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Reflective Journaling: A Theoretical Model and Digital Prototype for Developing Resilience and Creativity
Reflection is commonly discussed as a tool for personal and professional development that is becoming increasingly important in todayâs global and digital world. In this paper, we propose a model that suggests ways in which reflection, in the form of Reflective Journaling, can support the development of creativity and resilience, which are needed to enable individuals to function effectively in a fast-changing environment. In addition, the model proposes ways in which external support and progress monitoring can be used in conjunction with skills in adaptive resilience and structured creativity, to support the maintenance of reflective journaling as a habit, in the longer term, thus creating virtuous cycles of skills and behaviours that can reinforce each other. Based on our model, and additional user research, we describe the design of a first digital prototype that aims to support the use of Reflective Journaling and to develop creativity and resilience through suggested mechanisms. Initial evaluations of our prototype are positive. It has been well-received by early test users, and has the potential to address all the connections defined. We therefore suggest that the theoretical model can be used to develop digital tools, such as the one included, to help those who wish to develop the habit of reflective journaling, and through that a range of other skills associated with resilience and creative thinking. We see this as a starting point for investigating this potential in more depth
A Qualitative Study of Women's Lived Experiences of Conflict and Domestic Violence in Afghanistan.
This article empirically explores women's lived experiences of domestic violence and conflict in Afghanistan. A thematic analysis of 20 semistructured interviews with women living in safe houses produced three main themes about the relationship between conflict and domestic violence: (a) violence from loss of patriarchal support, (b) violence from the drug trade as an economic driver, and (c) violence from conflict-related poverty. We discuss the bidirectional nature of this relationship: Not only does conflict contribute to domestic violence, but domestic violence contributes to conflict through justifying armed intervention, separating women from economic and public life, and perpetuating patriarchy
Does Co-Creation of Service Recovery Create Value for Customers? The Underlying Mechanism of Motivation and the Role of Operant Resources
International audienceThis study focuses on the underlying mechanism that leads to coârecovery behaviour and favourable coâcreated value as response to a service failure. It argues that consumersâ ability to integrate their operant resources (e.g., knowledge and skills) to coârecover from a service failure motivates them to express higher value coârecovery inârole behaviour and hence enjoy higher hedonic and utilitarian values. To test this claim, our study investigates the impact of consumersâ ability to coârecover on value coârecovery inârole behaviour by taking into account extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as mediators. The results reveal that extrinsic motivation only partially mediates the relationship between ability to coârecover and value coârecovery inârole behaviour. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrate that value coârecovery inârole behaviour increases utilitarian value but decreases hedonic valu
Managing lifestyle change to reduce coronary risk: a synthesis of qualitative research on peoplesâ experiences
Background
Coronary heart disease is an incurable condition. The only approach known to slow its progression is healthy lifestyle change and concordance with cardio-protective medicines. Few people fully succeed in these daily activities so potential health improvements are not fully realised. Little is known about peoplesâ experiences of managing lifestyle change. The aim of this study was to synthesise qualitative research to explain how participants make lifestyle change after a cardiac event and explore this within the wider illness experience.
Methods
A qualitative synthesis was conducted drawing upon the principles of meta-ethnography. Qualitative studies were identified through a systematic search of 7 databases using explicit criteria. Key concepts were identified and translated across studies. Findings were discussed and diagrammed during a series of audiotaped meetings.
Results
The final synthesis is grounded in findings from 27 studies, with over 500 participants (56% male) across 8 countries. All participants experienced a change in their self-identity from what was âfamiliarâ to âunfamiliarâ. The transition process involved âfinding new limits and a life worth livingââ, âfinding support for selfâ and âfinding a new normalâ. Analyses of these concepts led to the generation of a third order construct, namely an ongoing process of âreassessing past, present and future livesâ as participants considered their changed identity. Participants experienced a strong urge to get back to ânormalâ. Support from family and friends could enable or constrain life change and lifestyle changes. Lifestyle change was but one small part of a wider âlifeâ change that occurred.
Conclusions
The final synthesis presents an interpretation, not evident in the primary studies, of a person-centred model to explain how lifestyle change is situated within âwiderâ life changes. The magnitude of individual responses to a changed health status varied. Participants experienced distress as their notion of self identity shifted and emotions that reflected the various stages of the grief process were evident in participantsâ accounts. The process of self-managing lifestyle took place through experiential learning; the level of engagement with lifestyle change reflected an individualâs unique view of the balance needed to manage ârealistic changeâ whilst leading to a life that was perceived as âworth livingâ. Findings highlight the importance of providing person centred care that aligns with both psychological and physical dimensions of recovery which are inextricably linked
Performance of the first prototype of the CALICE scintillator strip electromagnetic calorimeter
A first prototype of a scintillator strip-based electromagnetic calorimeter
was built, consisting of 26 layers of tungsten absorber plates interleaved with
planes of 45x10x3 mm3 plastic scintillator strips. Data were collected using a
positron test beam at DESY with momenta between 1 and 6 GeV/c. The prototype's
performance is presented in terms of the linearity and resolution of the energy
measurement. These results represent an important milestone in the development
of highly granular calorimeters using scintillator strip technology. This
technology is being developed for a future linear collider experiment, aiming
at the precise measurement of jet energies using particle flow techniques
The Time Structure of Hadronic Showers in highly granular Calorimeters with Tungsten and Steel Absorbers
The intrinsic time structure of hadronic showers influences the timing
capability and the required integration time of hadronic calorimeters in
particle physics experiments, and depends on the active medium and on the
absorber of the calorimeter. With the CALICE T3B experiment, a setup of 15
small plastic scintillator tiles read out with Silicon Photomultipliers, the
time structure of showers is measured on a statistical basis with high spatial
and temporal resolution in sampling calorimeters with tungsten and steel
absorbers. The results are compared to GEANT4 (version 9.4 patch 03)
simulations with different hadronic physics models. These comparisons
demonstrate the importance of using high precision treatment of low-energy
neutrons for tungsten absorbers, while an overall good agreement between data
and simulations for all considered models is observed for steel.Comment: 24 pages including author list, 9 figures, published in JINS
Athlete experiences of disordered eating in sport
To date, research into disordered eating in sport has focused on the prevalence and the identification of putative risk factors. Findings suggest that elite female athletes participating in sports with a focus on leanness or aesthetics are at greatest risk. A paucity of research remains as to the period after onset and how existing sufferers manage their illness over time. In line with the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study 'gives voice' to four athletes who have experienced disordered eating, documenting their personal accounts and interpreting these accounts from a psychological perspective. Inâdepth, semiâstructured interviews were conducted and verbatim transcripts were analysed according to the procedures of IPA. Three superordinate themes emerged from the data: the struggle to disclose, social support needs and identity challenges. Athletes' stories provided rich descriptions of their subjective disordered eating experiences. Their accounts give critical insight into the impact of eating disturbance on the lives of athletes. Future research should continue to identify athletes with existing eating problems in order to improve understanding as to how such individuals can best be helped
The ambivalence of losing weight after bariatric surgery
This study is grounded in a phenomenological lifeworld perspective. It aims at providing rich descriptions of lived experience of the process of losing weight after obesity surgery. Two women participated in in-depth interviews four times each during the first postoperative year. Based on the women's experiences, a meaning structureâthe ambivalence of losing weight after obesity surgeryâwas identified across the women's processes of change. This consisted of five core themes: movement and activityâfreedom but new demands and old restraints; eating habits and digestionâthe complexity of change; appearanceâsmaller, but looser; social relationsâstability and change; and being oneselfâvulnerability and self-assurance. These core themes changed over time in terms of dominance. The experience of ambivalence is discussed according to a phenomenological perspective of the body as lived experience
Replacement of Retinyl Esters by Polyunsaturated Triacylglycerol Species in Lipid Droplets of Hepatic Stellate Cells during Activation
Activation of hepatic stellate cells has been recognized as one of the first steps in liver injury and repair. During activation, hepatic stellate cells transform into myofibroblasts with concomitant loss of their lipid droplets (LDs) and production of excessive extracellular matrix. Here we aimed to obtain more insight in the dynamics and mechanism of LD loss. We have investigated the LD degradation processes in rat hepatic stellate cells in vitro with a combined approach of confocal Raman microspectroscopy and mass spectrometric analysis of lipids (lipidomics). Upon activation of the hepatic stellate cells, LDs reduce in size, but increase in number during the first 7 days, but the total volume of neutral lipids did not decrease. The LDs also migrate to cellular extensions in the first 7 days, before they disappear. In individual hepatic stellate cells. all LDs have a similar Raman spectrum, suggesting a similar lipid profile. However, Raman studies also showed that the retinyl esters are degraded more rapidly than the triacylglycerols upon activation. Lipidomic analyses confirmed that after 7 days in culture hepatic stellate cells have lost most of their retinyl esters, but not their triacylglycerols and cholesterol esters. Furthermore, we specifically observed a large increase in triacylglycerol-species containing polyunsaturated fatty acids, partly caused by an enhanced incorporation of exogenous arachidonic acid. These results reveal that lipid droplet degradation in activated hepatic stellate cells is a highly dynamic and regulated process. The rapid replacement of retinyl esters by polyunsaturated fatty acids in LDs suggests a role for both lipids or their derivatives like eicosanoids during hepatic stellate cell activation
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