182 research outputs found
The Determinants of young Adult Social well-being and Health (DASH) study: diversity, psychosocial determinants and health.
Purpose: The Determinants of young Adult Social well-being and Health longitudinal study draws on life-course models to understand ethnic differences in health. A key hypothesis relates to the role of psychosocial factors in nurturing the health and well-being of ethnic minorities growing up in the UK. We report the effects of culturally patterned exposures in childhood. Methods: In 2002/2003, 6643 11–13 year olds in London, ~80 % ethnic minorities, participated in the baseline survey. In 2005/2006, 4782 were followed-up. In 2012–2014, 665 took part in a pilot follow-up aged 21–23 years, including 42 qualitative interviews. Measures of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors and health were collected. Results: Ethnic minority adolescents reported better mental health than White British, despite more adversity (e.g. economic disadvantage, racism). It is unclear what explains this resilience but findings support a role for cultural factors. Racism was an adverse influence on mental health, while family care and connectedness, religious involvement and ethnic diversity of friendships were protective. While mental health resilience was a feature throughout adolescence, a less positive picture emerged for cardio-respiratory health. Both, mental health and cultural factors played a role. These patterns largely endured in early 20s with family support reducing stressful transitions to adulthood. Education levels, however, signal potential for socio-economic parity across ethnic groups
A Metabolomic Approach to the Study of Wine Micro-Oxygenation
Wine micro-oxygenation is a globally used treatment and its effects were studied here by analysing by untargeted LC-MS the wine metabolomic fingerprint. Eight different procedural variations, marked by the addition of oxygen (four levels) and iron (two levels) were applied to Sangiovese wine, before and after malolactic fermentation
Prospect theory and the effects of bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurial aspirations
We apply prospect theory to explain how personal and corporate bankruptcy laws affect risk perceptions of entrepreneurs at time of entry and therefore their growth ambitions. Previous theories have reached ambiguous conclusions as to whether countries with more debtor-friendly bankruptcy laws (i.e. laws that are more forgiving towards debtors in bankruptcy proceedings) are likely to have more entrepreneurs, or whether, creditorfriendly regimes have positive effects on new ventures via enhanced incentives for the supply of credit to entrepreneurs. Responding to this ambiguity, we apply prospect theory to propose that entrepreneurs do not attach the same significance to different elements of bankruptcy codes—and to explain which aspects of debtor-friendly bankruptcy laws matter more to entrepreneurs. Based on this, we derive and confirm hypotheses about the impact of aspects of bankruptcy codes on entrepreneurial activity using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor combined with data on both personal and corporate bankruptcyregulations for 15 developed OECD countries. We use multilevel random coefficient logistic regressions to take account of the hierarchical nature of the data (country and individual levels). Because entrepreneurs and creditors are sensitive to different elements of the codes, there is scope for optimisation of the legal design of bankruptcy law to achieve both an adequate supply of credit and to encourage high-ambition entrepreneurship
The assessment of depression in people with multiple sclerosis : a systematic review of psychometric validation studies
Background: The prevalence of depression in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) is high; however, symptoms common to both conditions makes measurement difficult. There is no high quality overview of validation studies to guide the choice of depression inventory for this population.
Methods: A systematic review of studies validating the use of generic depression inventories in people with MS was conducted using MEDLINE and PsycINFO. Studies validating the use of depression inventories in PwMS and published in English were included; validation studies of tests for cognitive function and general mental health were excluded. Eligible studies were then quality assessed using the COSMIN checklist and findings synthesised narratively by instrument and validity domain.
Results: Twenty-one studies (N=5,991 PwMS) evaluating 12 instruments were included in the review. Risk of bias varied greatly between instrument and validity domain.
Conclusions: The review of validation studies was constrained by poor quality reporting and outcome reporting bias. Well-conducted evaluations of some instruments are unavailable for some validity domains. This systematic review provides an evidence base for trade-offs in the selection of an instrument for assessing self-reported symptoms of depression in research or clinical practice involving people with MS. We make detailed and specific recommendations for where further research is needed.
Registration: PROSPERO CRD42014010597
Keywords
Depression; Multiple Sclerosis; Reproducibility of Results; Psychometrics; Chronic Diseas
A systematic review of mental health outcome measures for young people aged 12 to 25Â years
Semantically enhanced provenance capture for chamber model development with a master chemical mechanism
The development and maintenance of benchmark databases within scientific communities is reliant on interactions with database users. We explore the role of semantically enhanced provenance for computational modelling processes that make use of one such database: the master chemical mechanism, a key resource within the atmospheric chemistry community
A user-orientated approach to provenance capture and representation for in silico experiments, explored within the atmospheric chemistry community
We present a novel user-orientated approach to provenance capture and representation for in silico experiments, contrasted against the more systems-orientated approaches that have been typical within the e-Science domain. In our approach, we seek to capture the scientist's reasoning in the form of annotations as an experiment evolves, while using the scientist's terminology in the representation of process provenance. Our user-orientated approach is applied in a case study within the atmospheric chemistry domain: we consider the design, development and evaluation of an electronic laboratory notebook, a provenance capture and storage tool, for iterative model development
The microstructure and electrical properties of Tl2Ba2Ca1Cu2Ox thin films processed at low temperatures
Tl2Ba2Ca1Cu2Ox thin films on (001) LaAlO3 with excellent alignment suitable for microwave applications at 77 K have been fabricated using an ex situ anneal step in argon atmospheres at temperatures of 720-740°surface resistance values as low as 400 μΩ (79 K, 10 GHz) and large-area critical current densities up to 3.4 × 105 A cm-2 (77 K) have been achieved. In order to understand the relationship between the microstructure and electrical properties the films have been characterized by a variety of techniques, but especially transmission electron microscopy and allied methods. Microstructural features such as a-axis oriented grains, secondary phase particles, grain boundaries and surface outgrowths (especially of non-superconductor phases) have been found to have a significant effect on the surface resistance
High resolution x-ray characterization of Tl-2212 superconducting thin films
Thallium based high temperature superconducting films were formed on LaAlO3 (LAO) substrates by thalliation of sputtered amorphous precursor films by reaction with Tl2O. High resolution strain measurements and diffraction topographic imaging studies were performed using the synchrotron at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). From these results, we have reached preliminary conclusions regarding the effect of film strain and substrate twinning on the superconducting properties of Tl-2212 films on LAO substrates. High-resolution strain measurements showed a correlation between film strain and microwave properties. The relative strain in samples in which Q>105 at 5.55 GHz (at 50 K) was approximately 30% lower than that in samples in which Q<104 when tested under the same conditions. Examination of samples where Q<104 at 5.55 GHz (at 50 K) by SEM also indicated microstructure defects that are typical in films with a high level of residual stress. White beam x-ray diffraction topographic analysis was used to quantitatively measure the degree of twinning in the substrate. The results will discuss the relationship between the measured Q values of the microwave cavity and the strain state, microstructure and defect morphology in the superconducting film/substrate couple
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