5,463 research outputs found
Power & persuasion: constructing identity in religious communications
According to Geertz (2002, p. 19), religion is âa system of symbols which acts to establish powerful,
pervasive and long lasting moods and motivationsâ and provides adherents with a means for
understanding the world. The qualities of religion mean that church communications acquire some
power in forming the identities of members. In the case of immigrants, the church of the homeland is
even more powerful in forming identity, because it not only functions as a repository of tradition, but also
as a source of community and aid when acculturating to a ânewâ land (Cadge & Ecklund, 2007; Ng, 2002;
Peek, 2005; Yang, 1999; Vertovec, 2000). For members of the Greek Orthodox diaspora, the Church is
presented as a way to be Greek by being Orthodox, which inevitably limits member expression of the self
in relation to religious and ethnic identities. The purpose of this paper was to explore how a diasporic
Greek Orthodox Church used its communications to establish and maintain relations of power and
construct member identity. Accordingly, we applied Cheneyâs (1983) rhetorical identification typology to
bulletins emailed to the church congregation. At its core Cheneyâs (1983) rhetorical identification typology
is comprised of four strategies; the common ground technique, identification through antithesis, the
âtranscendent weâ and unifying symbols. In unearthing the presence of some of these strategies, we
found that the communications may potentially assist this diaspora group in negotiating their religious
and ethnic identities, but they are forced to do so within the confines of the meta-discourses of the church
hierarchies they left behind. Therefore, it is not unexpected that the messages of the Greek Orthodox
Church advocated participation in the church as a way of preserving membersâ âGreek nessâ, and it may
be equally unsurprising that the rhetor disseminated these ideas forcefully and authoritatively despite
having no certain knowledge of how the audience would receive and respond to such a strong tone
What works in conversation therapy for aphasia, and how? Searching for mechanisms of change and active ingredients using tools and theory from behaviour change research
While there is a growing evidence base to suggest that conversation therapies for aphasia produce beneficial changes to conversation (Simmons-Mackie, Raymer, Armstrong, Holland & Cherney 2010; Wilkinson & Wielaert 2012) the process and tasks by which these changes are produced have yet to be formally investigated. The Medical Research Council (2008) recommends that developing a theoretically-grounded account of how an intervention creates change should be a key task when designing and evaluating complex interventions. This thesis investigates pathways to change within conversation therapy for people with aphasia and their partners. In order to formally examine processes of change, tools and theoretical models developed to help describe and understand behaviour change interventions within the field of health psychology are drawn on. The primary data for this thesis consist of interviews and discussions held with 16 participants in the Better Conversations with Aphasia programme (Beeke, Sirman Beckley, Maxim, Edwards, Swinburn & Best 2013). Data are analysed using the qualitative method of Framework Analysis (Ritchie & Spencer 1994). Study 1 explores the influences that determine speakersâ behaviour in conversation, with a view to identifying possible routes and obstacles to change. Study 2 then considers participantsâ accounts of how and why their behaviour changed as a result of therapy. Study 3 codes the content of therapy using a recently published taxonomy of Behaviour Change Techniques (Michie, Richardson, Johnston, Abraham, Francis, Hardeman, Eccles, Cane & Wood 2013), while Study 4 considers participantsâ perceptions of BCAâs most and least successful content. Clinically-relevant outputs include a theory-linked account of how BCA is expected to create change in conversational behaviour, identification of the interventionâs proposed âactive ingredientsâ and recommendations for optimising the therapy. In addition, the benefits and challenges of applying behaviour change theory and research methods to intervention for conversation will be evaluated
Identifying mechanisms of change in a conversation therapy for aphasia using behaviour change theory and qualitative methods
BACKGROUND: Conversation therapy for aphasia is a complex intervention comprising multiple components and targeting multiple outcomes. UK Medical Research Council (MRC) guidelines published in 2008 recommend that in addition to measuring the outcomes of complex interventions, evaluation should seek to clarify how such outcomes are produced, including identifying the hypothesized mechanisms of change. AIMS: To identify mechanisms of change within a conversation therapy for people with aphasia and their partners. Using qualitative methods, the study draws on behaviour change theory to understand how and why participants make changes in conversation during and after therapy. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Data were derived from 16 participants (eight people with aphasia; eight conversation partners) who were recruited to the Better Conversations with Aphasia research project and took part in an eight session conversation therapy programme. The dataset consists of in-therapy discussions and post-therapy interviews, which are analysed using Framework Analysis. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Seven mechanisms of conversational behaviour change are identified and linked to theory. These show how therapy can activate changes to speakers' skills and motivation for using specific behaviours, and to the conversational opportunities available for strategy use. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: These clinically relevant findings offer guidance about the processes involved in producing behavioural change via conversation therapy. A distinction is made between the process involved in motivating change and that involved in embedding change. Differences are also noted between the process engaged in reducing unhelpful behaviour and that supporting new uses of compensatory strategies. Findings are expected to have benefits for those seeking to replicate therapy's core processes both in clinical practice and in future research
Preliminary interpretation of Titan plasma interaction as observed by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer: Comparisons with Voyager 1
The Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) instrument observed the plasma environment at Titan during the Cassini orbiter's TA encounter on October 26, 2004. Titan was in Saturn's magnetosphere during the Voyager 1 flyby and also during the TA encounter. CAPS measurements from this encounter are compared with measurements made by the Voyager 1 Plasma Science Instrument (PLS). The comparisons focus on the composition and nature of ambient and pickup ions. They lead to: A) the major ion components of Saturn's magnetosphere in the vicinity of Titan are H+, H-2(+) and O+/CH4+ ions; B) finite gyroradius effects are apparent in ambient O+ ions as the result of their absorption by Titan's extended atmosphere; C) the principal pickup ions are composed of H+, H-2(+), N+/CH2+, CH4+, and N-2(+); D) the pickup ions are in narrow energy ranges; and E) there is clear evidence of the slowing down of background ions due to pickup ion mass loading
Lower bounds for several online variants of bin packing
We consider several previously studied online variants of bin packing and
prove new and improved lower bounds on the asymptotic competitive ratios for
them. For that, we use a method of fully adaptive constructions. In particular,
we improve the lower bound for the asymptotic competitive ratio of online
square packing significantly, raising it from roughly 1.68 to above 1.75.Comment: WAOA 201
Dynamics on expanding spaces: modeling the emergence of novelties
Novelties are part of our daily lives. We constantly adopt new technologies,
conceive new ideas, meet new people, experiment with new situations.
Occasionally, we as individuals, in a complicated cognitive and sometimes
fortuitous process, come up with something that is not only new to us, but to
our entire society so that what is a personal novelty can turn into an
innovation at a global level. Innovations occur throughout social, biological
and technological systems and, though we perceive them as a very natural
ingredient of our human experience, little is known about the processes
determining their emergence. Still the statistical occurrence of innovations
shows striking regularities that represent a starting point to get a deeper
insight in the whole phenomenology. This paper represents a small step in that
direction, focusing on reviewing the scientific attempts to effectively model
the emergence of the new and its regularities, with an emphasis on more recent
contributions: from the plain Simon's model tracing back to the 1950s, to the
newest model of Polya's urn with triggering of one novelty by another. What
seems to be key in the successful modelling schemes proposed so far is the idea
of looking at evolution as a path in a complex space, physical, conceptual,
biological, technological, whose structure and topology get continuously
reshaped and expanded by the occurrence of the new. Mathematically it is very
interesting to look at the consequences of the interplay between the "actual"
and the "possible" and this is the aim of this short review.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figure
All-cause hospitalisation according to demographic group in people living with HIV in the current ART era: Recent findings from a cohort study in the UK
OBJECTIVE: We investigated differences in all-cause hospitalisation between key demographic groups among people with HIV in the UK in the current ART era. DESIGN/METHODS: We used data from the Royal Free HIV Cohort study between 2007 and 2018. Individuals were classified into five groups: men who have sex with men (MSM), Black African men who have sex with women (MSW), MSW of other ethnicity, Black African women and women of other ethnicity. We studied hospitalisations during the first year after HIV diagnosis (Analysis-A) separately from those more than one year after diagnosis (Analysis-B). In Analysis-A, time to first hospitalisation was assessed using Cox regression adjusted for age and diagnosis date. In Analysis-B, subsequent hospitalisation rate was assessed using Poisson regression, accounting for repeated hospitalisation within individuals, adjusted for age, calendar year, time since diagnosis. RESULTS: The hospitalisation rate was 30.7/100 person-years in the first year after diagnosis and 2.7/100 person-years subsequently; 52% and 13% hospitalisations respectively were AIDS-related. Compared to MSM, MSW and women were at much higher risk of hospitalisation during the first year [aHR (95%CI): 2.7 (1.7-4.3), 3.0 (2.0-4.4), 2.0 (1.3-2.9), 3.0 (2.0-4.5) for Black African MSW; other ethnicity MSW; Black African women; other ethnicity women respectively, Analysis-A] and remained at increased risk subsequently [corresponding aIRR (95% CI): 1.7 (1.2-2.4), 2.1 (1.5-2.8), 1.5 (1.1-1.9), 1.7 (1.2-2.3), Analysis-B]. CONCLUSIONS: In this setting with universal healthcare, substantial variation exists in hospitalisation risk across demographic groups, both in early and subsequent periods after HIV diagnosis, highlighting the need for targeted interventions
Diagnosis of cancer as an emergency: a critical review of current evidence
Many patients with cancer are diagnosed through an emergency presentation, which is associated with inferior clinical and patient-reported outcomes compared with those of patients who are diagnosed electively or through screening. Reducing the proportion of patients with cancer who are diagnosed as emergencies is, therefore, desirable; however, the optimal means of achieving this aim are uncertain owing to the involvement of different tumour, patient and health-care factors, often in combination. Most relevant evidence relates to patients with colorectal or lung cancer in a few economically developed countries, and defines emergency presentations contextually (that is, whether patients presented to emergency health-care services and/or received emergency treatment shortly before their diagnosis) as opposed to clinically (whether patients presented with life-threatening manifestations of their cancer). Consistent inequalities in the risk of emergency presentations by patient characteristics and cancer type have been described, but limited evidence is available on whether, and how, such presentations can be prevented. Evidence on patients' symptoms and health-care use before presentation as an emergency is sparse. In this Review, we describe the extent, causes and implications of a diagnosis of cancer following an emergency presentation, and provide recommendations for public health and health-care interventions, and research efforts aimed at addressing this under-researched aspect of cancer diagnosis
Replication of LDL SWAs hits in PROSPER/PHASE as validation for future (pharmaco)genetic analyses
<p><b>Background:</b> The PHArmacogenetic study of Statins in the Elderly at risk (PHASE) is a genome wide association study in the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at risk for vascular disease (PROSPER) that investigates the genetic variation responsible for the individual variation in drug response to pravastatin. Statins lower LDL-cholesterol in general by 30%, however not in all subjects. Moreover, clinical response is highly variable and adverse effects occur in a minority of patients. In this report we first describe the rationale of the PROSPER/PHASE project and second show that the PROSPER/PHASE study can be used to study pharmacogenetics in the elderly.</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> The genome wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using the Illumina 660K-Quad beadchips following manufacturer's instructions. After a stringent quality control 557,192 SNPs in 5,244 subjects were available for analysis. To maximize the availability of genetic data and coverage of the genome, imputation up to 2.5 million autosomal CEPH HapMap SNPs was performed with MACH imputation software. The GWAS for LDL-cholesterol is assessed with an additive linear regression model in PROBABEL software, adjusted for age, sex, and country of origin to account for population stratification.</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> Forty-two SNPs reached the GWAS significant threshold of p = 5.0e-08 in 5 genomic loci (APOE/APOC1; LDLR; FADS2/FEN1; HMGCR; PSRC1/CELSR5). The top SNP (rs445925, chromosome 19) with a p-value of p = 2.8e-30 is located within the APOC1 gene and near the APOE gene. The second top SNP (rs6511720, chromosome 19) with a p-value of p = 5.22e-15 is located within the LDLR gene. All 5 genomic loci were previously associated with LDL-cholesterol levels, no novel loci were identified. Replication in WOSCOPS and CARE confirmed our results.</p>
<p><b>Conclusion:</b> With the GWAS in the PROSPER/PHASE study we confirm the previously found genetic associations with LDL-cholesterol levels. With this proof-of-principle study we show that the PROSPER/PHASE study can be used to investigate genetic associations in a similar way to population based studies. The next step of the PROSPER/PHASE study is to identify the genetic variation responsible for the variation in LDL-cholesterol lowering in response to statin treatment in collaboration with other large trials.</p>
Advances in prevention and therapy of neonatal dairy calf diarrhoea : a systematical review with emphasis on colostrum management and fluid therapy
Neonatal calf diarrhoea remains the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in preweaned dairy calves worldwide. This complex disease can be triggered by both infectious and non-infectious causes. The four most important enteropathogens leading to neonatal dairy calf diarrhoea are Escherichia coli, rota-and coronavirus, and Cryptosporidium parvum. Besides treating diarrhoeic neonatal dairy calves, the veterinarian is the most obvious person to advise the dairy farmer on prevention and treatment of this disease. This review deals with prevention and treatment of neonatal dairy calf diarrhoea focusing on the importance of a good colostrum management and a correct fluid therapy
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