An Exploration of Adolescent Boys’ Perceptions of Mental Health and Awareness of School-Based Support Systems

Historically, there has been a disparity in the ways in which mental health are viewed by males and females, and also in how society has directed and determined the appropriateness and acceptability for these groups to express difficulties with mental health, and to seek support. Males have typically been encouraged to hide their feelings and emotions and to adopt a stoic stance, whilst females have been encouraged to express their feelings and difficulties, and to seek support when needed. This research explored adolescent, cisgender boys’, aged between 11 to 16 years, perceptions and understanding of, and attitudes to mental health, as well as their awareness of support systems available to them, and was conducted from a social constructionist perspective. The views of five cisgender, adolescent males were elicited using semi-structured interviews, conducted virtually. Themes were identified using Thematic Analysis with a deductive perspective. Participants constructed a range of meanings of the term “mental health”, together with varying levels of awareness of support available to them. Differences in how girls and boys perceive and share ideas linked to mental health were identified, with participants uniformly reporting that they felt it is easier for girls to express feelings and mental health difficulties, and to seek help. Participants identified three main sources of support: school, the internet and friends and families. Relationships were deemed important in relation to the seeking of mental health support and also to maintaining positive mental health, and participants felt, generally, that schools were providing adequate mental health support. The internet was thought to be both a positive and negative force in relation to mental health and related support. Participants also found helpful the perceived distance that speaking to others via a screen affords. Although participants felt many traditionally held, gender-based stereotypes linked to mental health still exist, they neither agreed with nor subscribed to them

Comment on “Does the Hydrated Electron Occupy a Cavity?” [Science 329, 65, (2010)]

Exact quantum mechanical calculations examining a recently implemented pseudopotential show that the results reported by Larsen et al. are based on a model that contains inaccuracies. We illustrate that, in contrast to the model used, the true electron-water interaction is repulsive in the region relevant to the reported extended electron distribution, consistent with the cavity model. The reported simulated properties of the hydrated electron are shown to be very sensitive to this problem

Excess electron solvation in ammonia clusters

We performed a combination of quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations to assess the stability of various size ("N" "H" _"3" )_n^- ammonia cluster anions up to n = 32 monomers. In the n = 3 – 8 size range, cluster anions are optimized and the vertical detachment energy of the excess electron (VDE) from increasing size clusters are computed using various level methods including density functional theory (DFT), MP2 and CCSD(T) calculations. These clusters bind the electron in non-branched hydrogen bonding chains in dipole bound states. The VDE increases with size from a few meV up to ~200 meV. The electron binding energy is weaker than in water clusters but comparable to small methanol cluster VDEs. We located the first branched hydrogen bonding cluster that binds the excess electron at n = 7. For larger (n = 8 – 32) clusters we generated cold, neutral clusters by semiempirical and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations, and added an extra electron to selected neutral configurations. VDE calculations on the adiabatic and the relaxed anionic structures suggest that the n = 12 - 32 neutral clusters weakly bind the excess electron. Electron binding energies for these clusters (~ 100 meV) appear to be significantly weaker than extrapolated from experimental data. The observed excess electron states are diffuse and localized outside the molecular frame (surface states) with minor (~1%) penetration to the nitrogen frontier orbitals. Stable minima with excess electron states surrounded by solvent molecules (cavity states) were not found in this size regime

Coinductive interpreters for process calculi

This paper suggests functional programming languages with coinductive types as suitable devices for prototyping process calculi. The proposed approach is independent of any particular process calculus and makes explicit the different ingredients present in the design of any such calculi. In particular structural aspects of the underlying behaviour model (e.g. the dichotomies such as active vs reactive, deterministic vs nondeterministic) become clearly separated from the interaction structure which defines the synchronisation discipline. The approach is illustrated by the detailed development in Charity of an interpreter for a family of process languages.(undefined

Men's involvement in family planning service utilization among married men in Kondala district, western Ethiopia: a community-based comparative cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Men involvement is one of the important factors in family planning (FP) service utilization. Their limitation in the family planning program causes a decrease in service utilization as well as the discontinuation of the method which eventually leads to failure of the program. Family planning uptake is low but there is no enough study conducted on the parameters of husband involvement in Ethiopia. Hence, this study focused to assess men's involvement in family planning service utilization in Kondala district, western Ethiopia. METHODS: Community based comparative cross-sectional study design was employed in urban and rural kebeles of kondala district using quantitative and qualitative data collection tools. The multi-stage sampling method was employed to select 370 participants from each of the four urban and eight rural kebeles. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables that affect husbands' involvement in FP service utilization. Statistical significance was declared at p-value of < 0.05 with 95% confidence interval (CI) and strength of association was reported by odds ratio (OR). RESULTS: The study showed that 203(55.6%) men from urban and 178(48.8%) from rural were involved in FP service utilization. The median age of the respondents was 36+ 8.5 years (IQR: 27.5-44.5) in urban and 35 years (IQR: 25-45) in rural parts. Respondents who had four and above current children (AOR = 3.25, 95%CI = 1.51-7.02) in urban and (AOR = 4.20, 95%CI = 1.80-9.79) in rural were positively associated with men's involvement in FP service utilization. In the urban setting, being government employee (AOR = 2.58, 95%CI = 1.25-5.33), wishing less than two children (AOR = 3.08, 95%CI = 1.80-5.24) and having a better attitude towards FP methods (AOR = 1.86, 95%CI = 1.16-2.99) were positively associated with FP service utilization. While good educational background (AOR = 2.13, 95%CI = 1.02-4.44), short distance from home to health facility (AOR = 2.29, 95%CI = 1.24-4.19) and having better knowledge (AOR = 4.49, 95%CI = 2.72-7.38) were positively associated with men involvement in FP service utilization in the rural area. CONCLUSION: Low involvement of men in family planning service utilization was reported in both settings. Factors associated with husbands' involvement were varied between the two setups, except for the current number of children. Future FP program should incorporate infrastructure associated with the health facility, knowledge, and attitudinal factors

Use of sweet lupin (Lupinus albus L.) as alternative protein source in diets for podolian young bulls

AbstractThe Podolian bovine represents an important example of Italian rustic breed, since it is able to live under difficult environmental conditions and it takes advantage of sources that could not be otherwise used, producing meat and secondarily milk. The "Podolica" breed is diffused in the marginal areas of the south of Italy and it is especially reared in Lucania and also Apulia. It could be improved by means of a rearing management set up in agreement with the traditional systems, using the pastures and feeding schemes aimed to increase meat productions.This trial was carried out on sixteen podolian young bulls of about 9 months of age that were transferred from the pasture to the box and after that divided into two homogeneous groups of 8 subjects each. Then the young bulls had been fed ad libitum for about 180 days on straw and a complete feed containing either extruded soybean meal s.e. (group Soybean, S) or sweet lupine (Lupinus albus L., var. Multitalia) (group Lupine, L).The two different pel..