130 research outputs found
Barriers in the management of asthma and attitudes towards complementary medicine
AbstractBackground: Undertreatment is said to be an important problem for those with asthma. Misconceptions regarding the nature and treatment of asthma may contribute to this. This study was planned to evaluate the perception of those with asthma about various aspects of their condition. Methods: A total of 1012 patients with asthma volunteered to complete the questionnaire. Questions included those regarding severity, nature, regularity of use of medicine and attitudes towards trying complementary medicine. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was measured to assess the severity of airway obstruction. Results: Only 9% of patients took treatment for asthma according to the advice of the doctor. The remainder reported stopping treatment when they became free of symptoms or were able to tolerate their symptoms. A majority of the patients had moderately severe airway obstruction as determined by spirometer and reported being unable to assess the severity of their disease with only 11.9% reporting that they could perceive the warning symptoms of an acute attack. Seventy-nine percent of the patients had used complementary medicine. Home remedies, such as tea, hot water, walking, ginger and turmeric, were perceived to provide relief in asthma. Conclusion: Patients with asthma have many barriers in the way of optimal treatment. These include a failure to recognize warning symptoms, belief in a permanent cure; not continuing treatment for as long as needed; and, an inclination to seek complimentary medicines
Some anisotropic universes in the presence of imperfect fluid coupling with spatial curvature
We consider Bianchi VI spacetime, which also can be reduced to Bianchi types
VI0-V-III-I. We initially consider the most general form of the energy-momentum
tensor which yields anisotropic stress and heat flow. We then derive an
energy-momentum tensor that couples with the spatial curvature in a way so as
to cancel out the terms that arise due to the spatial curvature in the
evolution equations of the Einstein field equations. We obtain exact solutions
for the universes indefinetly expanding with constant mean deceleration
parameter. The solutions are beriefly discussed for each Bianchi type. The
dynamics of the models and fluid are examined briefly, and the models that can
approach to isotropy are determined. We conclude that even if the observed
universe is almost isotropic, this does not necessarily imply the isotropy of
the fluid (e.g., dark energy) affecting the evolution of the universe within
the context of general relativity.Comment: 17 pages, no figures; to appear in International Journal of
Theoretical Physics; in this version (which is more concise) an equation
added, some references updated and adde
Inflationary Cosmology and Quantization Ambiguities in Semi-Classical Loop Quantum Gravity
In loop quantum gravity, modifications to the geometrical density cause a
self-interacting scalar field to accelerate away from a minimum of its
potential. In principle, this mechanism can generate the conditions that
subsequently lead to slow-roll inflation. The consequences for this mechanism
of various quantization ambiguities arising within loop quantum cosmology are
considered. For the case of a quadratic potential, it is found that some
quantization procedures are more likely to generate a phase of slow--roll
inflation. In general, however, loop quantum cosmology is robust to ambiguities
in the quantization and extends the range of initial conditions for inflation.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Seesaw mechanism, baryon asymmetry and neutrinoless double beta decay
A simplified but very instructive analysis of the seesaw mechanism is here
performed. Assuming a nearly diagonal Dirac neutrino mass matrix, we study the
forms of the Majorana mass matrix of right-handed neutrinos, which reproduce
the effective mass matrix of left-handed neutrinos. As a further step, the
important effect of a non diagonal Dirac neutrino mass matrix is explored. The
corresponding implications for the baryogenesis via leptogenesis and for the
neutrinoless double beta decay are reviewed. We propose two distinct models
where the baryon asymmetry is enhanced.Comment: 21 pages, RevTex. Revise
Online intergenerational participatory research : Ingredients for meaningful relationships and participation
Over thirty years ago, children's participation rights were recognized internationally with the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Increased involvement of children and young people in lead, collaborative, and advisory roles in interdisciplinary research has challenged 'traditional' adult research practices in numerous ways. Co-production recognizes participants as experts and creators of knowledge, engages children and young people in decision-making, and addresses traditional adult-child hierarchies. #CovidUnder19 is a movement that aims to foster intergenerational partnerships between children, young people and adult members of the child rights community to develop evidence-based advocacy to uphold children's rights throughout the pandemic, as well as in response and recovery. The COVID 4P Log smartphone app was designed to better understand ways practitioners and policymakers protect, provide, enable participation, and prevent harm in their practice. Children and young people aged 14 to 19 from countries around the world are involved as co-researchers and advisors in research design, data analysis, and knowledge exchange. This paper explores the experiences of #CovidUnder19 young people as researchers focusing on the data analysis and knowledge exchange phase and includes their reflections on meaningful intergenerational partnership in research. This includes the importance of relationships, embracing the 'inner child', and fostering meaningful participation in the research process. The paper concludes with recommendations for other researchers on how to work in partnership with children and young people meaningfully to strengthen the process and impact for researchers and children's human rights
Relic Neutrino Absorption Spectroscopy
Resonant annihilation of extremely high-energy cosmic neutrinos on big-bang
relic anti-neutrinos (and vice versa) into Z-bosons leads to sizable absorption
dips in the neutrino flux to be observed at Earth. The high-energy edges of
these dips are fixed, via the resonance energies, by the neutrino masses alone.
Their depths are determined by the cosmic neutrino background density, by the
cosmological parameters determining the expansion rate of the universe, and by
the large redshift history of the cosmic neutrino sources. We investigate the
possibility of determining the existence of the cosmic neutrino background
within the next decade from a measurement of these absorption dips in the
neutrino flux. As a by-product, we study the prospects to infer the absolute
neutrino mass scale. We find that, with the presently planned neutrino
detectors (ANITA, Auger, EUSO, OWL, RICE, and SalSA) operating in the relevant
energy regime above 10^{21} eV, relic neutrino absorption spectroscopy becomes
a realistic possibility. It requires, however, the existence of extremely
powerful neutrino sources, which should be opaque to nucleons and high-energy
photons to evade present constraints. Furthermore, the neutrino mass spectrum
must be quasi-degenerate to optimize the dip, which implies m_{nu} >~ 0.1 eV
for the lightest neutrino. With a second generation of neutrino detectors,
these demanding requirements can be relaxed considerably.Comment: 19 pages, 26 figures, REVTeX
Inspiring Children's Futures : Children's Participation: Adults' Perceptions of Child Participation and Young People's Views on Responses during Covid-19
This Learning Report is part of a series of thematic reports documenting the COVID 4P Log survey findings from service providers and policymakers from 22 countries and five continents. The project presented in this report drew upon key findings from the COVID 4P Log project pertaining to children’s1 participation to engage young people in discussions about the meaning and implications of those findings. The COVID 4P Log questions and these findings have been analysed and co-authored by a collaborative, intergenerational partnership of adults and young people
Bianchi type II models in the presence of perfect fluid and anisotropic dark energy
Spatially homogeneous but totally anisotropic and non-flat Bianchi type II
cosmological model has been studied in general relativity in the presence of
two minimally interacting fluids; a perfect fluid as the matter fluid and a
hypothetical anisotropic fluid as the dark energy fluid. The Einstein's field
equations have been solved by applying two kinematical ans\"{a}tze: we have
assumed the variation law for the mean Hubble parameter that yields a constant
value of deceleration parameter, and one of the components of the shear tensor
has been considered proportional to the mean Hubble parameter. We have
particularly dwelled on the accelerating models with non-divergent expansion
anisotropy as the Universe evolves. Yielding anisotropic pressure, the fluid we
consider in the context of dark energy, can produce results that can be
produced in the presence of isotropic fluid in accordance with the \Lambda CDM
cosmology. However, the derived model gives additional opportunities by being
able to allow kinematics that cannot be produced in the presence of fluids that
yield only isotropic pressure. We have obtained well behaving cases where the
anisotropy of the expansion and the anisotropy of the fluid converge to finite
values (include zero) in the late Universe. We have also showed that although
the metric we consider is totally anisotropic, the anisotropy of the dark
energy is constrained to be axially symmetric, as long as the overall energy
momentum tensor possesses zero shear stress.Comment: 15 pages; 5 figures; matches the version published in The European
Physical Journal Plu
The Persistency of the India-Pakistan Conflict: Chances and Obstacles of the Bilateral Composite Dialogue
This article investigates the underlying causes for the persistency of the India–Pakistan conflict and, on this basis, the chances and obstacles of the bilateral composite dialogue initiated in 2004. In particular, it wants to provide a theoretically grounded account of the factors that facilitated and constrained the bilateral composite dialogue process. Drawing on the regional security complex theory, this article examines the rivalry between the two South Asian nuclear powers on four levels of analysis: the domestic, the regional, the interregional and the global level. The analysis shows that there have been some substantial changes on all four levels in the recent decade or so and that these changes have provided more beneficial conditions for a peace process. These changes include, inter alia, India’s new regional policy, the consequences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the region and India’s growing power capacities. However, major obstacles to the India–Pakistan dialogue and a permanent conflict resolution continue to persist: the dominant role of the military in Pakistan, conflicting national identities and the still partially contested nature of statehood in India and Pakistan, which is in the case of Pakistan linked to the growing power of Islamic fundamentalists
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