The Impact of the Therapeutic Relationship on Transgender Clients’ Perceptions of Their Therapist

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between therapist practices, the therapeutic relationship and their impact on how transgender clients feel about their therapist. Previous research on therapist practices and the therapeutic relationship has looked into how these variables influence lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients’ feelings about their therapist, but as of yet, the dynamic has not been analyzed for transgender clients. Given the disproportionate prevalence for severe mental health issues in the transgender community, it is urgent that barriers to adequate and meaningful therapy outcomes be identified and addressed. Seventy eight participants were recruited from social media sites, such as Discord and Twitter, and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), to answer an online survey which included a demographic questionnaire, the Working Alliance Inventory – Short Form, the Real Relationship Inventory – Client Form, the Counselor Rating Form – Short, and the Therapist Practices (Adapted). Both the working alliance and the real relationship were found to significantly predict clients’ feelings about their therapists. The working alliance was found to have the strongest predictive power. The real relationship was also found to have significant predictive power. Similar to previous studies, affirming therapist practices did not add significance in predicting clients’ feelings about their therapist beyond the working alliance and real relationship

Extending the limits of direct high angular resolution infrared astronomical imaging

Observing in the infrared (IR) part of the electromagnetic spectrum is now an established tool of astronomy. It allows investigations of, among others, high redshift galaxies, star formation regions and very low mass stars close to the hydrogen burning limit as well as providing information complementary to that obtained in other regions of the spectrum.The dimensions of infrared arrays have increased over the years from 62 x 58 in IRCAMl, the first infrared imager on the UK Infrared Telescope, to the 2562 array in IRCAM3, the current camera, soon to be superceded by 10242 arrays in the next generation of instruments. In this thesis, I describe the first observing programme which uses infrared observations to measure trigonometric parallaxes - made possible through the introduction of larger IR arrays. In this programme, certain difficulties associated with infrared techniques are encountered and described with results presented for a previously measured star and a brown dwarf candidate.A major benefit of observing in the infrared is that atmospheric distortion has less of an effect on the formation of images - seeing on a good site can be iv < 0.5" at 2µm. The recent development of Adaptive Optics (AO) systems, which compensate for wavefront aberrations as observations are made, further reduce the effects of atmospheric distortion.AO systems have a servo -loop in which a deformable mirror attempts to remove the distortion present in the measured wavefront. In this thesis, I describe a method of real time characterisation of the most recent behaviour of the atmosphere, as observed by an AO system. Rather than reacting to the last measured distortion, this knowledge can be used in the servo -loop to reduce mirror fitting errors by predicting the next mirror shape. I describe a series of simulations which prove the validity of this novel technique. Finally, with simulations of the AO system being built for the William Herschel Telescope, I show that the improvement in performance available through prediction allows use of an AO guide star about 0.25 magnitudes fainter when compared with the non -predictive case

Wilona Sessions, Keith Brockie Team Teaching Project Spring 2008

Supports faculty to redesign or develop a course in ways that implement high-impact, evidence-based, and/or innovative teaching strategies to improve student learning

In a Pickle: Is Cornichon Just Relish or Part of the Main Dish?

The recent discovery that vertebrate homologs of Drosophila cornichon associate with AMPA receptors led to the unexpected notion that cornichons play a role in synaptic transmission. In this issue of Neuron, Kato et al. find that cornichons modulate the gating of TARP-associated AMPA receptors by preventing their resensitization to glutamate

Representing Private Citizens in Contemporary British Theatre: The Legal and Ethical Challenges

Among the considerations within UK law when determining what can or cannot be written or expressed about a person, there is a clear distinction between a private citizen and one whose life is in the public domain (Defamation Act 2013). Given that the law recognises this distinction, and that biographical work about well-known people is more prevalent and subject to scrutiny, there are fewer models for the process of successful collaboration with, and representation of, people who are not public figures. Creating theatre based on the ‘facts’ of somebody’s life requires a degree of selection, enhancement and / or invention which is further complicated when the subject is living. Their capacity to change over time presents significant challenges. Similarly, the malleable medium of theatre itself, described in the Analysis of Theatre in England report (Arts Council, 2016) as being “responsive to time and place, circumstance and situations”, further complicates the process. This research project aims to test and demonstrate the issues involved in reconciling the ethical, legal and practical problems inherent in creating drama from the shared personal narrative of a private individual. The ‘Reality Theatre’ modes, as categorised by Caroline Wake (2010) - such as documentary, verbatim and biography - demonstrate and exemplify different ways in which theatre can become a vehicle for the representation of personal narrative. With specific reference to verbatim theatre, Amanda Stuart-Fisher (2011, p.200) acknowledges that “there seem to be very few examples of playwrights evaluating their projects by consulting those whose stories generated it”. This thesis argues that consultation and transparency of practice for working in any of the ‘Reality Theatre’ modes, where living subjects are involved, is essential to successful collaboration and for reducing what Mary Luckhurst describes as “ethical stress” (2011, p.135) for those involved in the creation of such work. With a view to raising and illustrating these issues, it seemed appropriate to explore how different theatrical modes could impact on the choices and decisions made in how to interpret a ‘told’ story. With the intention of exploring what this might mean in practical terms, I invited the collaboration of a person whose life is not in the public domain, and with their consent documented a series of interviews which contributed to, and culminated in, a performance based on events in their life. Suneet, a Psychology Lecturer with whom I professionally worked at the time, agreed to be involved in this project as a research participant (RP) and together we collaborated on the creation of an original ‘Reality Theatre’ play entitled Suneet’s Story. This short play follows a simple narrative structure based loosely on Gustav Freytag’s ‘Pyramid’, adapting each of the plot points to correlate with shifts in presentational style through the ‘Reality Theatre’ modes: documentary, verbatim and (auto)biography. The ensuing investigation explores, through Practice as Research (PaR), the challenges and opportunities for contemporary theatre makers wishing to represent living private citizens in their work by considering issues surrounding the ethics and legality of approaches to research, ethical value, the generation and ownership of material, social and political intent, notions of personhood, truth and truthfulness, and the degrees to which lived experience can ever be authentically represented. All aspects of this study are to be transparent and held up to scrutiny in order to generate findings that will inform future theatre-making practice

Racial and cultural minority experiences and perceptions of health care provision in a mid-western region

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Disparities across a number of health indicators between the general population and particular racial and cultural minority groups including African Americans, Native Americans and Latino/a Americans have been well documented. Some evidence suggests that particular groups may receive poorer standards of care due to biased beliefs or attitudes held by health professionals. Less research has been conducted in specifically non-urban areas with smaller minority populations. Methods: This study explored the self-reported health care experiences for 117 racial and cultural minority Americans residing in a Mid-Western jurisdiction. Prior health care experiences (including perceived discrimination), attitudes towards cultural competence and satisfaction with health care interactions were ascertained and compared across for four sub-groups (African-American, Native American, Latino/a American, Asian American). A series of multiple regression models then explored relationships between a concert of independent variables (cultural strength, prior experiences of discrimination, education level) and health care service preferences and outcomes. Results: Overall, racial/cultural minority groups (African Americans, Native Americans, Latino/a Americans, and Asian Americans) reported general satisfaction with current healthcare providers, low levels of both health care provider racism and poor treatment, high levels of cultural strength and good access to health care services. Native American participants however, reported more frequent episodes of poor treatment compared to other groups. Incidentally, poor treatment predicted lower levels of treatment satisfaction and racist experiences predicted being afraid of attending conventional health care services. Cultural strength predicted a preference for consulting a health care professional from the same cultural background. Conclusions: This study provided a rare insight into minority health care expectations and experiences in a region with comparatively lower proportions of racial and cultural minorities. Additionally, the study explored the impact of cultural strength on health care interactions and outcomes. While the bulk of the sample reported satisfaction with treatment, the notable minority of participants reporting poor treatment is still of some concern. Cultural strength did not appear to impact health care behaviours although it predicted a desire for cultural matching. Implications for culturally competent health care provision are discussed within

Free-induction-decay magnetometer based on a microfabricated Cs vapor cell

We describe an optically pumped Cs magnetometer containing a 1.5 mm thick microfabricated vapor cell with nitrogen buffer gas operating in a free-induction-decay (FID) configuration. This allows us to monitor the free Larmor precession of the spin coherent Cs atoms by separating the pump and probe phases in the time domain. A single light pulse can sufficiently polarize the atomic sample however, synchronous modulation of the light field actively drives the precession and maximizes the induced spin coherence. Both amplitude and frequency modulation have been implemented with noise floors of 3 pT / √ Hz and 16 pT / √ Hz respectively within the Nyquist limited bandwidth of 500 Hz

An imaging system for standardized quantitative analysis of C. elegans behavior

BACKGROUND: The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is widely used for the genetic analysis of neuronal cell biology, development, and behavior. Because traditional methods for evaluating behavioral phenotypes are qualitative and imprecise, there is a need for tools that allow quantitation and standardization of C. elegans behavioral assays. RESULTS: Here we describe a tracking and imaging system for the automated analysis of C. elegans morphology and behavior. Using this system, it is possible to record the behavior of individual nematodes over long time periods and quantify 144 specific phenotypic parameters. CONCLUSIONS: These tools for phenotypic analysis will provide reliable, comprehensive scoring of a wide range of behavioral abnormalities, and will make it possible to standardize assays such that behavioral data from different labs can readily be compared. In addition, this system will facilitate high-throughput collection of phenotypic data that can ultimately be used to generate a comprehensive database of C. elegans phenotypic information. AVAILABILITY: The hardware configuration and software for the system are available from [email protected]