The Power of a Profound Experience with Nature

This dissertation explores the long-term influences of a profound experience with nature—an experience that shifts an individual’s view of or relationship with the natural world. Significant life experience research investigates the associations between formative experiences in nature and resulting environmental concern and action, including both singular events and repeated experiences. In the case of a single, memorable experience with nature, little is known about the long-term effects of these experiences or how individuals use the associated memories in their lives. This research investigates these questions through semi-structured interviews with twenty-one adults who had a profound experience with nature, exploring how they make sense of their experience, the meaning they attribute to it, and the role it served in their lives. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and interpret the interview data. The findings demonstrate that a single profound experience with nature can have long lasting and significant effects on an individual. The associated memories serve self, social, and directive functions, including strengthening a sense of self, redefining relationships with people and nature as a whole, and promoting environmental decisions and behaviors. Findings also reveal a potential fourth use of memory: developing and appreciating relationships with other-than-humans. Understanding these long-term influences and uses of a profound experience with nature have implications for environmental educators, ecopsychologists, and memory scholars

Inflatable antennas for portable direct satellite communication

Satellite-based communication system can provide access to voice, data, video and internet transmission that is independent of terrestrial infrastructure. This is particularly important in disaster response situations and military maneuvers where mobile personnel need to maintain direct contact with each other and the central control. One of the factors that currently limits the effectiveness and practicality of these systems is portability. These systems require lightweight equipment that can be quickly and easily deployed and operated in a variety of environments. Parabolic dish antennas are the only antennas capable of providing the high gain required for direct satellite communication but their size and weight severely limit their portability and hence their use for portable direct satellite communication. Inflatable structures have been used in the space environment to ove rcome the limitations of launch vehicle size and weight restrictions. They are constructed from thin film, or gossamer materials, and use internal pressure to maintain their shape. Inflatable structures are lightweight, have a low stowed volume and a high packing efficiency. It is proposed that this type of structure can be used to produce an inflatable parabolic dish antenna that can operate under terrestrial conditions to overcome the limits on portability for land-based communication. This thesis presents a design for a parabolic dish antenna and conical feed horn constructed entirely from polyester thin film. To further reduce the weight and stowed volume of the antenna the conical horn is fed by a microstrip patch. The performance of the components and their ability to operate under terrestrial conditions are assessed by comparing the results to those of an identical rigid system

Measuring Infertility in Populations: Constructing a Standard Definition for Use with Demographic and Reproductive Health Surveys

Background: Infertility is a significant disability, yet there are no reliable estimates of its global prevalence. Studies on infertility prevalence define the condition inconsistently, rendering the comparison of studies or quantitative summaries of the literature difficult. This study analyzed key components of infertility to develop a definition that can be consistently applied to globally available household survey data. Methods: We proposed a standard definition of infertility and used it to generate prevalence estimates using 53 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The analysis was restricted to the subset of DHS that contained detailed fertility information collected through the reproductive health calendar. We performed sensitivity analyses for key components of the definition and used these to inform our recommendations for each element of the definition

Placebo stimulates neuroplasticity in depression: implications for clinical practice and research

Neither psychological nor neuroscientific investigations have been able to fully explain the paradox that placebo is designed to be inert in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), yet appears to be effective in evaluations of clinical interventions in all fields of medicine and alternative medicine. This article develops the Neuroplasticity Placebo Theory, which posits that neuroplasticity in fronto-limbic areas is the unifying factor in placebo response (seen in RCTs) and placebo effect (seen in clinical interventions) where it is not intended to be inert. Depression is the disorder that has the highest placebo response of any medical condition and has the greatest potential for understanding how placebos work: recent developments in understanding of the pathophysiology of depression suggest that fronto-limbic areas are sensitized in depression which is associated with a particularly strong placebo phenomenon. An innovative linkage is made between diverse areas of the psychology and the translational psychiatry literature to provide supportive evidence for the Neuroplasticity Placebo Theory. This is underpinned by neuro-radiological evidence of fronto-limbic change in the placebo arm of antidepressant trials. If placebo stimulates neuroplasticity in fronto-limbic areas in conditions other than depression - and results in a partially active treatment in other areas of medicine - there are far reaching consequences for the day-to-day use of placebo in clinical practice, the future design of RCTs in all clinical conditions, and existing unwarranted assertions about the efficacy of antidepressant medications. If fronto-limbic neuroplasticity is the common denominator in designating placebo as a partially active treatment, the terms placebo effect and placebo response should be replaced by the single term “placebo treatment.

Neonatal cause-of-death estimates for the early and late neonatal periods for 194 countries: 2000-2013.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate cause-of-death distributions in the early (0-6 days of age) and late (7-27 days of age) neonatal periods, for 194 countries between 2000 and 2013. METHODS: For 65 countries with high-quality vital registration, we used each country's observed early and late neonatal proportional cause distributions. For the remaining 129 countries, we used multinomial logistic models to estimate these distributions. For countries with low child mortality we used vital registration data as inputs and for countries with high child mortality we used neonatal cause-of-death distribution data from studies in similar settings. We applied cause-specific proportions to neonatal death estimates from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, by country and year, to estimate cause-specific risks and numbers of deaths. FINDINGS: Over time, neonatal deaths decreased for most causes. Of the 2.8 million neonatal deaths in 2013, 0.99 million deaths (uncertainty range: 0.70-1.31) were estimated to be caused by preterm birth complications, 0.64 million (uncertainty range: 0.46-0.84) by intrapartum complications and 0.43 million (uncertainty range: 0.22-0.66) by sepsis and other severe infections. Preterm birth (40.8%) and intrapartum complications (27.0%) accounted for most early neonatal deaths while infections caused nearly half of late neonatal deaths. Preterm birth complications were the leading cause of death in all regions of the world. CONCLUSION: The neonatal cause-of-death distribution differs between the early and late periods and varies with neonatal mortality rate level. To reduce neonatal deaths, effective interventions to address these causes must be incorporated into policy decisions

The escallop, Pecten maximus (L.), in Killary Harbour

Escallops (843) collected by SCUBA diving ranged from one year to an estimated seventeen years old and varied in shell height from 17mm to 164mm. They were predominantly found on the slopes on either side of the Harbour at depths between 6m and 35m; very few specimens were observed on the soft mud in the centre of the Harbour. The density of escallops increased towards the mouth of the Harbour. The greatest numbers of specimens of less than 50mm were observed at the mouth of Killary. Variability in age frequency distributions along either side of the harbour could be explained by differences in settlement intensity from year to year. Settlement appeared to be more successful on the southern side than on the northern side. It also appeared that local dispersion from settlement areas occurred rather than active migration. Escallops four years old or less swam regularly while swimming was less frequently seen in individuals exceeding five years of age. It was concluded that Killary Harbour was unsuitable for the collection of spat but may be a suitable area for escallop cultivation