446 research outputs found
Lord, teach us to pray.
This article examines the importance of prayer in ministry. It describes Vincent de Paulâs spiritual development and Francis de Salesâs influence on him, particularly on his view and method of prayer. Vincent saw prayer as âthe ordinary means to acquire the motivation to do Godâs loving will and therefore cooperate with God in renewing the earth.â Furthermore, âonly the love of God and neighbor, learned and appropriated through regular prayer, could sustain a life committed to the loving service of them.â Prayer enables personal transformation by helping us to become more self-aware. Mental prayer is defined and the method for it is detailed. Although Vincent wanted daily prayer to be strictly observed, he also knew flexibility was sometimes necessary: if some people did not respond to particular forms of prayer, they were to try something else. Sometimes, too, the poorâs needs had to be met first. He therefore saw service as a type of prayer, especially if it was done in a devotional manner. Repetition of prayer is also discussed
Using the CLOX drawing task to educate the public of the effects of hearing loss
We describe a task used to educate the public on the importance of hearing and the experience of hearing loss. During an open day at Nottingham University, participants were presented with verbal instructions (with or without a background masker) and asked to draw the image of a clock face as accurately as possible. Poorest performance was observed when the instructions were presented with a background masker. We suggest that the task could be applied effectively by healthcare professionals who aim to educate younger individuals of the difficulties associated with hearing loss
WATERWEB - Water Resource Strategies and Drought Alleviation in Western Balkan Agriculture: An EU INCO-WB Project
A three-year project, within the EU FP6 INCO-WB programme, with four EU and three WB partners,
started in spring 2004 to develop strategies to manage water resources for three regions in Serbia and
Montenegro and Macedonia from a river basin scale through the farm and crop scales to single plant
water use, taking account of environmental, socio-economic and health implications of different types
of land-water use. Consortium members will study river flow, evaporation regimes, rainfall patterns,
runoff and water availability in relation to land management, using GIS to categorize two regions near
Belgrade, Serbia and Ovce Pole, Macedonia. Water quality and nutrient use will be studied in relation
to eutrophication, micro-biological hazards and ecotoxicology on the farm scale, together with trials on
water and nutrient use to test deficit irrigation techniques with maize, grapevine, potato, tomato and
quinoa. Results will be extended to tests on selected local farmsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Cosmic Censorship, Area Theorem, and Self-Energy of Particles
The (zeroth-order) energy of a particle in the background of a black hole is
given by Carter's integrals. However, exact calculations of a particle's {\it
self-energy} (first-order corrections) are still beyond our present reach in
many situations. In this paper we use Hawking's area theorem in order to derive
bounds on the self-energy of a particle in the vicinity of a black hole.
Furthermore, we show that self-energy corrections {\it must} be taken into
account in order to guarantee the validity of Penrose cosmic censorship
conjecture.Comment: 11 page
Automating the Calibration of a Neonatal Condition Monitoring System
Abstract. Condition monitoring of premature babies in intensive care can be carried out using a Factorial Switching Linear Dynamical System (FSLDS) [15]. A crucial part of training the FSLDS is the manual calibration stage, where an interval of normality must be identified for each baby that is monitored. In this paper we replace this manual step by using a classifier to predict whether an interval is normal or not. We show that the monitoring results obtained using automated calibration are almost as good as those using manual calibration
Digital Imaging and Analysis of Dusty Plasmas
Dust particles immersed within a plasma environment, such as those found in
planetary rings or cometary environments, will acquire an electric charge. If
the ratio of interparticle potential energy to average kinetic energy is high
enough the particles will form either a 'liquid' structure with short-range
ordering or a crystalline structure with long-range ordering. Since their
discovery in laboratory environments in 1994, such crystals have been the
subject of a variety of experimental, theoretical, and numerical
investigations. Laboratory experiments analyzing the behavior of dust grains in
a plasma rely on optical diagnostics to provide data about the system in a
non-perturbative manner. In the past, capturing, imaging, and analyzing
crystalline structure in dusty plasmas has been a non-trivial problem.
Utilizing digital imaging and analysis systems, data capture, image formatting,
and analysis can be done quickly. Following data capture, image analysis is
conducted using modified Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Particle Tracking
Velocimetry (PTV) algorithms. The data extracted is then used to construct
Voronoi diagrams, calculate particle density, inter-particle spacing, pair
correlation functions, and thermal energy. From this data other dust plasma
parameters can be inferred such as inter-particle forces and grain charges.Comment: 6 pages, Presented at COSPAR '0
Dyadic influences on awareness of condition in people with dementia: findings from the IDEAL cohort
YesIntroduction: The discrepancy between caregiver-ratings and self-ratings
of abilities is commonly used to assess awareness in people with dementia.
We investigated the contribution of caregiver and dyadic characteristics to the
difference in perspective between caregiver-informants and people with dementia
about difficulties experienced, when considering awareness of condition.
Methods: We conducted exploratory cross-sectional analyses using data from
the IDEAL cohort. Participants were 1,038 community-dwelling people with
mild-to-moderate dementia, and coresident spouse/partner caregivers. The
Representations and Adjustment to Dementia Index (RADIX) checklist reporting
difficulties commonly experienced in dementia was completed by 960 caregiver-informants and 989 people with dementia. Difference in scores was calculated
for 916 dyads. Demographic information, cognition, informant-rated functional
ability and neuropsychiatric symptoms were recorded for the person with
dementia. Self-reported data were collected on mood, comorbidity, religion,
importance of religion, relationship quality, and caregiver stress.
Results: For most dyads, caregivers reported more RADIX difficulties than people
with dementia. Caregiver RADIX ratings were more closely associated with
informant-rated functional ability and neuropsychiatric symptoms than with
cognition. More RADIX difficulties and higher stress were reported by female
caregivers. Greater RADIX difference was associated with more caregiver stress,
and older age but less depression in people with dementia.
Conclusion: Few dyadic characteristics were important, but caregiver stress was
higher where caregivers reported more RADIX difficulties and/or the difference in
perspective was greater, whereas partners with dementia reported better mood.
In addition to offering information about awareness of condition, the caregiver
rating and difference in perspectives could indicate where more support is
needed.The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The IDEAL study was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through grant ES/L001853/2. m. ESRC is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). âImproving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life: a longitudinal perspective on living well with dementia. The IDEAL-2 studyâ is funded by Alzheimerâs Society, grant number 348, AS-PR2-16-001
Predictors of awareness of functional ability in people with dementia: the contribution of personality, cognition, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Findings from the IDEAL programme
YesIntroduction: Discrepancy scores reflecting the difference between parallel ratings made by people living with dementia (PwD) in the mild-to-moderate stages and by their informants provide a way to investigate awareness of functional ability in relation to activities of daily living (ADL). Methods: Two measures of ADL (Functional Activities Questionnaire; Dependence Scale) were completed by 1,227 PwD and their informants in the IDEAL cohort study baseline assessment. Self-rated and informant-rated scores were used to calculate discrepancies, which were used as an indicator of awareness of functional ability. Smaller discrepancy scores were considered to reflect greater awareness on the part of PwD. PwD completed questionnaires on depression, personality, comorbidities, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and completed a measure of cognition. Informants provided ratings of stress. Univariable and multiple regressions were used to investigate factors related to ADL discrepancy. Results: A similar pattern of associations were found for both ADL discrepancy scores. Smaller discrepancy scores were associated with higher levels of depression, higher neuroticism, fewer neuropsychiatric symptoms, higher comorbidity, lower carer stress, and receipt of less than 1 hour of care per day from the informant. Discussion/Conclusion: There was a clear pattern of factors that were associated with greater awareness for both measures of functional ability. These factors associated with smaller discrepancy scores could be used to identify PwD who might benefit from targeted interventions to support their independence.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) grant ES/L001853/2; Alzheimerâs Society as a Centre of Excellence, grant number 348, AS-PR2-16-00
The Fueling and Evolution of AGN: Internal and External Triggers
In this chapter, I review the fueling and evolution of active galactic nuclei
(AGN) under the influence of internal and external triggers, namely intrinsic
properties of host galaxies (morphological or Hubble type, color, presence of
bars and other non-axisymmetric features, etc) and external factors such as
environment and interactions. The most daunting challenge in fueling AGN is
arguably the angular momentum problem as even matter located at a radius of a
few hundred pc must lose more than 99.99 % of its specific angular momentum
before it is fit for consumption by a BH. I review mass accretion rates,
angular momentum requirements, the effectiveness of different fueling
mechanisms, and the growth and mass density of black BHs at different epochs. I
discuss connections between the nuclear and larger-scale properties of AGN,
both locally and at intermediate redshifts, outlining some recent results from
the GEMS and GOODS HST surveys.Comment: Invited Review Chapter to appear in LNP Volume on "AGN Physics on All
Scales", Chapter 6, in press. 40 pages, 12 figures. Typo in Eq 5 correcte
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