Identity, environment and mental wellbeing in the veterinary profession

Mental health and career dissatisfaction are of increasing concern to the veterinary profession. The influence of identity on the psychological wellbeing of veterinarians has not been widely explored. Twelve recent veterinary graduates were enrolled in a private social media discussion group, and their identities investigated through narrative inquiry: a methodology which enables identity priorities to be extrapolated from stories of experience. Two distinct variants of the veterinary identity were identified: an academic, ‘diagnosis-focused’ identity, which prioritised definitive diagnosis and best-evidence treatment; and a broader ‘challenge-focused’ identity, where priorities additionally included engaging with the client, challenging environment or veterinary business. Contextual challenges (such as a client with limited finances or difficult interpersonal interactions) were seen as a source of frustration for those with a diagnosis-focused identity, as they obstructed the realisation of identity goals. Overcoming these challenges provided satisfaction to those with a challenge-focused identity. The employment environment of the graduates (general veterinary practice) provided more opportunities for those with a challenge-focused identity to realise identity goals, and more markers of emotional wellbeing were apparent in their stories. Markers of poor emotional health were evident in the stories of those with a diagnosis-focused identity

How useful are the stages of change for targeting interventions? randomized test of a brief intervention to reduce smoking

Objectives. To see whether the stages of change are useful for targeting a brief intervention to reduce smoking based on implementation intentions. A second objective was to rule out demand characteristics as an alternative explanation for the findings of intervention studies based on the transtheoretical model and implementation intentions. Design. Participants (N = 350) were randomized to a passive control condition (questionnaire only), active control condition (questionnaire-plus-instruction to plan to quit) or experimental condition (questionnaire, plan to quit, form an implementation intention). Their behavior and psychosocial orientation to quit were measured at baseline and 2-month follow-up. Main Outcome Measures. Theory of planned behavior variables, nicotine dependence and quitting. Results. Significantly more people quit smoking in the experimental condition than in the control conditions, and the planning instructions changed intention to quit and perceived control over quitting, but not behavior. Stage of change moderated these effects such that implementation intentions worked best for individuals who were in the preparation stage at baseline. Conclusion. Harnessing both motivational and volitional processes seems to enhance the effectiveness of smoking cessation programs, although further work is required to clarify inconsistencies in the literature using the stages of change.</p

The challenges and issues of undergraduate student retention and attainment in UK veterinary medical education

Student retention and attainment has recently been identified as a key area for development in veterinary medical education enquiry. Woodfield's research on retention and attainment across the UK disciplines has yielded some unique information about the challenges and issues of students who study veterinary medicine and related subjects. The present literature review aims to expand on Woodfield's findings and explain important issues about retention and attainment across veterinary medicine. Overall, the subject of retention and attainment in undergraduate veterinary medical education needs a great deal more empirical attention, such as data on the retention and attainment of mature and widening access students, and the effects of students being placed at remote locations during their studies. Our findings also cover some unsurprising issues: the dominance of women in a profession that is principally lead by men, the underrepresentation of black and minority ethnic (BME) students in veterinary medicine, and the effects of content overload in the veterinary medical curriculum. Based on data gathered by Woodfield and our investigation of the scholarly and gray literatures, we offer an overview of gaps in current knowledge and recommendations for further research

Single-Cell Enumeration of an Uncultivated TM7 Subgroup in the

Specific oligonucleotide hybridization conditions were established for single-cell enumeration of uncultivated TM7 and IO25 bacteria by using clones expressing heterologous 16S rRNA. In situ analysis of human subgingival crevice specimens revealed that a greater proportion of samples from sites of chronic periodontitis than from healthy sites contained TM7 subgroup IO25. In addition, IO25 bacterial cells from periodontitis site samples were more abundant and fourfold longer than IO25 cells from healthy site samples

Managing standards compliance

Software engineering standards determine practices that `compliant' software processes shall follow. standards generally define practices in terms of constraints that must hold for documents. The document types identified by standards include typical development products, such as user requirements, and also process-oriented documents, such as progress reviews and management reports. The degree of standards compliance can be established by checking these documents against the constraints. It is neither practical nor desirable to enforce compliance at all points in the development process. Thus compliance must be managed rather than imposed. We outline a model of standards and compliance and illustrate it with some examples. We give a brief account of the notations we have developed tosupport the use of the model and describe a support environment we have constructed. We contrast our approach to related work and discuss the broader implications of our findings for process modelling and the management of inconsistent information

Predicting and explaining transtheoretical model stage transitions in relation to condom-carrying behaviour

Objectives: The stages of change component of the transtheoretical model has been applied to safe sex behaviours in cross-sectional analyses, but have not yet been subject to prospective analysis. It was predicted that: (a) cross-sectional analyses would demonstrate good discrimination between the stages of change, (b) prospective analyses would allow for the identification of predictors of stage transitions, and (c) implementation intentions would explain progression from the preparation stage. Design: This study employed an experimental longitudinal design. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (implementation intention) or control conditions and completed questionnaires at baseline and at 2-months follow up. Methods: 525 adolescents who were broadly representative of the UK population completed questionnaires at baseline and follow up (n = 393) measuring: demographic variables, stage of change, theory of planned behaviour constructs, anticipated regret and moral norm in relation to condom carrying behaviour. The experimental condition completed a self-generated implementation intention to carry condoms at the end of the baseline questionnaire. Results: Discriminant function analyses indicated that the stages of change could be accurately discriminated from one another cross-sectionally and that, longitudinally, the measured variables were able to predict transitions between most stages. Implementation intentions caused people to progress from the preparation stage. Conclusions: Transitions between most stages were reliably predicted thereby providing potential targets for intervention. The brief implementation intention intervention was effective and could easily be utilised and expanded to encompass a broader range of sexual health behaviours.</p

Astrometric signatures of self-gravitating protoplanetary discs

We use high resolution numerical simulations to study whether gravitational instabilities within circumstellar discs can produce astrometrically detectable motion of the central star. For discs with masses of M_disc = 0.1 M_star, which are permanantly stable against fragmentation, we find that the magnitude of the astrometric signal depends upon the efficiency of disc cooling. Short cooling times produce prominent filamentary spiral structures in the disc, and lead to stellar motions that are potentially observable with future high precision astrometric experiments. For a disc that is marginally unstable within radii of \~10 au, we estimate astrometric displacements of 10-100 microarcsec on decade timescales for a star at a distance of 100 pc. The predicted displacement is suppressed by a factor of several in more stable discs in which the cooling time exceeds the local dynamical time by an order of magnitude. We find that the largest contribution comes from material in the outer regions of the disc and hence, in the most pessimistic scenario, the stellar motions caused by the disc could confuse astrometric searches for low mass planets orbiting at large radii. They are, however, unlikely to present any complications in searches for embedded planets orbiting at small radii, relative to the disc size, or Jupiter mass planets or greater orbiting at large radii.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Massive planet migration: Theoretical predictions and comparison with observations

We quantify the utility of large radial velocity surveys for constraining theoretical models of Type II migration and protoplanetary disk physics. We describe a theoretical model for the expected radial distribution of extrasolar planets that combines an analytic description of migration with an empirically calibrated disk model. The disk model includes viscous evolution and mass loss via photoevaporation. Comparing the predicted distribution to a uniformly selected subsample of planets from the Lick / Keck / AAT planet search programs, we find that a simple model in which planets form in the outer disk at a uniform rate, migrate inward according to a standard Type II prescription, and become stranded when the gas disk is dispersed, is consistent with the radial distribution of planets for orbital radii 0.1 AU < a < 2.5 AU and planet masses greater than 1.65 Jupiter masses. Some variant models are disfavored by existing data, but the significance is limited (~95%) due to the small sample of planets suitable for statistical analysis. We show that the favored model predicts that the planetary mass function should be almost independent of orbital radius at distances where migration dominates the massive planet population. We also study how the radial distribution of planets depends upon the adopted disk model. We find that the distribution can constrain not only changes in the power-law index of the disk viscosity, but also sharp jumps in the efficiency of angular momentum transport that might occur at small radii.Comment: ApJ, in press. References updated to match published versio

Accretion Disc Evolution in Single and Binary T Tauri Stars

We present theoretical models for the evolution of T Tauri stars surrounded by circumstellar discs. The models include the effects of pre-main-sequence stellar and time dependent disc evolution, and incorporate the effects of stellar magnetic fields acting on the inner disc. For single stars, consistency with observations in Taurus-Auriga demands that disc dispersal occurs rapidly, on much less than the viscous timescale of the disc, at roughly the epoch when heating by stellar radiation first dominates over internal viscous dissipation. Applying the models to close binaries, we find that because the initial conditions for discs in binaries are uncertain, studies of extreme mass ratio systems are required to provide a stringent test of theoretical disc evolution models. We also note that no correlation of the infra-red colours of T Tauri stars with their rotation rate is observed, in apparent contradiction to the predictions of simple magnetospheric accretion models.Comment: 11 pages, MNRAS in pres

The brown dwarf desert as a consequence of orbital migration

We show that the dearth of brown dwarfs in short-period orbits around Solar-mass stars - the brown dwarf desert - can be understood as a consequence of inward migration within an evolving protoplanetary disc. Brown dwarf secondaries forming at the same time as the primary star have masses which are comparable to the initial mass of the protoplanetary disc. Subsequent disc evolution leads to inward migration, and destruction of the brown dwarf, via merger with the star. This is in contrast with massive planets, which avoid this fate by forming at a later epoch when the disc is close to being dispersed. Within this model, a brown dwarf desert arises because the mass at the hydrogen burning limit is coincidentally comparable to the initial disc mass for a Solar mass star. Brown dwarfs should be found in close binaries around very low mass stars, around other brown dwarfs, and around Solar-type stars during the earliest phases of star formation.Comment: MNRAS (Letters), in pres