There’s more to us than this: A qualitative study of Black young adults’ perceptions of media portrayals of HIV

The extent to which the targeted group attends to and is engaged by HIV/STI prevention messages is one component of effective health communication. Through an empirical examination of the cumulative perceptions of HIV/STI prevention media messages targeted to Black youth and young adults, this qualitative study privileges the voices of Black/ African American young adults as a group that is frequently targeted in HIV prevention campaigns. Semi-structured interviews with 23 Black/African American young adults yielded key themes that suggest barriers to effective health communication. Traditionally, health promotion has advocated for targeted messages as a means to increase risk perception and promote behavior change. For some study participants, the unintended consequences of this approach with HIV prevention included a perception that cumulatively media messages (1) portrayed HIV as a “Black disease; (2) blamed Black people for the HIV epidemic; and (3) fostered negative judgments about Black people. Participants described mixed feelings because they perceived that the messages simultaneously increased awareness for HIV prevention in the Black community as well as perpetuated stigma of the Black community. The findings challenge existing notions about targeting health communication particularly when focusing on stigmatized illnesses

'The Great Meeting Place': A Study of Bradford's City Park

noCity Park opened in early 2012 and despite some on-going criticism, during the summer the site drew thousands of people to the heart of Bradford and was the scene of much relaxed and good natured conviviality amongst socially diverse groups. As a new and unique public space in Bradford and a focal point for the city, a number of staff from the Centre for Applied Social Research believed researching City Park to be a fruitful endeavour to help promote a dialogue with the public and other sectors about living together in Bradford

Panel 42 Conference Proceedings: Urban securitisation and the need for humanising alternatives

This panel was co-organised alongside Drs. Anna Barker (Leeds) and Melanie Lombard (Sheffield).This documents presents the proceedings of the panel entitled ' Urban securitisation and the need for humanising alternatives', organised at the RC21 Conference in Leeds 2017. The panel aimed to explore humanising alternatives or approaches to urban securitisation, in support of the articulation of urban security approaches which allow citizens to exercise their rights and participate in the construction of more liveable cities

Impact of phonon scattering in Si/GaAs/InGaAs nanowires and FinFets: a NEGF perspective

This paper reviews our previous theoretical studies and gives further insight into phonon scattering in 3D small nanotransistors using non-equilibrium Green function methodology. The focus is on very small gate-all-around nanowires with Si, GaAs or InGaAs cores. We have calculated phonon-limited mobility and transfer characteristics for a variety of cross-sections at low and high drain bias. The nanowire cross-sectional area is shown to have a significant impact on the phonon-limited mobility and on the current reduction. In a study of narrow Si nanowires we have examined the spatially resolved power dissipation and the validity of Joule’s law. Our results show that only a fraction of the power is dissipated inside the drain region even for a relatively large simulated length extension (approximately 30 nm). When considering large source regions in the simulation domain, at low gate bias, a slight cooling of the source is observed. We have also studied the impact of the real part of phonon scattering self-energy on a narrow nanowire transistor. This real part is usually neglected in nanotransistor simulation, whereas we compute its impact on current–voltage characteristic and mobility. At low gate bias, the imaginary part strongly underestimated the current and the mobility by 50 %. At high gate bias, the two mobilities are similar and the effect on the current is negligible

Offsetting of CO₂ emissions by air capture in mine tailings at the Mount Keith Nickel Mine, Western Australia: Rates, controls and prospects for carbon neutral mining

The hydrated Mg-carbonate mineral, hydromagnesite [Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂•4H₂O], precipitates within mine tailings at the Mount Keith Nickel Mine, Western Australia as a direct result of mining operations. We have used quantitative mineralogical data and δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O and F¹⁴C isotopic data to quantify the amount of CO₂fixation and identify carbon sources. Our radiocarbon results indicate that at least 80% of carbon stored in hydromagnesite has been captured from the modern atmosphere. Stable isotopic results indicate that dissolution of atmospheric CO₂ into mine tailings water is kinetically limited, which suggests that the current rate of carbon mineralization could be accelerated. Reactive transport modeling is used to describe the observed variation in tailings mineralogy and to estimate rates of CO₂ fixation. Based on our assessment, approximately 39,800 t/yr of atmospheric CO₂ are being trapped and stored in tailings at Mount Keith. This represents an offsetting of approximately 11% of the mine's annual greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, passive sequestration via enhanced weathering of mineral waste can capture and store a significant amount of CO₂. Recommendations are made for changes to tailings management and ore processing practices that have potential to accelerate carbonation of tailings and further reduce or completely offset the net greenhouse gas emissions at Mount Keith and many other mines

Scanning electrochemical microscopy as a local probe of oxygen permeability in cartilage

The use of scanning electrochemical microscopy, a high-resolution chemical imaging technique, to probe the distribution and mobility of solutes in articular cartilage is described. In this application, a mobile ultramicroelectrode is positioned close (not, vert, similar1 μm) to the cartilage sample surface, which has been equilibrated in a bathing solution containing the solute of interest. The solute is electrolyzed at a diffusion-limited rate, and the current response measured as the ultramicroelectrode is scanned across the sample surface. The topography of the samples was determined using Ru(CN)64−, a solute to which the cartilage matrix was impermeable. This revealed a number of pit-like depressions corresponding to the distribution of chondrocytes, which were also observed by atomic force and light microscopy. Subsequent imaging of the same area of the cartilage sample for the diffusion-limited reduction of oxygen indicated enhanced, but heterogeneous, permeability of oxygen across the cartilage surface. In particular, areas of high permeability were observed in the cellular and pericellular regions. This is the first time that inhomogeneities in the permeability of cartilage toward simple solutes, such as oxygen, have been observed on a micrometer scale

Microbial bioerosion: testing a new technique to differentiate stillborn, perinatal, and neonatal infants in archaeological samples.

First reported by Carl Wedl in 1864, microbial bioerosion is one of the most common and destructive taphonomic processes to act on skeletal material within the archaeological record. It refers to when microbes such as fungi, cyanobacteria, and bacteria breakdown mineralised hydroxyapatite to access bone collagen. Significantly lower prevalence rates for bacterial bioerosion in the bones of human and animal neonatal infants have been linked to the widely accepted sterility of foetal gastro-intestinal tracts, with the implication that infants who lack evidence for bacterial bioerosion did not survive long enough for their gut microflora to develop after birth. It is possible then, that assessments of microbial bioerosion in archaeological infant skeletal remains could be used to differentiate stillborn infants from older post-natal infants. Accurate age-at-death estimations for these individuals are important as infant mortality is considered to be a sensitive indicator of maternal and population health. The main aim of this thesis was to test the efficacy of micro-CT imaging to assessments of microbial bioerosion in archaeological infant skeletal remains from a tropical environment. This was achieved using a sample of eight infants from ‘Atele, a Chiefdom Period burial site in the Kingdom of Tonga. The second aim of this thesis was to provide insights into the biosocial context of the ‘Atele population within the Chiefdom period of Tongan culture history. Age-at-death estimations were calculated for these infants using a combination of dental and skeletal ageing standards. Micro-CT imaging was then used, as a non-destructive alternative to traditional histological techniques, to image the internal microstructure of a bone from each infant. Next, the micro-CT images captured were assessed for microibal bioerosion using the Oxford Histological Index. And lastly, the results of this assessment were compared to the results of previous research preformed on the ‘Atele skeletal collection. Of the infants assessed, all but one died within the first year of life. Three of these infants died within the first three months of life. The remaining individual was given an age-at-death of ca. 35.8 gestational weeks, suggesting it could have been a stillborn or premature infant. All the ‘Atele infants assessed displayed extensive evidence of bacterial bioerosion, including the possible stillborn individual discussed above. As the gastro-intestinal tract is believed to be rapidly colonised at birth, particularly through feeding, it is likely this individual was born premature and survived long enough after birth for at least its first feed. The level of perinatal and neonatal mortality within the ‘Atele population suggests that maternal health was being negatively impacted by some factor, likely a combination of nutritional and health related stress. The results of this study show micro-CT to be a valuable, non-destructive method for the imaging of the internal microstructure of bone for assessments of microbial bioerosion, however a certain degree of skill and experience is recommended to accurately interpret the information captured. This is particularly important when applying assessment methods developed for adult lamellar bone to images of infant woven bone. This study also supports the possibility of assessments of microbial bioerosion to be used to differentiate stillborn and premature infants from older post-natal infants. It also showed interesting potential for bacterial bioerosion to be used as a breastfeeding signal when used in conjunction with other methods such as stable isotope analysis. It may be beneficial to future research to test the results of this micro-CT assessment using traditional histological techniques

Amplifying Quiet Voices: Challenges and Opportunities for Participatory Design at an Urban Scale

Many Smart City projects are beginning to consider the role of citizens. However, current methods for engaging urban populations in participatory design activities are somewhat limited. In this paper, we describe an approach taken to empower socially disadvantaged citizens, using a variety of both social and technological tools, in a smart city project. Through analysing the nature of citizens’ concerns and proposed solutions, we explore the benefits of our approach, arguing that engaging citizens can uncover hyper-local concerns that provide a foundation for finding solutions to address citizen concerns. By reflecting on our approach, we identify four key challenges to utilising participatory design at an urban scale; balancing scale with the personal, who has control of the process, who is participating and integrating citizen-led work with local authorities. By addressing these challenges, we will be able to truly engage citizens as collaborators in co-designing their city