Military Veterans and Yoga Teacher Training: A Phenomenological Review

This transcendental phenomenological study aimed to discover the experiences of military veteran graduates of two Veterans Yoga Project (VYP) cohorts. The theory guiding this study was phenomenological inquiry, founded by Husserl and expanded by Hegel, Heidegger, and van Manen, as it explored the lived experiences and potential intersection of wellness in military veterans. The candidates for participation were recruited from the VYP MRYTT yoga training program 2021 Cohort 1, providing 16 graduates, and 2022 Cohort 2, providing 23 graduates. This study discovered 1) the lived experiences of yoga teacher training (YTT) in military veterans, 2) a conceptualization of military veterans’ lived experiences applicable to yoga practice or yoga teaching, and 3) evidence from lived experience that VYP yoga teacher training (YTT) informs veteran wellness. Two interviews were conducted: a written pre-interview survey and a traditional formal interview. The initial survey provided ten questions and was completed online. A standard 40 to 45-minute interview consisted of 25 scripted questions and was conducted online using technology. Each interview was transcribed and summarized. Transcriptions of data were bracketed, clustered, and delineated to form themes. A qualitative research software tool was used to analyze data. The study results suggested that yoga teacher training supported posttraumatic growth and increased military veteran wellness

Interest rate risk immunization - the impact of credit risk in the quality of immunization case study: immunization with Portuguese bonds and German bonds

This paper involves an assessment of the interest rate risk present in Financial Institutions and the methods used for its immunization. The paper consists on two parts. The first part presents a theoretical review of the interest rate risk and how this risk can be immunized. Concepts such as Macaulay (1938) and Fisher & Weil (1971) duration and their limitations in the process of the approximation to the price of a considered bond will be highlighted. In the second part the main indicators of the credit risk on bonds are analyzed. Based on market prices of Portugal’s bonds and Germany’s bonds, the quality of immunization is tested. The interest rate derivatives are then introduced as a method of hedging interest rate risk. At the end, an interview is conducted with the responsible for hedging the interest rate risk in one of the largest private banks in Portugal in order to identify the methods used to capture the interest rate risk and to understand how this risk is immunized. This paper allows us to conclude about the importance of credit risk in an immunization strategy of interest rate risk. We conclude that interest rate hedging based on Fisher & Weil (1971) duration is not possible in a scenario of high volatility of credit risk. Interest rate hedge based on interest rate swap becomes more attractive to the Financial Institutions

Time-dependent Robin boundary conditions in the dynamical Casimir effect

Motivated by experiments in which moving boundaries are simulated by time-dependent properties of static systems, we discuss the model of a massless scalar field submitted to a time-dependent Robin boundary condition (BC) at a static mirror in 1+1 dimensions. Using a perturbative approach, we compute the spectral distribution of the created particles and the total particle creation rate, considering a thermal state as the initial field state.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. To appear in proceedings of Conference on Quantum Field Theory under the Influence of External Condition

Predicting the extinction of Ebola spreading in Liberia due to mitigation strategies

The Ebola virus is spreading throughout West Africa and is causing thousands of deaths. In order to quantify the effectiveness of different strategies for controlling the spread, we develop a mathematical model in which the propagation of the Ebola virus through Liberia is caused by travel between counties. For the initial months in which the Ebola virus spreads, we find that the arrival times of the disease into the counties predicted by our model are compatible with World Health Organization data, but we also find that reducing mobility is insufficient to contain the epidemic because it delays the arrival of Ebola virus in each county by only a few weeks. We study the effect of a strategy in which safe burials are increased and effective hospitalisation instituted under two scenarios: (i) one implemented in mid-July 2014 and (ii) one in mid-August—which was the actual time that strong interventions began in Liberia. We find that if scenario (i) had been pursued the lifetime of the epidemic would have been three months shorter and the total number of infected individuals 80% less than in scenario (ii). Our projection under scenario (ii) is that the spreading will stop by mid-spring 2015.H.E.S. thanks the NSF (grants CMMI 1125290 and CHE-1213217) and the Keck Foundation for financial support. L.D.V. and L.A.B. wish to thank to UNMdP and FONCyT (Pict 0429/2013) for financial support. (CMMI 1125290 - NSF; CHE-1213217 - NSF; Keck Foundation; UNMdP; Pict 0429/2013 - FONCyT)Published versio

Some boundary effects in quantum field theory

We have constructed a quantum field theory in a finite box, with periodic boundary conditions, using the hypothesis that particles living in a finite box are created and/or annihilated by the creation and/or annihilation operators, respectively, of a quantum harmonic oscillator on a circle. An expression for the effective coupling constant is obtained showing explicitly its dependence on the dimension of the box.Comment: 12 pages, Late

Effect of phonon scattering by surface roughness on the universal thermal conductance

The effect of phonon scattering by surface roughness on the thermal conductance in mesoscopic systems at low temperatures is calculated using full elasticity theory. The low frequency behavior of the scattering shows novel power law dependences arising from the unusual properties of the elastic modes. This leads to new predictions for the low temperature depression of the thermal conductance below the ideal universal value. Comparison with the data of Schwab et al. [Nature 404, 974 (2000)] suggests that surface roughness on a scale of the width of the thermal pathway is important in the experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure