britain are examined. A diverse pattern of change, substantially different from the familiar aggregate trend of stability before 1900, followed by general decline, was revealed. In some regions, those with the lowest infant mortality rates, there was improvement from the 1860s, while elsewhere rates increased. Hence several measures of inequality indicated divergence between regional rates from the late nineteenth century to a peak inequality in 1921/31, followed by convergence towards equality. Econometric analysis of these variations in regional inequality suggests that density of housing occupancy, and industrialisation were important factors. Housing density was particularly important in the relatively slow decline in infant mortality in twentieth-century Scotland as compared to England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a Report on technological studies in Great Britain. This Report immediately on its appearance, had the distinction of being considered by members of the Government. It deserved this attention because it confirmed statistically what had long been suspected, namely that much of the blame for the neglect of higher technological studies in this country could be justly put upon the shoulders of headmasters and science masters of boy's grammar and public schools. To an extent unusual in Europe boys from the top grades of our science sixth cluster in the faculties of pure science, while engineering and Diploma in Technology courses draw on the lower grades. Although in some countries (notably Holland and West Germany) there is a tendency for an intellectual Elite to prefer pure science, as in England, this is a smaller Elite, and there are other countries (Sweden and possibly France) where the position is reversed; nowhere does technology fail to attract the best brains to anything approaching the same degree as in this country.