'The world is full of big bad wolves': investigating the experimental therapeutic spaces of R.D. Laing and Aaron Esterson

In conjunction with the recent critical assessments of the life and work of R.D. Laing, this paper seeks to demonstrate what is revealed when Laing’s work on families and created spaces of mental health care are examined through a geographical lens. The paper begins with an exploration of Laing’s time at the Tavistock Clinic in London during the 1960s, and of the co-authored text with Aaron Esterson entitled, Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964). The study then seeks to demonstrate the importance Laing and his colleague placed on the time-space situatedness of patients and their worlds. Finally, an account is provided of Laing’s and Esterson’s spatial thinking in relation to their creation of both real and imagined spaces of therapeutic care

Chimera states in networks of phase oscillators: the case of two small populations

Chimera states are dynamical patterns in networks of coupled oscillators in which regions of synchronous and asynchronous oscillation coexist. Although these states are typically observed in large ensembles of oscillators and analyzed in the continuum limit, chimeras may also occur in systems with finite (and small) numbers of oscillators. Focusing on networks of $2N$ phase oscillators that are organized in two groups, we find that chimera states, corresponding to attracting periodic orbits, appear with as few as two oscillators per group and demonstrate that for $N>2$ the bifurcations that create them are analogous to those observed in the continuum limit. These findings suggest that chimeras, which bear striking similarities to dynamical patterns in nature, are observable and robust in small networks that are relevant to a variety of real-world systems.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure

An Attempt to Probe the Radio Jet Collimation Regions in NGC 4278, NGC 4374 (M84), and NGC 6166

NRAO Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of NGC 4278, NGC 4374 (M84), NGC 6166, and M87 (NGC 4486) have been made at 43 GHz in an effort to image the jet collimation region. This is the first attempt to image the first three sources at 43 GHz using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) techniques. These three sources were chosen because their estimated black hole mass and distance implied a Schwarzschild radius with large angular size, giving hope that the jet collimation regions could be studied. Phase referencing was utilize for the three sources because of their expected low flux densities. M87 was chosen as the calibrator for NGC 4374 because it satisfied the phase referencing requirements: nearby to the source and sufficiently strong. Having observed M87 for a long integration time, we have detected its sub-parsec jet, allowing us to confirm previous high resolution observations made by Junor, Biretta & Livio, who have indicated that a wide opening angle was seen near the base of the jet. Phase referencing successfully improved our image sensitivity, yielding detections and providing accurate positions for NGC 4278, NGC 4374 and NGC 6166. These sources are point dominated, but show suggestions of extended structure in the direction of the large-scale jets. However, higher sensitivity will be required to study their sub-parsec jet structure

Educational drama in the teaching of education for sustainability

In this paper, I describe part of my research project that examines the use of Educational Drama in Education for Sustainability in the upper stages of the primary school (10- and 11-year-olds). Central to the research is a small-scale qualitative research study. Here, I describe the educational focus of the study and outline the methodology. Central to the study was a series of drama lessons (taught by me) based on environmental themes. The lessons link with some of the key aims in Education for Sustainability - to help young people to develop awareness, knowledge and concepts, to encourage positive attitudes and personal lifestyle decisions and to help them to acquire action skills in and for the environment. The locus is within the Scottish education system. A number of key data were generated during the teaching and evaluation of the lessons. These take the form of field notes, children's evaluations of their work and learning, observation schedules, taped interviews with participants and observers and videotapes of the lessons. The analysis of the data is ongoing, but already there is substantial evidence to suggest that the drama was instrumental in helping the children to achieve the learning outcomes set for the lessons. Some of that evidence is presented here. I suggest that the active, participative learning central to drama is particularly useful for allowing children to develop skills in communication, collaboration and expressing ideas and opinions. Also, the immersion in the imagined context and narrative, integral to the 'stories' in the drama, allows the children to feel sympathy for and empathy with people who are affected by environmental issues and problems. In giving the children a context for research and in helping them to plan solutions and to suggest alternatives, the drama allows the participants opportunities to rehearse active citizenship and facilitates learning in Education for Sustainability

Nonlinear stability of relativistic sheared planar jets

The linear and non-linear stability of sheared, relativistic planar jets is studied by means of linear stability analysis and numerical hydrodynamical simulations. Our results extend the previous Kelvin-Hemlholtz stability studies for relativistic, planar jets in the vortex sheet approximation performed by Perucho et al. (2004a,b) by including a shear layer between the jet and the external medium and more general perturbations. The models considered span a wide range of Lorentz factors ($2.5-20$) and internal energies ($0.08 c^2-60 c^2$) and are classified into three classes according to the main characteristics of their long-term, non-linear evolution. We observe a clear separation of these three groups in a relativistic Mach-number Lorentz-factor plane. Jets with a low Lorentz factor and small relativistic Mach number are disrupted after saturation. Those with a large Lorentz factor and large relativistic Mach number are the stablest, due to the appearance of short wavelength resonant modes which generate local mixing and heating in the shear layer around a fast, unmixed core, giving a plausible solution for the problem of the long-term stability of relativistic jets. A third group is present between them, including jets with intermediate values of Lorentz factor and relativistic Mach number, which are disrupted by a slow process of mixing favored by an efficient and continuous conversion of kinetic into internal energy. In the long term, all the models develop a distinct transversal structure (shear/transition layers) as a consequence of KH perturbation growth, depending on the class they belong to. The properties of these shear layers are analyzed in connection with the parameters of the original jet models.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A (in press). High resolution plots, figures and Appendices of the paper will be found in the online version of the paper in A&A, and on request to [email protected]

Stories from Cancer Camp: Tales of Glitter and Gratitude

Each year in Canada, approximately 1400 children and adolescents under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer.  It is well recognized that childhood cancer affects the entire family, and innumerable challenges accompany this diagnosis. In recognition of the challenges that accompany this disease, cancer camps started in the 1970s to help children and their families escape the rigidity and severity of cancer treatment. Very little is known about how camps affect these families, and to that end, a philosophical hermeneutic study was conducted to understand the meaning of children’s cancer camps for the child with cancer and the family.  Six families were interviewed to bring understanding to this topic, and while the research included findings related to the concept of play, fit and acceptance, grief, and community, this paper will detail the finding related to storytelling and the reshaping of experiences that happens by virtue of being at camp.Â

The Island of Misfit Toys

A philosophical hermeneutic study was conducted to understand the meaning of children’s cancer camps for the child with cancer and the family. Six families and five camp counselors were interviewed in order to bring understanding to this topic.  While the research included findings related to: the concept of play at cancer camp (both philosophically and scientifically); grief as something to live with versus “get overâ€; storytelling as a means of re-shaping and understanding traumatic experiences; and the solidarity of the community as one that creates intense, healing bonds, this paper will detail the finding related to the children and families experience of finding acceptance and fit at camp

The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample (RBGS)

IRAS flux densities, redshifts, and infrared luminosities are reported for all sources identified in the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample (RBGS), a complete flux-limited survey of all extragalactic objects with total 60 micron flux density greater than 5.24 Jy, covering the entire sky surveyed by IRAS at Galactic latitude |b| > 5 degrees. The RBGS includes 629 objects, with a median (mean) sample redshift of 0.0082 (0.0126) and a maximum redshift of 0.0876. The RBGS supersedes the previous two-part IRAS Bright Galaxy Samples, which were compiled before the final ("Pass 3") calibration of the IRAS Level 1 Archive in May 1990. The RBGS also makes use of more accurate and consistent automated methods to measure the flux of objects with extended emission. Basic properties of the RBGS sources are summarized, including estimated total infrared luminosities, as well as updates to cross-identifications with sources from optical galaxy catalogs established using the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). In addition, an atlas of images from the Digitized Sky Survey with overlays of the IRAS position uncertainty ellipse and annotated scale bars is provided for ease in visualizing the optical morphology in context with the angular and metric size of each object. The revised bolometric infrared luminosity function, phi(L_ir), for infrared bright galaxies in the local Universe remains best fit by a double power law, phi(L_ir) ~ L_ir^alpha, with alpha = -0.6 (+/- 0.1), and alpha = -2.2 (+/- 0.1) below and above the "characteristic" infrared luminosity L_ir ~ 10^{10.5} L_solar, respectively. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Contains 50 pages, 7 tables, 16 figures. Due to astro-ph space limits, only 1 of 26 pages of Figure 1, and 1 of 11 pages of Table 7, are included; full resolution Postscript files are available at http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March03/IRAS_RBGS/Figures/ . Replacement: Corrected insertion of Fig. 15 (MethodCodes.ps) in LaTe

Multifrequency VLA observations of the FR I radio galaxy 3C 31: morphology, spectrum and magnetic field

We present high-quality VLA images of the FR I radio galaxy 3C 31 in the frequency range 1365 to 8440 MHz with angular resolutions from 0.25 to 40 arcsec. Our new images reveal complex, well resolved filamentary substructure in the radio jets and tails. We also use these images to explore the spectral structure of 3C 31 on large and small scales. We infer the apparent magnetic field structure by correcting for Faraday rotation. Some of the intensity substructure in the jets is clearly related to structure in their apparent magnetic field: there are arcs of emission where the degree of linear polarization increases, with the apparent magnetic field parallel to the ridges of the arcs. The spectral indices are significantly steeper (0.62) within 7 arcsec of the nucleus than between 7 and 50 arcsec (0.52 - 0.57). The spectra of the jet edges are also slightly flatter than the average for their surroundings. At larger distances, the jets are clearly delimited from surrounding larger-scale emission both by their flatter radio spectra and by sharp brightness gradients. The spectral index of 0.62 in the first 7 arcsec of 3C 31's jets is very close to that found in other FR I galaxies where their jets first brighten in the radio and where X-ray synchrotron emission is most prominent. Farther from the nucleus, where the spectra flatten, X-ray emission is fainter relative to the radio. The brightest X-ray emission from FR I jets is therefore not associated with the flattest radio spectra, but with a particle-acceleration process whose characteristic energy index is 2.24. The spectral flattening with distance from the nucleus occurs where our relativistic jet models require deceleration, and the flatter-spectra at the jet edges may be associated with transverse velocity shear. (Slightly abridged)Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA