542 research outputs found
Video conferencing peer support and rarer forms of dementia: An exploration of family carers’ positive experiences
Little is known regarding the nuanced experiences of family carers for people living with rare dementias (PLWRD), with no known literature exploring their positive experiences of caring discussed within peer support group settings. This article explores family carers of PLWRD’s positive experiences reported in video conferencing peer support groups. Six peer support group sessions involving a total of nine participants were qualitatively analysed using thematic analysis, guided by the conceptual framework of positive aspects of caring (CFPAC) (Carbonneau et al., 2010). Six themes were identified: (1) Protecting, maintaining, enjoying and finding strength in their relationship with the PLWRD; (2) Using tools and resources in response to challenges; (3) Positive impact of interactions and others’ responses to the dementia; (4) Overcoming barriers to taking a break while maintaining their wellbeing, (5) Maintaining positive outlooks and showing psychological resilience in adversity; and (6) Attributing meaning to the caring role. This article highlights family carers of PLWRD’s positive psychological, physical and social resources, balanced against the challenges of caring and maintaining their wellbeing, and identifies ways of promoting family carers’ positive caring experiences and resources within healthcare and supportive settings
Business Collusion as a Criminological Phenomenon: Exploring the Global Criminalisation of Business Cartels
Source population synthesis and the Galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission
Population synthesis is used to study the contribution from undetected
sources to the Galactic ridge emission measured by EGRET. Synthesized source
counts are compared with the 3rd EGRET catalogue at low and high latitudes. For
pulsar-like populations, 5-10% of the emission >100 MeV comes from sources
below the EGRET threshold. A steeper luminosity function can increase this to
20% without violating EGRET source statistics. Less luminous populations can
produce much higher values without being detected. Since the unresolved source
spectrum is different from the interstellar spectrum, it could provide an
explanation of the observed MeV and GeV excesses above the predictions, and we
give an explicit example of how this could work.Comment: Astrophysics and Space Science, in press. (Proceedings of Conference
'The multi-messenger approach to high-energy gamma-ray sources', Barcelona,
2006). Minor changes for accepted version, updated reference
Adjustment of the electric current in pulsar magnetospheres and origin of subpulse modulation
The subpulse modulation of pulsar radio emission goes to prove that the
plasma flow in the open field line tube breaks into isolated narrow streams. I
propose a model which attributes formation of streams to the process of the
electric current adjustment in the magnetosphere. A mismatch between the
magnetospheric current distribution and the current injected by the polar cap
accelerator gives rise to reverse plasma flows in the magnetosphere. The
reverse flow shields the electric field in the polar gap and thus shuts up the
plasma production process. I assume that a circulating system of streams is
formed such that the upward streams are produced in narrow gaps separated by
downward streams. The electric drift is small in this model because the
potential drop in narrow gaps is small. The gaps have to drift because by the
time a downward stream reaches the star surface and shields the electric field,
the corresponding gap has to shift. The transverse size of the streams is
determined by the condition that the potential drop in the gaps is sufficient
for the pair production. This yields the radius of the stream roughly 10% of
the polar cap radius, which makes it possible to fit in the observed
morphological features such as the "carousel" with 10-20 subbeams and the
system of the core - two nested cone beams.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
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Multistatic Specular Meteor Radar Network in Peru: System Description and Initial Results
The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region is dominated globally by dynamics at various scales: planetary waves, tides, gravity waves, and stratified turbulence. The latter two can coexist and be significant at horizontal scales less than 500 km, scales that are difficult to measure. This study presents a recently deployed multistatic specular meteor radar system, SIMONe Peru, which can be used to observe these scales. The radars are positioned at and around the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, which is located at the magnetic equator. Besides presenting preliminary results of typically reported large-scale features, like the dominant diurnal tide at low latitudes, we show results on selected days of spatially and temporally resolved winds obtained with two methods based on: (a) estimation of mean wind and their gradients (gradient method), and (b) an inverse theory with Tikhonov regularization (regularized wind field inversion method). The gradient method allows improved MLT vertical velocities and, for the first time, low-latitude wind field parameters such as horizontal divergence and relative vorticity. The regularized wind field inversion method allows the estimation of spatial structure within the observed area and has the potential to outperform the gradient method, in particular when more detections are available or when fine adaptive tuning of the regularization factor is done. SIMONe Peru adds important information at low latitudes to currently scarce MLT continuous observing capabilities. Results contribute to studies of the MLT dynamics at different scales inherently connected to lower atmospheric forcing and E-region dynamo related ionospheric variability
The Contribution of Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars to the local Flux of Cosmic-Ray Electrons and Positrons
We analyze the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars from the first Fermi-Large
Area Telescope (LAT) catalogue to the local flux of cosmic-ray electrons and
positrons (e+e-). We present new distance estimates for all Fermi gamma-ray
pulsars, based on the measured gamma-ray flux and pulse shape. We then estimate
the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars to the local e+e- flux, in the context of
a simple model for the pulsar e+e- emission. We find that 10 of the Fermi
pulsars potentially contribute significantly to the measured e+e- flux in the
energy range between 100 GeV and 1 TeV. Of the 10 pulsars, 2 are old EGRET
gamma-ray pulsars, 2 pulsars were discovered with radio ephemerides, and 6 were
discovered with the Fermi pulsar blind-search campaign. We argue that known
radio pulsars fall in regions of parameter space where the e+e- contribution is
predicted to be typically much smaller than from those regions where Fermi-LAT
pulsars exist. However, comparing the Fermi gamma-ray flux sensitivity to the
regions of pulsar parameter space where a significant e+e- contribution is
predicted, we find that a few known radio pulsars that have not yet been
detected by Fermi can also significantly contribute to the local e+e- flux if
(i) they are closer than 2 kpc, and if (ii) they have a characteristic age on
the order of one mega-year.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in JCA
Wound healing and hyper-hydration - a counter intuitive model
Winters seminal work in the 1960s relating to providing an optimal level of moisture to aid wound healing (granulation and re-epithelialisation) has been the single most effective advance in wound care over many decades. As such the development of advanced wound dressings that manage the fluidic wound environment have provided significant benefits in terms of healing to both patient and clinician. Although moist wound healing provides the guiding management principle confusion may arise between what is deemed to be an adequate level of tissue hydration and the risk of developing maceration. In addition, the counter-intuitive model ‘hyper-hydration’ of tissue appears to frustrate the moist wound healing approach and advocate a course of intervention whereby tissue is hydrated beyond what is a normally acceptable therapeutic level. This paper discusses tissue hydration, the cause and effect of maceration and distinguishes these from hyper-hydration of tissue. The rationale is to provide the clinician with a knowledge base that allows optimisation of treatment and outcomes and explains the reasoning behind wound healing using hyper-hydration
The Geminga Fraction
Radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars like Geminga may account for a number of the unidentified EGRET sources in the Galaxy. The number of Geminga-like pulsars is very sensitive to the geometry of both the gamma-ray and radio beams. Recent studies of the shape and polarization of pulse profiles of young radio pulsars have provided evidence that their radio emission originates in wide cone beams at altitudes that are a significant fraction (1 -10%) of their light cylinder radius. Such wide radio emission beams will be visible at a much larger range of observer angles than the narrow core components thought to originate at lower altitude. Using 3D geometrical modeling that includes relativistic effects from pulsar rotation, we study the visibility of such radio cone beams as well as that of the gamma-ray beams predicted by slot gap and outer gap models. From the results of this study one can obtain revised predictions for the fraction of Geminga-like, radio quiet pulsars present in the gamma-ray pulsar population
QCD Corrections to QED Vacuum Polarization
We compute QCD corrections to QED calculations for vacuum polarization in
background magnetic fields. Formally, the diagram for virtual loops
is identical to the one for virtual loops. However due to
confinement, or to the growth of as decreases, a direct
calculation of the diagram is not allowed. At large we consider the
virtual diagram, in the intermediate region we discuss the role of
the contribution of quark condensates \left and at the
low-energy limit we consider the , as well as charged pion
loops. Although these effects seem to be out of the measurement accuracy of
photon-photon laboratory experiments they may be relevant for -ray
burst propagation. In particular, for emissions from the center of the galaxy
(8.5 kpc), we show that the mixing between the neutral pseudo-scalar pion
and photons renders a deviation from the power-law spectrum in the
range. As for scalar quark condensates \left and
virtual loops are relevant only for very high radiation density
and very strong magnetic fields of order .Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; Final versio
Beyond altruism: British football and charity, 1877-1914
Football charity matches and tournaments played a significant part in the development of the sport in Britain, overlapping the era of friendly games and the advent of competitive leagues. The football community prided itself on its contributions to charity, raising more money than any other sport before 1914, and stakeholders within the game – associations, clubs, players and patrons – gained considerable kudos for this perceived altruism. However, this paper will demonstrate that amounts donated, though welcome, were relatively minor sources of revenue for both institutions and individuals, and that the charity match became less important to clubs in a professional, and increasingly commercial, era
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