2,238 research outputs found
Risk and resilience: exploring the potential of LGBTQ third sector and academic partnership
The Risk and Resilience Explored [RaRE] Project (2010â2016) was a collaborative process involving a third sector agency, university partners and volunteers to better understand the risk and resilience factors associated with specific mental health issues among lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) people. In this article, we discuss the projectâs collaborative ethos, based on a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach. We explain how the CBPR approach benefitted from including academic partners from the onset of the project, as well as from the direct and indirect engagement of community volunteers. We then explore some of our experience of third sector and academic partner collaboration in more depth, highlighting topic summaries salient to this partnership: support and continuity, upskilling of staff and volunteers for mutual benefit, accessible communication across sectors, and aligning priorities. We conclude by setting out recommendations based on our experience for those interested in developing similarly collaborative projects
Exploring LGBT resilience and moving beyond a deficit-model: findings from a qualitative study in England
The aim of this study is to critique and extend psychological approaches to resilience by examining retrospective accounts of LGBT people in England who had directly experienced or witnessed events that were salient as significantly negative or traumatic. Pre-screening telephone interviews identified ten individuals who matched inclusion criteria (mean age: 39 years; range 26â62 years) as part of a larger study. Interviews were semi-structured and informed by a literature review undertaken at the start of the study. We identified three themes of that extend the resilience literature for LGBTQ+ people: (1) identifying and foregrounding inherent personal traits â how non-contextual inborn qualities or attributes needed external effort to be recognised and operationalised; (2) describing asymmetric sources of social support and acceptance â the importance of positive environment is unequally available to LGBT people compared to heterosexuals, and uneven within the LGBT group; and (3) blurring distinctions between resilience and coping â experiential approaches to moving beyond distress. We suggest that narratives of resilience in the accounts of LGBT people can inform the development of resilience promotion models for minoritized individuals and support movement away from deficit-focused approaches to health policy
Opportunities and challenges for modelling epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics in a multihost, multiparasite system: Zoonotic hybrid schistosomiasis in West Africa
Multihost multiparasite systems are evolutionarily and ecologically dynamic, which presents substantial transâdisciplinary challenges for elucidating their epidemiology and designing appropriate control. Evidence for hybridizations and introgressions between parasite species is gathering, in part in line with improvements in molecular diagnostics and genome sequencing. One major system where this is becoming apparent is within the Genus Schistosoma, where schistosomiasis represents a disease of considerable medical and veterinary importance, the greatest burden of which occurs in subâSaharan Africa. Interspecific hybridizations and introgressions bring an increased level of complexity over and above that already inherent within multihost, multiparasite systems, also representing an additional source of genetic variation that can drive evolution. This has the potential for profound implications for the control of parasitic diseases, including, but not exclusive to, widening host range, increased transmission potential and altered responses to drug therapy. Here, we present the challenging case example of haematobium group Schistosoma spp. hybrids in West Africa, a system involving multiple interacting parasites and multiple definitive hosts, in a region where zoonotic reservoirs of schistosomiasis were not previously considered to be of importance. We consider how existing mathematical model frameworks for schistosome transmission could be expanded and adapted to zoonotic hybrid systems, exploring how such model frameworks can utilize molecular and epidemiological data, as well as the complexities and challenges this presents. We also highlight the opportunities and value such mathematical models could bring to this and a range of similar multihost, multi and crossâhybridizing parasites systems in our changing world
Spontaneous Parity Violation in QCD At Finite Temperature: On the Inapplicability of the Vafa-Witten Theorem
The generalization of the Vafa-Witten theorem ruling out parity violation to
QCD at finite temperature is considered. It is shown that this generalization
of the theorem rules out Lorentz-invariant parity violating operators from
spontaneously acquiring vacuum expectation values. However, it does not rule
out Lorentz-noninvariant parity-violating operators from acquiring expectation
values. Other situations where the theorem is inapplicable are also discussed.Comment: Minor typos correcte
Optimized perturbation theory for charged scalar fields at finite temperature and in an external magnetic field
Symmetry restoration in a theory of a self-interacting charged scalar field
at finite temperature and in the presence of an external magnetic field is
examined. The effective potential is evaluated nonperturbatively in the context
of the optimized perturbation theory method. It is explicitly shown that in all
ranges of the magnetic field, from weak to large fields, the phase transition
is second order and that the critical temperature increases with the magnetic
field. In addition, we present an efficient way to deal with the sum over the
Landau levels, which is of interest especially in the case of working with weak
magnetic fields.Comment: 18 pages, 7 eps figures. References added and some small improvements
to the tex
How Phase Transitions induce classical behaviour
We continue the analysis of the onset of classical behaviour in a scalar
field after a continuous phase transition, in which the system-field, the long
wavelength order parameter of the model, interacts with an environment, of its
own short-wavelength modes and other fields, neutral and charged, with which it
is expected to interact. We compute the decoherence time for the system-field
modes from the master equation and directly from the decoherence functional
(with identical results). In simple circumstances the order parameter field is
classical by the time the transition is complete.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure: To be published in the International Journal of
Theoretical Physics (2005) as part of the Proceedings of the "Peyresq Physics
9" meeting (2004) on "Micro and Macro structures of spacetime",ed. E.
Verdague
Winding Number Correlation Functions and Cosmic String Formation
We develop winding number correlation functions that allow us to assess the
role of field fluctuations on vortex formation in an Abelian gauge theory. We
compute the behavior of these correlation functions in simple circumstances and
show how fluctuations are important in the vicinity of the phase transition. We
further show that, in our approximation, the emerging population of
long/infinite string is produced by the classical dynamics of the fields alone,
being essentially unaffected by field fluctuations.Comment: Latex file, 27 pages. 8 figures, available in compressed form by
anonymous ftp from ftp://euclid.tp.ph.ic.ac.uk/papers/94-5_39.fig Latex and
postscript versions also available at
http://euclid.tp.ph.ic.ac.uk/Papers/index.htm
Testing the Kibble-Zurek Scenario with Annular Josephson Tunnel Junctions
In parallel with Kibble's description of the onset of phase transitions in
the early universe, Zurek has provided a simple picture for the onset of phase
transitions in condensed matter systems, strongly supported by agreement with
experiments in He3. In this letter we show how experiments with annular
Josephson tunnel Junctions can and do provide further support for this
scenario.Comment: Revised version with correct formula for the Swihart velocity. The
results are qualitatively the same as with the previous version but differ
quantitatively. 4 pages, RevTe
Aerodynamics of aero-engine installation
This paper describes current progress in the development of methods to assess aero-engine airframe installation effects. The aerodynamic characteristics of isolated intakes, a typical transonic transport aircraft as well as a combination of a through-flow nacelle and aircraft configuration have been evaluated. The validation task for an isolated engine nacelle is carried out with concern for the accuracy in the assessment of intake performance descriptors such as mass flow capture ratio and drag rise Mach number. The necessary mesh and modelling requirements to simulate the nacelle aerodynamics are determined. Furthermore, the validation of the numerical model for the aircraft is performed as an extension of work that has been carried out under previous drag prediction research programmes. The validation of the aircraft model has been extended to include the geometry with through flow nacelles. Finally, the assessment of the mutual impact of the through flow nacelle and aircraft aerodynamics was performed. The drag and lift coefficient breakdown has been presented in order to identify the component sources of the drag associated with the engine installation. The paper concludes with an assessment of installation drag for through-flow nacelles and the determination of aerodynamic interference between the nacelle and the aircraft
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