194 research outputs found
Lived Experiences of American Adults who Survive COVID-19: Implications for Physical Activity and Interpersonal Stress
Introduction: The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed 579 million globally. Symptoms during and after COVID-19 infection vary from mild cold symptoms to severe multisystem illness. Given the wide range of symptom presentations and complications post COVID-19, the purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of American adults surviving COVID-19.
Method: This study employed an exploratory qualitative description design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 35 individuals, [white (94%), female (71%), mean age = 43.7 years], with proximity to a university in an urban Midwest American city. Interviews occurred between May and August 2021, three or more months after participants tested positive for COVID-19.
Results: Forty percent of the 35 participants experienced prolonged COVID-19 symptoms impacting their lifestyle. Four themes characterized the impacts of the post COVID-19 condition on the lives of the participants within the context of a global pandemic: (a) disruptions in health & well-being, (b) persistent uncertainty, (c) disruptions in interpersonal relationships, (d) beneficent outcomes and adaptation.
Discussion: This study of COVID-19 has identified important implications for physical activity and interpersonal stress. Prolonged COVID-19 symptoms led to disruptions in the health, well-being, and interpersonal relationships of participants. Healthcare professionals need to attend to symptoms post COVID-19, assess interpersonal functioning, and provide guidance on physical activity. Future studies are recommended to track consequences of COVID-19’s impact on long-term health and well-being
Entrepreneurial capital, social values and Islamic traditions: exploring the growth of women-owned enterprises in Pakistan
Main ArticleThis study seeks to explore the variables contributing to the growth of women-owned enterprises in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Based on a previously established multivariate model, it uses two econometric approaches: first classifying variables into predetermined blocks; and second, using the general to specific approach. Statistical analyses and in-depth interviews confirm that women entrepreneurs’ personal resources and social capital have a significant role in their business growth. Further, it reveals that the moral support of immediate family, independent mobility and being allowed to meet with men play a decisive role in the sales and employment growth of women-owned enterprises in an Islamic country such as Pakistan
Structure, Photophysics and the Order-Disorder Transition to the Beta Phase in Poly(9,9-(di -n,n-octyl)fluorene)
X-ray diffraction, UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy
have been used to study the well-known order-disorder transition (ODT) to the
beta phase in poly(9,9-(di n,n-octyl)fluorene)) (PF8) thin film samples through
combination of time-dependent and temperature-dependent measurements. The ODT
is well described by a simple Avrami picture of one-dimensional nucleation and
growth but crystallization, on cooling, proceeds only after molecular-level
conformational relaxation to the so called beta phase. Rapid thermal quenching
is employed for PF8 studies of pure alpha phase samples while extended
low-temperature annealing is used for improved beta phase formation. Low
temperature PL studies reveal sharp Franck-Condon type emission bands and, in
the beta phase, two distinguishable vibronic sub-bands with energies of
approximately 199 and 158 meV at 25 K. This improved molecular level structural
order leads to a more complete analysis of the higher-order vibronic bands. A
net Huang-Rhys coupling parameter of just under 0.7 is typically observed but
the relative contributions by the two distinguishable vibronic sub-bands
exhibit an anomalous temperature dependence. The PL studies also identify
strongly correlated behavior between the relative beta phase 0-0 PL peak
position and peak width. This relationship is modeled under the assumption that
emission represents excitons in thermodynamic equilibrium from states at the
bottom of a quasi-one-dimensional exciton band. The crystalline phase, as
observed in annealed thin-film samples, has scattering peaks which are
incompatible with a simple hexagonal packing of the PF8 chains.Comment: Submitted to PRB, 12 files; 1 tex, 1 bbl, 10 eps figure
Idle hands are the devil’s tools: The geopolitics and geoeconomics of hunger
In current geopolitical and geoeconomic discourses, hunger is understood as both a threat to be contained, resulting in an often severe social and spatial localization of food insecurity, and a humanitarian problem to be solved through diffuse global flows of food and other aid. The resulting scalar tensions demonstrate the potentially contradictory alignment of geopolitics and geoeconomics within processes of globalization and neoliberalization. This article examines the geopolitical and geoeconomic place of hunger and the hungry through a critical analysis of the food-for-work (FFW) approach to combating hunger. FFW programs distribute food aid in exchange for labor, and have long been used to plan and deliver food aid. While debate continues as to whether and under what conditions FFW programs are socially and economically just, governments, international institutions, and NGOs tout them as a flexible and efficient way to deliver targeted aid, promote community development, and improve long-term prospects for economic development and food security. In the post-9/11 period, FFW programs are also cited as effective deterrents to terrorist recruitment strategies, while development and food security more broadly have been incorporated into national security strategies, especially but not only in the United States. The food-for-work approach attempts to resolve the scalar contradictions of hunger through the imposition of a labor requirement that disciplines the threat of the hungry while enforcing global connection. Case studies of FFW programs in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Indonesia illustrate this contradiction, and highlight the development and possible future of approaches to hunger under neoliberal geopolitics
Effects of smoking cessation on weight gain, metabolic rate, caloric consumption, and blood lipids.
Thirteen sedentary adult females successfully quit smoking cigarettes for 48 days. Mean daily caloric consumption increased 227 kcal and mean weight gain was 2.2 kg. There were no measurable acute effects of smoke inhalation and no chronic net effects of smoking cessation on resting metabolic rate, as determined by oxygen consumption and respiratory exchange ratio. After 1 yr, subjects who continued to abstain gained an average of 8.2 kg. HDL-cholesterol increased 7 mg/dl in 48 days; however, this effect was lost in those who returned to smoking. Increased caloric consumption accounted for 69% of weight gained immediately following smoking cessation. Factors other than changes in caloric consumption and metabolic rate may be responsible for a significant proportion (31 %) of the weight gained in individuals who quit smoking
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