Perceptions of participation and inclusion among adolescents with disabilities: experiences from South India

Disability is an issue of human rights and equal opportunity and is no longer focused on impairment and medical intervention. Adolescents with disabilities (AWD) are marginalised throughout the world (UNICEF, 2005), particularly in low- and middle-income countries where they are affected by poor access to resources, and by stigma and local taboos. Poverty has been shown to accentuate the impact of disability. The cycle of poverty and disability is marked by poor access to education, vocational training, and employment. The need of AWD for inclusion and participation in education, health and social life are the same as their non-disabled peers. For many AWD, these needs continue to go unmet (Groce, 2004). The research question was: ‘How do adolescents with physical disabilities perceive the factors that determine their participation and inclusion in their communities in South India?’ Quantitative and qualitative techniques were used. Thirty-seven AWD, 25 parents of AWD, and 24 non-disabled adolescent peers participated in the study in Bangalore, India. A background information questionnaire and two measures of quality of life (QOL) were conducted with all participants. Qualitative data was gathered with each participant group using interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). Photography was used with the AWD to facilitate discussions. Analysis of QOL data revealed no differences between AWD and parent-proxy scores. Differences exist in QOL scores between AWD and their peers. Analysis of interview and FGD data revealed three key themes that influence the perception of Participation and Inclusion among AWD. These are: 1) Personal Factors; 2) Interpersonal Relationships; and 3) External Factors. Belief in themselves and parental support were two key facilitators of participation. Negative attitudes of others, physical barriers, and poorly implemented legislation were significant barriers to participation. Recommendations are suggested to enhance the participation and inclusion of AWD and to facilitate success in adulthood

Accretion disc-corona and jet emission from the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy RX J1633.3+4719

We perform X-ray/ultraviolet (UV) spectral and X-ray variability studies of the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy RX J1633.3+4719 using XMM-Newton and Suzaku observations from 2011 and 2012. The 0.3-10 keV spectra consist of an ultrasoft component described by an accretion disc blackbody (kT_in = 39.6^{+11.2}_{-5.5} eV) and a power law due to the thermal Comptonization ({\Gamma} = 1.96^{+0.24}_{-0.31}) of the disc emission. The disc temperature inferred from the soft excess is at least a factor of 2 lower than that found for the canonical soft excess emission from radio-quiet NLS1s. The UV spectrum is described by a power law with photon index 3.05^{+0.56}_{-0.33}. The observed UV emission is too strong to arise from the accretion disc or the host galaxy, but can be attributed to a jet. The X-ray emission from RX J1633.3+4719 is variable with fractional variability amplitude $F_{\rm var}$=13.5$\pm1.0$ per cent. In contrast to radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGN), X-ray emission from the source becomes harder with increasing flux. The fractional rms variability increases with energy and the rms spectrum is well described by a constant disc component and a variable power-law continuum with the normalization and photon index being anticorrelated. Such spectral variability cannot be caused by variations in the absorption and must be intrinsic to the hot corona. Our finding of possible evidence for emission from the inner accretion disc, jet and hot corona from RX J1633.3+4719 in the optical to X-ray bands makes this object an ideal target to probe the disc-jet connection in AGN.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, Published in MNRA

A near infrared photometric plane for ellipticals and bulges of spirals

We report the existence of a single plane in the space of global photometric parameters describing elliptical galaxies and the bulges of early type spiral galaxies. The three parameters which define the plane are obtained by fitting the Sersic form to the brightness distribution obtained from near-infrared K band images. We find, from the range covered by their shape parameters, that the elliptical galaxies form a more homogeneous population than the bulges. Known correlations like the Kormendy relation are projections of the photometric plane. The existence of the plane has interesting implications for bulge formation models.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX including 5 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

CCD surface photometry of galaxies

We present here the results based on analysis of broad band optical images of radio loud and radio quiet galaxies selected from a set of x-ray galaxies. Data reduction techniques, and surface photometry using the IRAF data reduction package are described. The radial surface brightness profile of each galaxy is obtained. The disc, bulge, and nucleus of the galaxy are modeled based on the estimated brightness profile. The model of the galaxy is constructed, which is subtracted from the observed image to enhance the small scale features in the galaxy. Color maps of the galaxy are obtained and compared with those of normal galaxies. The optical properties of the galaxy are compared with its x-ray and radio properties

Correlations among global photometric properties of disk galaxies

Using a two-dimensional galaxy image decomposition technique, we extract global bulge and disk parameters for a complete sample of early type disk galaxies in the near infrared K band. We find significant correlation of the bulge parameter n with the central bulge surface brightness $\mu_b(0)$ and with effective radius r_e. Using bivar iate analysis techniques, we find that $\log n$, $\log r_e$ and $\mu_b(0)$ are distributed in a plane with small scatter. We do not find a strong correlation of n with bulge-to-disk luminosity ratio, contrary to earlier reports. r_e and the disk scale length r_d are well correlated for these early type disk galaxies, but with large scatter. We examine the implications of our results to various bulge formation scenarios in disk galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX including 14 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa

The non-linear behavior of the black hole system GRS 1915+105

Using non-linear time series analysis, along with surrogate data analysis, it is shown that the various types of long term variability exhibited by the black hole system GRS 1915+105, can be explained in terms of a deterministic non-linear system with some inherent stochastic noise. Evidence is provided for a non-linear limit cycle origin of one of the low frequency QPO detected in the source, while some other types of variability could be due to an underlying low dimensional chaotic system. These results imply that the partial differential equations which govern the magneto-hydrodynamic flow of the inner accretion disk, can be approximated by a small number ($\approx 3 -5$) of non-linear but {\it ordinary} differential equations. While this analysis does not reveal the exact nature of these approximate equations, they may be obtained in the future, after results of magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of realistic accretion disks become available.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Numerical code that is used in the analysis is available at http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~rmisra/NL

Two dimensional bulge disk decomposition

We propose a two dimensional galaxy fitting algorithm to extract parameters of the bulge, disk, and a central point source from broad band images of galaxies. We use a set of realistic galaxy parameters to construct a large number of model galaxy images which we then use as input to our galaxy fitting program to test it. We find that our approach recovers all structural parameters to a fair degree of accuracy. We elucidate our procedures by extracting parameters for 3 real galaxies -- NGC 661, NGC 1381, and NGC 1427.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, AASTEX macros used, 7 Postscript figures, submitted to Ap

VLA Observations of a New Population of Blazars

We present the first deep VLA radio images of flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQ) with multiwavelength emission properties similar to those of BL Lacs with synchrotron X-rays. Our observations of twenty-five of these sources show that their radio morphologies are similar to those of other radio quasars. However, their range of extended powers is more similar to that of BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) and extends down to the low values typical of FR I radio galaxies. Five out of our nine lobe-dominated sources have extended radio powers in the range typical of both FR I and FR II radio galaxies, but their extended radio structure is clearly FR II-like. Therefore, we have not yet found a large population of radio quasars hosted by FR Is. Two thirds of our sources have a core-dominated radio morpholgy and thus X-rays likely dominated by the jet. We find that their ratios of radio core to total X-ray luminosity are low and in the regime indicative of synchrotron X-rays. This result shows that also blazars with strong emission lines can produce jets of high-energy synchrotron emission and undermines at least in part the ``blazar sequence'' scenario which advocates that particle Compton cooling by an external radiation field governs the frequency of the synchrotron emission peak.Comment: 26 pages, 33 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Poverty and Disability: A critical review of the literature in low and middle-income countries

While it is widely assumed that disability, poverty and health are closely linked, this is the first critical review on the subject that explicitly asks: ‘What is the current evidence base for the link between poverty, disability and health in low- and middle-income countries? The methods used have been adapted from the EPPI Centre (EPPI-Centre, 2007) and the work of Greenhalgh (Greenhalgh, Robert, Macfarlane, Bate, Kyriakidou, & Peacock, 2005) A total of 964 papers were identified and, of these, 293 were selected for further review based on appropriateness of fit. An initial review of the 293 papers, paying particular attention to those papers that presented an evidence base, found only 27 papers (9.2% of total papers reviewed) met the established inclusion criteria for a critical review. Widening these inclusion criteria did not produce significantly more evidence based papers for review. Thus, the most significant finding from this study is the current lack of strong evidence on the links between disability, poverty and health in LMICs upon which to build global policy and programming. Within the group of papers available for review, we identify a small but growing evidence base that indicates that there are substantial links between disability, poverty and health; however emerging research indicates that these links are more complex and nuanced than is currently assumed. We conclude with a call for more attention to building an evidence base on the interactions between disability, poverty and health. The absence of a robust evidence base that explicitly links these issues, in conjunction with the lack of appropriate benchmarks and indicators to measure disability rights commitments (including poverty reduction), will otherwise result in a “democratic deficit”