A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Experience of Receiving Individual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) For Psychosis within a Psychosis Recovery Outreach Programme in Lebanon

Cognitive Behavioural therapy has been recognised as an evidence-based intervention for varied psychological and emotional difficulties and applied worldwide. However, CBT like other psychological interventions has been developed in Western, developed countries and therefore holds certain assumptions and values underlying the cultural context of its origin. The cultural context of individuals however does not only determine the expression of psychological distress but also constructions of cultural systems of healing and help-seeking behaviour. With this, questions arise around how individuals from different cultural contexts come to understand their experience of this intervention and what aspects of the intervention are useful and appropriate. Therefore, the current research aims to elucidate this question through a phenomenological inquiry. Four semi-structed interviews were conducted in English with four participants who received individual CBT for psychosis in a ‘psychosis recovery outreach programme’ (PROP) in Beirut, Lebanon. The phenomenon under study was explored by adopting a methodology informed by Max Van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology. The findings highlighted the importance of incorporating religious or spiritual beliefs in the conceptualisation and ways of coping with distress. The research also found the importance of beginning with certain interventions such as behavioural and social tasks over cognitive interventions. Problematic areas identified, included: the need to assess psychological readiness, the timing of interventions and therapists’ communication style within the therapeutic work. The implications for the field of Counselling Psychology and other allied health professionals are reviewed to offer an insight into individuals’ experience of this intervention. Finally, limitations of the study are identified and discussed

Correspondence between HBT radii and the emission zone in non-central heavy ion collisions

In non-central collisions between ultra-relativistic heavy ions, the freeze-out distribution is anisotropic, and its major longitudinal axis may be tilted away from the beam direction. The shape and orientation of this distribution are particularly interesting, as they provide a snapshot of the evolving source and reflect the space-time aspect of anisotropic flow. Experimentally, this information is extracted by measuring pion HBT radii as a function of angle with respect to the reaction plane. Existing formulae relating the oscillations of the radii and the freezeout anisotropy are in principle only valid for Gaussian sources with no collective flow. With a realistic transport model of the collision, which generates flow and non-Gaussian sources, we find that these formulae approximately reflect the anisotropy of the freezeout distribution.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Population Dynamics and Clonal Comparisons of Cowpea Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) on Resistant and Susceptible Cowpea Cultivars

Survivorship, growth, and reproductive performance of cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch, were studied on whole plants and excised plant tissues of aphid-resistant (‘ICV-12') and aphid-susceptible (‘ICV-1') cultivars of cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. In a greenhouse study, clonal populations derived from individuals that were originally collected from 5 different locations were studied on plants of the 2 cultivars to assess possible development of aphid biotypes. In the laboratory, performance of 1 clone was studied on excised leaves, flowers, and pods to assess tissue localization and effect of injury on ICV-12 resistance. Aphid life table parameters measured included survivorship, reproductive period, intrinsic rate of increase, net rate of reproduction, number of generations and generation time. Aphid reproductive performance and life table parameters were significantly reduced on seedlings and excised tissues of ICV-12 plants compared with ICV-1. Survivorship, intrinsic rate of increase and net rate of reproduction of populations were most adversely affected. Antibiosis appeared to contribute to aphid resistance in ICV-12. Effects of excised ICV-12 foliage were stronger than those of flowers or pods. Thus, the resistant factor in ICV-12 apparently was based in seedling foliage. However, there were no differences among excised tissues of ICV-1. Trends in the results indicated that there was no variability among the different populations in their demographic statistics on each cultivar. Thus, there did not seem to be biotype development or breakdown of ICV-12 resistance in any of the A. craccivora population

The Learning Theories Profile: A metacognitive tool for reflecting on professional practice

The Learning Theories Profile (LTP) supports professionals to locate various learning theories within four epistemological quadrants of the Matrix of Perspectives. Professionals can use this tool to identify some of the theories they hold and to reflect on the alignment between their espoused theories and theories-in-use. Forty-four Resource Teachers used the LTP and demonstrated that they were guided by a range of theories, most commonly interactive theories. A strong relationship was observed between espoused and in-use theories. Participants’ responses indicated the positive value of the LTP for supporting professionals to analyse and optimise interaction occurring in complex contexts of practice

Extent of partial ice cover due to carbon cycle feedback in a zonal energy balance model

International audienceA global carbon cycle is introduced into a zonally averaged energy balance climate model. The physical model components are similar to those of Budyko (1969) and Sellers (1969). The new carbon components account for atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and the terrestrial and oceanic storage of carbon. Prescribing values for the sum of these carbon components, it is found that inclusion of a closed carbon cycle reduces the range of insolation over which stable partial ice cover solutions may occur. This highly simplified climate model also predicts that the estimated release of carbon from fossil fuel burning over the next hundred years could result in the eventual melting of the ice sheets. Keywords: climate, carbon cycle,zonal model, earth system modellin

Pattern and rate of within-field dispersal and bionomics of the cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora (Aphididae), on selected cowpea cultivars

Comparative field studies were conducted during the rainy and dry seasons at the Mbita Point Field Station of ICIPE in southwestern Kenya, to investigate the pattern and rate of dispersal of Aphis craccivora on aphid-resistant (ICV-12) and aphid-susceptible (ICV-1) cowpea cultivars in relation to key weather factors. The effects of the dispersal trends on crop performance and aphid population dynamics were analysed. Treatments consisted of initial aphid releases at the north, south, west, east and centre of test plots and uninfested controls maintained on plants for 22 days. Parameters recorded included: pattern (direction of spread of aphids) and rate (number of aphid-infested plants at a given time) in test plots; crop growth and yields and associated factors such as incidence of sooty mould and plant mortality, and aphid density and associated factors, including the incidence of natural enemy species, particularly coccinellids. Dispersal was fastest when releases were made in the west, north and centre of plots, and resulted in adveVse effects on ICV-1 growth and yields. Infestations of ICV-12 did not significantly affect crop performance. There was an apparent direct, positive relationship between wind direction and pattern of spread of aphid infestations, but this pattern was more apparent during the rainy season, when wind speeds were higher, than during the dry season. The incidence of natural enemy species correlated with the spread of aphid infestations, while the abundance of coccinellids correlated with aphid densit

Effects of infestation by cowpea aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) on different growth stages of resistant and susceptible cowpea cultivars

Field studies were conducted to characterise the effects of infestations by adult and nymphal stages of cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch, on the growth and yield of cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. Seedling, flowering, and podding stage plants of aphid-resistant (cv. ICV-12) and aphid-susceptible (cv. ICV-1) cowpea cultivars were used in the studies. Four treatments (consisting of infestations with adult and nymphal aphids, caged controls and uncaged controls) were administered on plants for 22 days post-treatment. Eight parameters of crop success were measured: extended leaf heights (ELH); plant mortality; incidence of sooty mould; incidence and abundance of natural enemy species; crop growth parameters (net assimilation rate, [NAR] in g/ dm2/day, and crop growth rate [CGR] in g/dm2 land surface/day); and plant yields (seeds per pod, weight per seed). Data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), orthogonal contrasts and 95% confidence intervals (C.I.). There were no significant (P > 0.05) differences between adult and nymphal infestations or between caged and uncaged controls, so the respective sets of data were combined for comparisons of aphid infestations with control treatments. Infestations caused severe plant stunting and other growth deformities, drastic yield reductions, higher plant mortality, greater incidence of natural enemies and abundance of Cheilomenes spp. on cv. ICV-1 than on cv. ICV-12, and on infested and uninfested plants. Aphid infestations did not significantly affect the incidence of sooty mould on plants of cv. ICV-12 or cv. ICV-

H-chromatic symmetric functions

We introduce $H$-chromatic symmetric functions, $X_{G}^{H}$, which use the $H$-coloring of a graph $G$ to define a generalization of Stanley's chromatic symmetric functions. We say two graphs $G_1$ and $G_2$ are $H$-chromatically equivalent if $X_{G_1}^{H} = X_{G_2}^{H}$, and use this idea to study uniqueness results for $H$-chromatic symmetric functions, with a particular emphasis on the case $H$ is a complete bipartite graph. We also show that several of the classical bases of the space of symmetric functions, i.e. the monomial symmetric functions, power sum symmetric functions, and elementary symmetric functions, can be realized as $H$-chromatic symmetric functions. We end with some conjectures and open problems.Comment: 38 pages; corrected typos and clarified some detail

Searching for Dignity: Barriers Encountered by Latina Immigrants in Search of Health Care

Objective This paper explores the structural barriers encountered among Latina immigrant women in a rural area of the mid-Atlantic eastern United States as they seek appropriate primary health care. Design For this qualitative study participants were recruited through a purposeful convenience sampling strategy and concomitant snowball recruiting. Semi-structured in-depth individual interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, translated when needed and reviewed for accuracy. NVIVO 11 provided a platform for coding and sorting into themes. Population The participants were 8 Latina immigrants in a rural area of the Eastern United States who have sought primary care in the country at least once. Participants were 18-65 year-old women of first or second-generation Latina families who speak fluent Spanish. Method This study used a Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological approach to data analysis. Findings The overarching theme that emerged was searching for dignity. Common barriers encountered included racism and assumptions about socio-economic class, lack of health systems literacy on the part of health care workers and the women themselves, communication barriers, differing cultural expectations. Emergent themes related to health care barriers included: need for trust, vulnerability, feeling like an outsider, and the desire to be treated the same as everyone else. Implications The findings suggest that structural barriers deny these Latina immigrants dignity, which in turn undermines their entire health care experience. Developing a shared agenda of mutual trust and understanding within community care systems would improve the health care experience while at the same time assisting women in learning how to navigate the system appropriately