1,019 research outputs found
Making digital cultures of gender and sexuality with social media
This article introduces a special issue concerning the interweaving of gender, sexuality, and social media. There are 10 articles included in the issue which together map out a landscape of diverse areas of interest covering topics such as sexism and harassment, health and wellbeing, relationships, and leisure
Inter-rater reliability of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX): comparative data from non-clinician respondents – all raters are not equal
Primary objective: The Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) is used to obtain information about executive and emotional problems after neuropathology. The DEX is self-completed by the patient (DEX-S) and an independent rater such as a family member (DEX-I). This study examined the level of inter-rater agreement between either two or three non-clinician raters on the DEX-I in order to establish the reliability of DEX-I ratings.
Methods and procedures: Family members and/or carers of 60 people with mixed neuropathology completed the DEX-I. For each patient, DEX-I ratings were obtained from either two or three raters who knew the person well prior to brain injury.
Main outcomes and results: We obtained two independent-ratings for 60 patients and three independent-ratings for 36 patients. Intra-class correlations revealed that there was only a modest level of agreement for items, subscale and total DEX scores between raters for their particular family member. Several individual DEX items had low reliability and ratings for the emotion sub-scale had the lowest level of agreement.
Conclusions: Independent DEX ratings completed by two or more non-clinician raters show only moderate correlation. Suggestions are made for improving the reliability of DEX-I ratings.</p
Prospective memory functioning among ecstasy/polydrug users: evidence from the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT)
Rationale:
Prospective memory (PM) deficits in recreational drug users have been documented in recent years. However, the assessment of PM has largely been restricted to self-reported measures that fail to capture the distinction between event-based and time-based PM. The aim of the present study is to address this limitation.
Objectives:
Extending our previous research, we augmented the range laboratory measures of PM by employing the CAMPROMPT test battery to investigate the impact of illicit drug use on prospective remembering in a sample of cannabis only, ecstasy/polydrug and non-users of illicit drugs, separating event and time-based PM performance. We also administered measures of executive function and retrospective memory in order to establish whether ecstasy/polydrug deficits in PM were mediated by group differences in these processes.
Results:
Ecstasy/polydrug users performed significantly worse on both event and time-based prospective memory tasks in comparison to both cannabis only and non-user groups. Furthermore, it was found that across the whole sample, better retrospective memory and executive functioning was associated with superior PM performance. Nevertheless, this association did not mediate the drug-related effects that were observed. Consistent with our previous study, recreational use of cocaine was linked to PM deficits.
Conclusions:
PM deficits have again been found among ecstasy/polydrug users, which appear to be unrelated to group differences in executive function and retrospective memory. However, the possibility that these are attributable to cocaine use cannot be excluded
Risk factors for delayed presentation and referral of symptomatic cancer: Evidence for common cancers
Background:It has been suggested that the known poorer survival from cancer in the United Kingdom, compared with other European countries, can be attributed to more advanced cancer stage at presentation. There is, therefore, a need to understand the diagnostic process, and to ascertain the risk factors for increased time to presentation.Methods:We report the results from two worldwide systematic reviews of the literature on patient-mediated and practitioner-mediated delays, identifying the factors that may influence these.Results:Across cancer sites, non-recognition of symptom seriousness is the main patient-mediated factor resulting in increased time to presentation. There is strong evidence of an association between older age and patient delay for breast cancer, between lower socio-economic status and delay for upper gastrointestinal and urological cancers and between lower education level and delay for breast and colorectal cancers. Fear of cancer is a contributor to delayed presentation, while sanctioning of help seeking by others can be a powerful mediator of reduced time to presentation. For practitioner delay, ‘misdiagnosis’ occurring either through treating patients symptomatically or relating symptoms to a health problem other than cancer, was an important theme across cancer sites. For some cancers, this could also be linked to inadequate patient examination, use of inappropriate tests or failing to follow-up negative or inconclusive test results.Conclusion:Having sought help for potential cancer symptoms, it is therefore important that practitioners recognise these symptoms, and examine, investigate and refer appropriately. © 2009 Cancer Research UK All rights reserved
Ovarian cancer symptom awareness and anticipated delayed presentation in a population sample
Background: While ovarian cancer is recognised as having identifiable early symptoms, understanding of the key determinants of symptom awareness and early presentation is limited. A population-based survey of ovarian cancer awareness and anticipated delayed presentation with symptoms was conducted as part of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP). Methods: Women aged over 50 years were recruited using random probability sampling (n = 1043). Computer-assisted telephone interviews were used to administer measures including ovarian cancer symptom recognition, anticipated time to presentation with ovarian symptoms, health beliefs (perceived risk, perceived benefits/barriers to early presentation, confidence in symptom detection, ovarian cancer worry), and demographic variables. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the contribution of independent variables to anticipated presentation (categorised as < 3 weeks or ≥ 3 weeks). Results: The most well-recognised symptoms of ovarian cancer were post-menopausal bleeding (87.4%), and persistent pelvic (79.0%) and abdominal (85.0%) pain. Symptoms associated with eating difficulties and changes in bladder/bowel habits were recognised by less than half the sample. Lower symptom awareness was significantly associated with older age (p ≤ 0.001), being single (p ≤ 0.001), lower education (p ≤ 0.01), and lack of personal experience of ovarian cancer (p ≤ 0.01). The odds of anticipating a delay in time to presentation of ≥ 3 weeks were significantly increased in women educated to degree level (OR = 2.64, 95% CI 1.61 – 4.33, p ≤ 0.001), women who reported more practical barriers (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.34 – 1.91, p ≤ 0.001) and more emotional barriers (OR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.06 – 1.40, p ≤ 0.01), and those less confident in symptom detection (OR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.42 – 0.73, p ≤ 0.001), but not in those who reported lower symptom awareness (OR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.91 – 1.07, p = 0.74). Conclusions: Many symptoms of ovarian cancer are not well-recognised by women in the general population. Evidence-based interventions are needed not only to improve public awareness but also to overcome the barriers to recognising and acting on ovarian symptoms, if delays in presentation are to be minimised
On theories of enhanced CP violation in B_s,d meson mixing
The DO collaboration has measured a deviation from the standard model (SM)
prediction in the like sign dimuon asymmetry in semileptonic b decay with a
significance of 3.2 sigma. We discuss how minimal flavour violating (MFV)
models with multiple scalar representations can lead to this deviation through
tree level exchanges of new MFV scalars. We review how the two scalar doublet
model can accommodate this result and discuss some of its phenomenology. Limits
on electric dipole moments suggest that in this model the coupling of the
charged scalar to the right handed u-type quarks is suppressed while its
coupling to the d-type right handed quarks must be enhanced. We construct an
extension of the MFV two scalar doublet model where this occurs naturally.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, v3 final JHEP versio
The impact of libraries as creative spaces
Ready access to information through digital media has challenged the perceived societal roles of public libraries. Since the mid 1990s, libraries have reoriented themselves towards public participation beyond lending and reading. Libraries now offer an increasing range of community-focused creative activities.Library spaces are transforming. In addition to housing archival and loan materials, desks and reading spaces, libraries are becoming even more exible and activity-oriented. Given these transformations, understanding and demonstrating the new contributions public libraries make to their communities is critical.In 2015, the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) commissioned researchers at the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to explore the impact of libraries as creative spaces.The objectives of the Libraries as Creative Spaces project were to:• Investigate the community impact of creative spaces in public libraries• Provide clear evidence of this impact• Articulate the opportunities to further embed creative spaces in public libraries or community spaces.The methods used included:• A contextual review of thinking regarding libraries as creative spaces• A literature review on the evaluation of creative activity in libraries and creative spaces more generally• Interviews and observational eld research at selected Queensland libraries• The development and refinement of an evidence-based Creative Spaces Impact Framework• The development of an associated rich media package (including videos, photos and digital stories) showcasing library-based creative activity across Queensland in 2015.The contextual review highlights the attention being paid to makerspaces as a site of creative activity in public libraries. However, the review also points to the many other ways public libraries are facilitating creative activity. It also demonstrates that while libraries have been formally evaluated for more than a hundred years, only recently has there been a concerted e ort to develop frameworks that can qualitatively assess the social impact on individuals and their communities. Moreover, few of these frameworks directly assess libraries as creative spaces.Following the contextual review, an extended literature review was undertaken for two reasons. Firstly, to develop our understanding of how creative spaces are evaluated (outside the library context). And secondly, to develop our understanding of how libraries are evaluated in more general terms. From this initial evidence base, a preliminary Creative Spaces Impact Framework was developed.The framework was used to interrogate creative activity at ve public library sites across Queensland – Ayr, Cleveland, Helensvale, Roma, and Victoria Point. The framework was revised in conjunction with the eldwork and further feedback from a range of stakeholders. The Creative Spaces Impact Framework allows for the evaluation of libraries as creative spaces through the creative activities they enable. These activities may be formally organised by the library, informally enacted by library clients, or involve a combination of both approaches. The contents of the framework represent a range of impact potentials, some of which will be relevant to certain library creative space activities more than others, if at all
Quantum Gravity in Everyday Life: General Relativity as an Effective Field Theory
This article is meant as a summary and introduction to the ideas of effective
field theory as applied to gravitational systems.
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Effective Field Theories
3. Low-Energy Quantum Gravity
4. Explicit Quantum Calculations
5. ConclusionsComment: 56 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style, Invited review to appear in Living
Reviews of Relativit
A holographic model for the fractional quantum Hall effect
Experimental data for fractional quantum Hall systems can to a large extent
be explained by assuming the existence of a modular symmetry group commuting
with the renormalization group flow and hence mapping different phases of
two-dimensional electron gases into each other. Based on this insight, we
construct a phenomenological holographic model which captures many features of
the fractional quantum Hall effect. Using an SL(2,Z)-invariant
Einstein-Maxwell-axio-dilaton theory capturing the important modular
transformation properties of quantum Hall physics, we find dyonic diatonic
black hole solutions which are gapped and have a Hall conductivity equal to the
filling fraction, as expected for quantum Hall states. We also provide several
technical results on the general behavior of the gauge field fluctuations
around these dyonic dilatonic black hole solutions: We specify a sufficient
criterion for IR normalizability of the fluctuations, demonstrate the
preservation of the gap under the SL(2,Z) action, and prove that the
singularity of the fluctuation problem in the presence of a magnetic field is
an accessory singularity. We finish with a preliminary investigation of the
possible IR scaling solutions of our model and some speculations on how they
could be important for the observed universality of quantum Hall transitions.Comment: 86 pages, 16 figures; v.2 references added, typos fixed, improved
discussion of ref. [39]; v.3 more references added and typos fixed, several
statements clarified, v.4 version accepted for publication in JHE
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