Making meaning in muddy waters: representing complexity through community based storytelling

Internationally, storytelling has been used with many diverse communities. This paper compares the use of storytelling as a participatory art form within a community development project and a community and healthy living centre in the United Kingdom. Both the project and the centre regard storytelling activities as ‘inclusionary’ forms of intervention. However, the discourse of social inclusion rarely acknowledges the subtle psychosocial processes that are involved in participatory storytelling. This paper discusses such processes and examines some methodological implications of researching storytelling. It asks what contribution storytelling can make towards authentic representation of individual and community voices

Non-contact method for measurement of the microwave conductivity of graphene

We report a non-contact method for conductivity and sheet resistance measurements of graphene samples using a high Q microwave dielectric resonator perturbation technique, with the aim of fast and accurate measurement of microwave conductivity and sheet resistance of monolayer and few layers graphene samples. The dynamic range of the microwave conductivity measurements makes this technique sensitive to a wide variety of imperfections and impurities and can provide a rapid non-contacting characterisation method. Typically the graphene samples are supported on a low-loss dielectric substrate, such as quartz, sapphire or SiC. This substrate is suspended in the near-field region of a small high Q sapphire puck microwave resonator. The presence of the graphene perturbs both centre frequency and Q value of the microwave resonator. The measured data may be interpreted in terms of the real and imaginary components of the permittivity, and by calculation, the conductivity and sheet resistance of the graphene. The method has great sensitivity and dynamic range. Results are reported for graphene samples grown by three different methods: reduced graphene oxide (GO), chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and graphene grown epitaxially on SiC. The latter method produces much higher conductivity values than the others.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures and 2 table

A Randomized Depression Prevention Trial Comparing Interpersonal Psychotherapy—Adolescent Skills Training To Group Counseling In Schools

Given the rise in depression disorders in adolescence, it is important to develop and study depression prevention programs for this age group. The current study examined the efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), a group prevention program for adolescent depression, in comparison to group programs that are typically delivered in school settings. In this indicated prevention trial, 186 adolescents with elevated depression symptoms were randomized to receive IPT-AST delivered by research staff or group counseling (GC) delivered by school counselors. Hierarchical linear modeling examined differences in rates of change in depressive symptoms and overall functioning from baseline to the 6-month follow-up assessment. Cox regression compared rates of depression diagnoses. Adolescents in IPT-AST showed significantly greater improvements in self-reported depressive symptoms and evaluator-rated overall functioning than GC adolescents from baseline to the 6-month follow-up. However, there were no significant differences between the two conditions in onset of depression diagnoses. Although both intervention conditions demonstrated significant improvements in depressive symptoms and overall functioning, results indicate that IPT-AST has modest benefits over groups run by school counselors which were matched on frequency and duration of sessions. In particular, IPT-AST outperformed GC in reduction of depressive symptoms and improvements in overall functioning. These findings point to the clinical utility of this depression prevention program, at least in the short-term. Additional follow-up is needed to determine the long-term effects of IPT-AST, relative to GC, particularly in preventing depression onset

Degenerate ground state and anomalous flux hysteresis in an YBa2Cu3O7 grain boundary r.f. SQUID

We report measurements of the flux hysteresis curves and trapped flux distribution in an YBa2Cu3O7 r.f. SQUID containing two closely spaced grain boundary Josephson junctions in parallel. Broadening of the flux distribution from T = 15 K to 30 K is followed by a bifurcation at T = 35 K which corresponds to a degenerate ground state. Above T ~ 40 K the bifurcation disappears, the flux distribution narrows significantly and small secondary loops appear in the hysteresis curves. This behaviour can be modelled qualitatively if we assume a temperature dependent second harmonic term in the current-phase relationship of the junctions.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Microwave intermodulation distortion of MgB2 thin films

The two tone intermodulation arising in MgB2 thin films deposited in-situ by planar magnetron sputtering on sapphire substrates is studied. Samples are characterised using an open-ended dielectric puck resonator operating at 8.8 GHz. The experimental results show that the third order products increase with the two-tone input power with a slope ranging between 1.5 and 2.3. The behaviour can be understood introducing a mechanism of vortex penetration in grain boundaries as the most plausible source of non linearities in these films. This assumption is confirmed by the analysis of the field dependence of the surface resistance, that show a linear behaviour at all temperatures under test.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; to be published in Appl. Phys. Let

Preventing adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing symptoms : effects of the Penn Resiliency Program

This study reports secondary outcome analyses from a past study of the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP), a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program for middle-school aged children. Middle school students (N = 697) were randomly assigned to PRP, PEP (an alternate intervention), or control conditions. Gillham et al., (2007) reported analyses examining PRP’s effects on average and clinical levels of depression symptoms. We examine PRP’s effects on parent-, teacher-, and self-reports of adolescents’ externalizing and broader internalizing (depression/anxiety, somatic complaints, and social withdrawal) symptoms over three years of follow-up. Relative to no intervention control, PRP reduced parent-reports of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms beginning at the first assessment after the intervention and persisting for most of the follow-up assessments. PRP also reduced parent-reported conduct problems relative to no-intervention. There was no evidence that the PRP program produced an effect on teacher- or self-report of adolescents’ symptoms. Overall, PRP did not reduce symptoms relative to the alternate intervention, although there is a suggestion of a delayed effect for conduct problems. These findings are discussed with attention to developmental trajectories and the importance of interventions that address common risk factors for diverse forms of negative outcomes.peer-reviewe