3,905 research outputs found
Making meaning in muddy waters: representing complexity through community based storytelling
Internationally, storytelling has been used with many diverse communities. This paper compares the use of storytelling as a participatory art form within a community development project and a community and healthy living centre in the United Kingdom. Both the project and the centre regard storytelling activities as ‘inclusionary’ forms of intervention. However, the discourse of social inclusion rarely acknowledges the subtle psychosocial processes that are involved in participatory storytelling. This paper discusses such processes and examines some methodological implications of researching storytelling. It asks what contribution storytelling can make towards authentic representation of individual and community voices
Degenerate ground state and anomalous flux hysteresis in an YBa2Cu3O7 grain boundary r.f. SQUID
We report measurements of the flux hysteresis curves and trapped flux
distribution in an YBa2Cu3O7 r.f. SQUID containing two closely spaced grain
boundary Josephson junctions in parallel. Broadening of the flux distribution
from T = 15 K to 30 K is followed by a bifurcation at T = 35 K which
corresponds to a degenerate ground state. Above T ~ 40 K the bifurcation
disappears, the flux distribution narrows significantly and small secondary
loops appear in the hysteresis curves. This behaviour can be modelled
qualitatively if we assume a temperature dependent second harmonic term in the
current-phase relationship of the junctions.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
A Randomized Depression Prevention Trial Comparing Interpersonal Psychotherapy—Adolescent Skills Training To Group Counseling In Schools
Given the rise in depression disorders in adolescence, it is important to develop and study depression prevention programs for this age group. The current study examined the efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), a group prevention program for adolescent depression, in comparison to group programs that are typically delivered in school settings. In this indicated prevention trial, 186 adolescents with elevated depression symptoms were randomized to receive IPT-AST delivered by research staff or group counseling (GC) delivered by school counselors. Hierarchical linear modeling examined differences in rates of change in depressive symptoms and overall functioning from baseline to the 6-month follow-up assessment. Cox regression compared rates of depression diagnoses. Adolescents in IPT-AST showed significantly greater improvements in self-reported depressive symptoms and evaluator-rated overall functioning than GC adolescents from baseline to the 6-month follow-up. However, there were no significant differences between the two conditions in onset of depression diagnoses. Although both intervention conditions demonstrated significant improvements in depressive symptoms and overall functioning, results indicate that IPT-AST has modest benefits over groups run by school counselors which were matched on frequency and duration of sessions. In particular, IPT-AST outperformed GC in reduction of depressive symptoms and improvements in overall functioning. These findings point to the clinical utility of this depression prevention program, at least in the short-term. Additional follow-up is needed to determine the long-term effects of IPT-AST, relative to GC, particularly in preventing depression onset
Preventing Adolescents\u27 Externalizing And Internalizing Symptoms: Effects Of The Penn Resiliency Program
Preventing adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing symptoms : effects of the Penn Resiliency Program
This study reports secondary outcome analyses from a past study of the Penn Resiliency
Program (PRP), a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program for middle-school
aged children. Middle school students (N = 697) were randomly assigned to PRP, PEP
(an alternate intervention), or control conditions. Gillham et al., (2007) reported analyses
examining PRP’s effects on average and clinical levels of depression symptoms. We
examine PRP’s effects on parent-, teacher-, and self-reports of adolescents’ externalizing
and broader internalizing (depression/anxiety, somatic complaints, and social
withdrawal) symptoms over three years of follow-up. Relative to no intervention control,
PRP reduced parent-reports of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms beginning at the first
assessment after the intervention and persisting for most of the follow-up assessments.
PRP also reduced parent-reported conduct problems relative to no-intervention. There
was no evidence that the PRP program produced an effect on teacher- or self-report of
adolescents’ symptoms. Overall, PRP did not reduce symptoms relative to the alternate
intervention, although there is a suggestion of a delayed effect for conduct problems.
These findings are discussed with attention to developmental trajectories and the
importance of interventions that address common risk factors for diverse forms of
negative outcomes.peer-reviewe
Cabinet formation and portfolio distribution in European multiparty systems
Government formation in multiparty systems is of self-evident substantive importance, and the subject of an enormous theoretical literature. Empirical evaluations of models of government formation tend to separate government formation per se from the distribution of key government pay-offs, such as cabinet portfolios, between members of the resulting government. Models of government formation are necessarily specified ex ante, absent any knowledge of the government that forms. Models of the distribution of cabinet portfolios are typically, though not necessarily, specified ex post, taking into account knowledge of the identity of some government ‘formateur’ or even of the composition of the eventual cabinet. This disjunction lies at the heart of a notorious contradiction between predictions of the distribution of cabinet portfolios made by canonical models of legislative bargaining and the robust empirical regularity of proportional portfolio allocations – Gamson’s Law. This article resolves this contradiction by specifying and estimating a joint model of cabinet formation and portfolio distribution that, for example, predicts ex ante which parties will receive zero portfolios rather than taking this as given ex post. It concludes that canonical models of legislative bargaining do increase the ability to predict government membership, but that portfolio distribution between government members conforms robustly to a proportionality norm because portfolio distribution follows the much more difficult process of policy bargaining in the typical government formation process
Tunable coaxial cavity resonator for linear and nonlinear microwave characterization of superconducting wires
We discuss experimental results obtained using a tunable cylindrical coaxial
cavity constituted by an outer Cu cylinder and an inner Pb-BSCCO wire. We have
used this device for investigating the microwave response of the
superconducting wire, both in the linear and nonlinear regimes. In particular,
by tuning the different modes of the cavity to make them resonant at exactly
harmonic frequencies, we have detected the power emitted by the superconducting
inner wire at the second- and third-harmonic frequency of the driving field.
The results obtained in the nonlinear regime, whether for the microwave surface
impedance or the harmonic emission, are qualitatively accounted for considering
intergrain fluxon dynamics. The use of this kind of device can be of strong
interest to investigate and characterise wires of large dimensions to be used
for implementing superconducting-based microwave devices.Comment: 14 pages, 6 embedded figures, accepted for publication in Supercond.
Sci. Techno
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