1,272 research outputs found
Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy: Assessment Tool Development and an Evaluation of a College-Based Curriculum
Studentsâ mental health issues are a common concern on college campuses and are often addressed via prevention programming called mental health literacy. This dissertation consists of two studies regarding mental health literacy programming for college students at a western university in the United States. In study one, the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool (MHAA-AT) was created and evaluated for its utility in assessing college studentsâ mental health literacy. This assessment tool is unique in that it is built upon a process-based approach to mental health literacy. The assessment tool demonstrated adequate psychometric properties and it was deemed an appropriate tool to assess college studentsâ mental health literacy, specifically their declarative knowledge, self-efficacy, and behaviors. In study two the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy (MHAA) curriculum was created and evaluated in a college student population. The MHAA curriculum is unique in that is taught in-person or online in a degree seeking program at a college or university. Results from study two suggest that the MHAA curriculum was effective in increasing college studentsâ mental health literacy scores, specifically their declarative knowledge and self-efficacy. The benefit of this two-study dissertation is that it provides a unique way to deliver and evaluate effective mental health literacy prevention programming on a larger scale via a degree-seeking program to college students
Understanding BL Lac objects Structural & kinematic mode changes in the BL Lac object PKS 0735+178
Context. We present evidence that parsec-scale jets in BL Lac objects may be
significantly distinct in kinematics from their counterparts in quasars. We
argued this previously for the BL lac sources 1803+784 and 0716+714, report
here a similar pattern for another well-known BL Lac object, PKS 0735+178,
whose nuclear jet is found to exhibit kinematics atypical of quasars. Aims. A
detailed study of the jet components' motion reveals that the standard AGN
paradigm of apparent superluminal motion does not always describe the
kinematics in BL Lac objects. We study 0735+178 here to augment and improve the
understanding of the peculiar motions in the jets of BL Lac objects as a class.
Methods. We analyzed 15 GHz VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) observations
(2cm/MOJAVE survey) performed at 23 epochs between 1995.27 and 2008.91.
Results. We found a drastic structural mode change in the VLBI jet of 0735+178,
between 2000.4 and 2001.8 when its twice sharply bent trajectory turned into a
linear shape.We further found that this jet had undergone a similar transition
sometime between December 1981 and June 1983. A mode change, occurring in the
reverse direction (between mid-1992 and mid-1995) has already been reported in
the literature. These structural mode changes are found to be reflected in
changed kinematical behavior of the nuclear jet, manifested as an apparent
superluminal motion and stationarity of the radio knots. In addition, we found
the individual mode changes to correlate in time with the maxima in the optical
light curve. The last two transitions occurred before a (modest) radio flare.
The behavior of this pc-scale jet appears to favor a scenario involving
non-ballistic motions of the radio knots, produced by the precession of a
continuous jet within the ambient medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (Abstract reduced for astro-ph
A new look inside Planetary Nebula LoTr 5: A long-period binary with hints of a possible third component
LoTr 5 is a planetary nebula with an unusual long-period binary central star.
As far as we know, the pair consists of a rapidly rotating G-type star and a
hot star, which is responsible for the ionization of the nebula. The rotation
period of the G-type star is 5.95 days and the orbital period of the binary is
now known to be 2700 days, one of the longest in central star of
planetary nebulae. The spectrum of the G central star shows a complex H
double-peaked profile which varies with very short time scales, also reported
in other central stars of planetary nebulae and whose origin is still unknown.
We present new radial velocity observations of the central star which allow us
to confirm the orbital period for the long-period binary and discuss the
possibility of a third component in the system at 129 days to the G star.
This is complemented with the analysis of archival light curves from SuperWASP,
ASAS and OMC. From the spectral fitting of the G-type star, we obtain a
effective temperature of = 5410250 K and surface gravity of
= 2.70.5, consistent with both giant and subgiant stars. We also
present a detailed analysis of the H double-peaked profile and conclude
that it does not present correlation with the rotation period and that the
presence of an accretion disk via Roche lobe overflow is unlikely.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Measuring Mental Health Literacy: Development of the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool
Background: Mental health literacy programs are a common community-based approach used to address the prevention of mental health issues on college campuses. Current assessment strategies used to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs often lack strong theoretical rational and psychometric rigor.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold. First, based upon extant literature, theory, and standard clinical practice, we propose a process-based model of mental health literacy that includes three macro factorsâidentifying mental health issues, locating empirically based resources, and responding to mental health issuesâand three micro processes of how they unfoldâacquiring knowledge, building self-efficacy, and applying skills (behavior). The second aim was to test the psychometric properties of a new tool created to evaluate this process-based modelâthe Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool (MHAA-AT).
Setting: Not applicable.
Intervention: Not applicable.
Research Design: A national sample of 296 college attending participants were recruited from Amazonâs Mechanical Turk. Participants responded to a demographic questionnaire and the newly developed MHAA-AT. Psychometric properties were examined through item response theory, exploratory factor analyses, and bivariate correlations.
Findings: Results suggest the MHAA-AT is a sound measure and demonstrates appropriate item, person, and trait characteristics on declarative knowledge items, and single factor structures on self-efficacy and behavior items with moderate to high reliability and validity. While additional testing is need among other samples, results suggest that the MHAA-AT is a quality assessment tool.
Keywords: College students; mental health literacy; item response theory; measuremen
Frequency-dependent time-delays for strong outbursts in selected blazars from the MetsĂ€hovi and the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory monitoring databases â I
The combined data of the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory and MetsÀhovi Radio Observatory provide us with radio light curves for active galactic nuclei monitored by both observatories from 4.8 to 37 GHz covering time-intervals up to similar to 25 yr. We consider here such composite light curves for four gamma-ray blazars that have been nearly continuously monitored at both observatories: 0458-020, 0528+134, 1730-130 and 2230+114. We have decomposed the most prominent outbursts in the light curves of these four blazars into individual components using Gaussian model fitting, and estimated the epochs, amplitudes, and half-widths of these components as functions of frequency. We attempt to distinguish 'core outbursts', which show frequency-dependent time-delays and are associated with brightening of the core, from 'jet outbursts', which appear nearly synchronous at all frequencies and are accompanied by the emergence of new jet components and their subsequent evolution. The outbursts in 0528+134 and 2230+114 display fine structure and consist of individual sub-outbursts. Available 43-GHz Very Long Baseline Array images allow us to identify only one pure core outburst (in 2230+114) and one pure jet outburst (0458-020). Most of the outbursts analysed are mixed, in the sense that they display frequency-dependent time-delays (i.e. they are optically thick) and are associated with the eventual emergence of new jet components. The maxima of the jet and mixed outbursts probably correspond to epochs when newly ejected components become fully optically thin. These epochs are also marked by a significant increase in the angular velocities of the ejected components. There is evidence that the outbursts in 2230+114 repeat every 8.0 +/- 0.3 yr, with the positions of individual suboutbursts being preserved from one quasi-periodic eight-year cycle to another, even though their amplitudes vary by more than a factor of 2. Preliminary estimates of the total durations of possible activity cycles based on an analysis of total flux-density variations and all available very long baseline interferometry data are given for the remaining sources
Frequency-dependent time delays for strong outbursts in selected blazars from the MetsĂhovi and UMRAO monitoring data bases â II
We analyse the radio light curves of the blazars 1308+326, 2223â052 and 2251+158 using University of Michigan Radio Observatory and MetsĂhovi Radio Observatory multifrequency monitoring data combined with high-resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations in order to extract the properties of prominent outbursts. The outbursts are classified as âcoreâ and âjetâ events according to their behaviour at different frequencies and their associations with features appearing in the VLBI jet. We define the activity cycle for each blazar as the time interval between successive âcoreâ outbursts. The durations of the activity cycle derived in this way are â„14 yr for 1308+326, âŒ12 yr for 2223â052 and 12.4 ± 0.6 yr for 2251+158. We find an unusual frequency dependence for the time profiles for a major flare in 1308+326, which may provide evidence for acceleration or bending of the jet flow in the optically thick part of the emission region. Analysis of these activity cycles, combined with our earlier results, leads us to suggest that more luminous blazars possess shorter activity cycles, consistent with the accretion rates being higher in more powerful sources (relative to the Eddington rate).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72279/1/j.1365-2966.2007.12281.x.pd
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