Buoyancy and Brownian motion of plastics in aqueous media:Predictions and implications for density separation and aerosol internal mixing state

Nano- and microplastics exist in the environment and atmosphere in mixed-phase aqueous systems. The density and size of plastics as well as the density of the liquid phase determines if these plastics will float or diffuse through the liquid.</jats:p

Queer(ing) Urban Planning and Municipal Governance

To queer urban planning and municipal governance requires explicit civic engagement with sexual and gender minority inclusions, representations and needs in urban plans and policies across departmental and committee silos. This collection questions the hetero-cis-normative assumptions of urban planning and examines the integration of LGBTQ+ issues in municipal governance at the interface of community activism, bureaucratic procedures, and political intervention. The editorial summarizes the contributions to this thematic issue within a tripartite thematic framework: 1) counter-hegemonic reactions to hetero-cis-normativities; 2) queering plans and policies; and 3) governance coalitions and LGBTQ+ activisms

Redistributing More Than the LGBTQ2S Acronym? Planning Beyond Recognition and Rainbows on Vancouver's Periphery

Just urban planning recognizes sociocultural differences and addresses inequality by implementing redistributive mechanisms that move beyond urban neoliberal practices of aestheticization and festivalization. Such planning practices are only beginning to address sexual and gender minority recognition in central urban areas while metronormative assumptions about their geographies absolve suburban municipalities of accountability for LGBTQ+ inclusions. In suburban municipalities, therefore, an LGBTQ+ politics of recognition rarely synchronizes with a politics of redistribution to foster sustained and transformative responses across the professional and managerial boundaries between planning and other local government functions. Consequently, a reparative civic "rainbowization" stands in for transformative urban planning, producing only partial and commodifiable inclusions in the landscape that become absolution for inaction on more evidence-based goals and measurable targets. Drawing on a database of public-facing communication records referencing LGBTQ2S themes for three adjacent peripheral municipalities in the Vancouver city-region (Burnaby, New Westminster, and Surrey), this article analyses the tension between contemporary planning’s civic actions of LGBTQ+ recognition and outcomes of redistribution. In suburban municipalities, a rainbow-washing politics of recognition sidelines transformative planning and policy resulting in little more than the distribution of the LGBTQ2S acronym across municipal documents

Beneath the wings of Aidos (Goddess of Shame) : women finding the courage to live with HIV and the strength to die of AIDS

This study describes the subjective psychological experience of African women positively living with and dying of HIV/AIDS, with a focus on the significant cognitive, emotional and social themes involved in their subjective sense of coping. HIV-positive African women have been identified as being at risk psychologically, due to gender inequality in African culture and society and the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS. Their traditional role as caregivers also places them at risk, but highlights the importance of understanding their experience in order to assist these women and their children. Drawing on interpretive methods within a qualitative research approach, ten women who are coping with their HIV-positive status were interviewed in order to gain an understanding of their experiences of coping with HIV/AIDS. The analysis of the interview material suggests that coping is a process of disconnection and reconnection that entails the ability to know one’s own experience. Coping was found to be a process of mourning in which the individual moves from a time of not coping toward acceptance of their status and the changes this necessitates in their relationships. Resolution of mourning seemed to entail greater integration of these women’s sense of themselves and psychological strength was found to originate in coping with adversity. The study draws on three theoretical approaches, namely positive psychology, object relations theory and analytical psychology. Carl Jung’s theory of individuation and Joseph Campbell’s interpretation of it, The Hero’s Journey, was used as a frame for the theoretical discussion. Within this frame, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ stages of mourning were integrated with Donald Winnicott’s description of separation in the move from dependence to independence, Winnicott’s ideas around the capacity to be alone, Melanie Klein’s description of the move from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position and Wilfred Bion’s ideas around the desire to know one’s own experience. Throughout the discussion a number of concepts from positive psychology were explored, such as: coping styles, social support, participation in life, positive goals, autonomy and resilience. The core of Jung’s theory, which is the integration of all aspects of the self, allowed space to explore distress and coping, both of which are entailed in the process of coping.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Psychologyunrestricte

Chased by the dragon : the experience of relapse in cocaine and heroin users

The purpose of this study is to describe the subjective psychological experience of relapse in cocaine/crack and heroin users with the aim of identifying the significant cognitive, emotional and social themes involved in relapse. A better understanding of relapse may aid in providing more effective treatment for substance users. Both the intra- and interpsychic factors involved in relapse that emerge from the study are viewed from within a broad systems theory approach. In this study, not only the whole system is of relevance, but also the subsystems. Various sub systems are also identified to allow for the recognition of patterns, functions and recursive feedback loops that maintain substance-using behaviour. Due to the qualitative nature of the study, the context surrounding substance abuse and the substance users assumes vital importance. The interrelationships between the various intrapsychic structures, the family unit, the social contexts, the drugs themselves and the physiological aspects of substance abuse are identified. A qualitative research design was applied. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from the eight participants, who were crack and heroin users who attended the in-patient rehabilitation programme at Phoenix House. Seven of the participants were still in the in-patient rehabilitation programme at the time of the interview, while one participant was in the aftercare programme. All have been through a rehabilitation process before and were at Phoenix House due to a relapse. A thematic analysis was conducted and the process of analysis settled on eight overall themes. Extensive descriptions of these themes are provided. The discussion highlights the role of relapse in the cycle of self-destruction that constitutes substance abuse, in addition to the role relapse plays in the process of recovery. Connection seems to be the key to breaking the cycle of alienation that users experience. Falling into the trap of rejecting users without looking beyond their behaviour allows them to continue functioning in a way that confirms their view of themselves as unlovable, which, in turn, maintains their behaviour. Although systems theory is an independent approach in its own right, the nature of its view allows for the incorporation of other approaches. Where possible and relevant, other theories are incorporated into the discussion of the results, with the aim of gaining an integrated understanding of the findings of the study within the broader field of substance abuse.Dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Psychologyunrestricte

Supporting the district nurse to consolidate advanced clinical skills.

Despite evidence that district nursing is valued by the population it serves and that the policy agenda supports healthcare at home, it is well recognised that the district nursing service in some areas is in crisis. It is also acknowledged that the practices of the district nurse vary considerably across the UK. The northeast of Scotland led the way in district nursing in 2013, by moving education and service delivery beyond the traditional district nurse model to supporting education at Master's level and integrating advanced clinical skills in learning. However, this move was not without its challenges for some. With district nurses being lone workers and existing district nurses not practising advanced skills, student district nurses faced considerable challenges in consolidating their skills. At this point, the education was more advanced than the practice experience available

Surface-Area-to-Volume Ratio Determines Surface Tensions in Microscopic, Surfactant-Containing Droplets

Abstract The surface composition of aerosol droplets is central to predicting cloud droplet number concentrations, understanding atmospheric pollutant transformation, and interpreting observations of accelerated droplet chemistry. Due to the large surface-area-to-volume ratios of aerosol droplets, adsorption of surfactant at the air–liquid interface can deplete the droplet’s bulk concentration, leading to droplet surface compositions that do not match those of the solutions that produced them. Through direct measurements of individual surfactant-containing, micrometer-sized droplet surface tensions, and fully independent predictive thermodynamic modeling of droplet surface tension, we demonstrate that, for strong surfactants, the droplet’s surface-area-to-volume ratio becomes the key factor in determining droplet surface tension rather than differences in surfactant properties. For the same total surfactant concentration, the surface tension of a droplet can be >40 mN/m higher than that of the macroscopic solution that produced it. These observations indicate that an explicit consideration of surface-area-to-volume ratios is required when investigating heterogeneous chemical reactivity at the surface of aerosol droplets or estimating aerosol activation to cloud droplets.Abstract The surface composition of aerosol droplets is central to predicting cloud droplet number concentrations, understanding atmospheric pollutant transformation, and interpreting observations of accelerated droplet chemistry. Due to the large surface-area-to-volume ratios of aerosol droplets, adsorption of surfactant at the air–liquid interface can deplete the droplet’s bulk concentration, leading to droplet surface compositions that do not match those of the solutions that produced them. Through direct measurements of individual surfactant-containing, micrometer-sized droplet surface tensions, and fully independent predictive thermodynamic modeling of droplet surface tension, we demonstrate that, for strong surfactants, the droplet’s surface-area-to-volume ratio becomes the key factor in determining droplet surface tension rather than differences in surfactant properties. For the same total surfactant concentration, the surface tension of a droplet can be >40 mN/m higher than that of the macroscopic solution that produced it. These observations indicate that an explicit consideration of surface-area-to-volume ratios is required when investigating heterogeneous chemical reactivity at the surface of aerosol droplets or estimating aerosol activation to cloud droplets

Students as co-creators of teaching approaches, course design and curricula: implications for academic developers

Within higher education, students’ voices are frequently overlooked in the design of teaching approaches, courses and curricula. In this paper we outline the theoretical background to arguments for including students as partners in pedagogical planning processes. We present examples where students have worked collaboratively in design processes along with the beneficial outcomes of these examples. Finally we focus on some of the implications and opportunities for academic developers of proposing collaborative approaches to pedagogical planning

Pho4 mediates phosphate acquisition in Candida albicans and is vital for stress resistance and metal homeostasis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Karl Kuchler for the C. albicans superoxide dismutase mutants used in this study. This work was funded by a Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Program studentship to M.A.C.I.; Wellcome Trust Grants 089930 to J.Q., 080088 to A.J.P.B., and 097377 to J.Q., A.J.P.B., and L.P.E.; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Grants BB/K016393/1 to J.Q. and BB/F00513X/1 and BB/K017365/1 to A.J.P.B.; European Research Council STRIFE Advanced Grant ERC-2009-AdG-249793 to A.J.P.B.; and Wellcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellowship 098375/Z/12/Z to K.J.W. and E.T. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, or interpretation or the decision to submit the work for publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD