Perspectives of Portuguese People with Physical Disabilities Regarding Their Sexual Health: A Focus Group Study

The World Health Organization has considered sexual health as a major dimension of global health and a sexual right. However, the sexual health of people with physical disabilities is still poorly addressed by health and social care professionals, and it is very stigmatized by society. This study aimed to assess the perspectives of Portuguese people living with physical disabilities regarding issues affecting their sexual health. Nine women and 17 men with different physical disabilities participated in the study. Participants were recruited from a professional rehabilitation facility located in the North of Portugal and were assigned to four groups in one-hour sessions. Three main categories emerged from the content analysis: (1) meanings and beliefs regarding sexuality; (2) experiences of sexuality; (3) necessary changes. Despite the positive social changes towards sexuality, participants expressed that their sexual rights are still unfulfilled, as they live in a context that perpetuates their dependency. They pointed out low self-esteem, prejudice and social isolation, poor architectural accessibility and scarcity of financial support as some of the barriers to their lives and their sexual health. Finally, participants identified the main needs regarding their sexual health, such as: access to specialized information; training for health professionals. This study gives voice to people with physical disabilities and sheds light into both individual and contextual factors affecting their sexual health. Of utmost importance, this study draws attention to the need for reinforcing sexuality of people with disabilities in the social agenda and brings implications for future research and practice.This study was supported by a Grant attributed to the first author by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/112168/2015)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gardens of happiness: Sir William Temple, temperance and China

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordSir William Temple, an English statesman and humanist, wrote “Upon the Gardens of Epicurus” in 1685, taking a neo-epicurean approach to happiness and temperance. In accord with Pierre Gassendi’s epicureanism, “happiness” is characterised as freedom from disturbance and pain in mind and body, whereas “temperance” means following nature (Providence and one’s physiopsychological constitution). For Temple, cultivating fruit trees in his garden was analogous to the threefold cultivation of temperance as a virtue in the humoral body (as food), the mind (as freedom from the passions), and the bodyeconomic (as circulating goods) in order to attain happiness. A regimen that was supposed to cure the malaise of Restoration amidst a crisis of unbridled passions, this threefold cultivation of temperance underlines Temple’s reception of China and Confucianism wherein happiness and temperance are highlighted. Thus Temple’s “gardens of happiness” represent not only a reinterpretation of classical ideas, but also his dialogue with China.European CommissionLeverhulme Trus

Gas-Phase Combustion Synthesis of Aluminum Nitride Powder

Due to its combined properties of high electrical resistivity and high thermal conductivity aluminum nitride (AlN) is a highly desirable material for electronics applications. Methods are being sought for synthesis of unagglomerated, nanometer-sized powders of this material, prepared in such a way that they can be consolidated into solid compacts having minimal oxygen content. A procedure for synthesizing these powders through gas-phase combustion is described. This novel approach involves reacting AlCl3, NH3, and Na vapors. Equilibrium thermodynamic calculations show that 100% yields can be obtained for these reactants with the products being AlN, NaCl, and H2. The NaCl by-product is used to coat the AlN particles in situ. The coating allows for control of AlN agglomeration and protects the powders from hydrolysis during post-flame handling. On the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic considerations, two different approaches were employed to produce the powder, in co-flow diffusion flame configurations. In the first approach, the three reactants were supplied in separate streams. In the second, the AlCl3 and NH3 were premixed with HCl and then reacted with Na vapor. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra of as-produced powders show only NaCl for the first case and NaCl and AlN for the second. After annealing at 775 C tinder dynamic vacuum, the salt was removed and XRD spectra of powders from both approaches show only AlN. Aluminum metal was also produced in the co-flow flame by reacting AlCl3 with Na. XRD spectra of as-produced powders show the products to be only NaCl and elemental aluminum