Male frequent attenders of general practice and their help seeking preferences

Background: Low rates of health service usage by men are commonly linked to masculine values and traditional male gender roles. However, not all men conform to these stereotypical notions of masculinity, with some men choosing to attend health services on a frequent basis, for a variety of different reasons. This study draws upon the accounts of male frequent attenders of the General Practitioner's (GP) surgery, examining their help-seeking preferences and their reasons for choosing services within general practice over other sources of support. Methods: The study extends thematic analysis of interview data from the Self Care in Primary Care study (SCinPC), a large scale multi-method evaluation study of a self care programme delivered to frequent attenders of general practice. Data were collected from 34 semi-structured interviews conducted with men prior to their exposure to the intervention. Results: The ages of interviewed men ranged from 16 to 72 years, and 91% of the sample (n= 31) stated that they had a current health condition. The thematic analysis exposed diverse perspectives within male help-seeking preferences and the decision-making behind men's choice of services. The study also draws attention to the large variation in men's knowledge of available health services, particularly alternatives to general practice. Furthermore, the data revealed some men's lack of confidence in existing alternatives to general practice. Conclusions: The study highlights the complex nature of male help-seeking preferences, and provides evidence that there should be no 'one size fits all' approach to male service provision. It also provides impetus for conducting further studies into this under researched area of interest. © 2011 WPMH GmbH

Flux ropes at the earth’s magnetopause: an investigation with the magnetospheric multiscale mission

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma physics process and takes place in space plasma environments throughout the solar system. During the process, magnetic field lines break and reconnect, allowing different plasma populations to mix and releasing energy stored in the magnetic field, which heats and accelerates particles. This change in magnetic field topology allows the production of helical magnetic field structures known as flux ropes. Here, we use data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to investigate the properties of magnetopause flux ropes, how they relate to the ongoing reconnection, and how they could facilitate energy transfer during magnetic reconnection. This thesis presents a statistical survey of flux ropes associated with encounters of the magnetopause electron diffusion region (EDR), which is the central location where magnetic reconnection takes place. We find that the 245 identified EDR-associated flux ropes are smaller and have less flux content than previously reported, and that their properties vary with proximity to the EDR. This suggests that we are studying a distinct set of flux ropes that are potentially newly formed by the EDR. The evolution and dynamics of the flux ropes are investigated by applying a force-free flux rope model. We find that the flux ropes generally show good agreement with the model, potentially being more force-free when they have larger radii and stronger axial fields. We also investigate the flux rope topology, finding that most flux ropes have an open topology and that closed topology observations are potentially correlated with a negative IMF BY component. Finally, two case studies of electron trapping in magnetic mirror structures on the edge of magnetopause flux ropes are presented. These observations present a unique acceleration mechanism for flux ropes, and therefore magnetic reconnection more generally, highlighting the importance of such substructure for energy transfer during reconnection.Open Acces

Older and wiser? Men’s and women’s accounts of drinking in early mid-life

Most qualitative research on alcohol focuses on younger rather than older adults. To explore older people’s relationship with alcohol, we conducted eight focus groups with 36 men and women aged 35 to 50 years in Scotland, UK. Initially, respondents suggested that older drinkers consume less alcohol, no longer drink to become drunk and are sociable drinkers more interested in the taste than the effects of alcohol. However, as discussions progressed, respondents collectively recounted recent drunken escapades, challenged accounts of moderate drinking, and suggested there was still peer pressure to drink. Some described how their drinking had increased in mid-life but worked hard discursively to emphasise that it was age and stage appropriate (i.e. they still met their responsibilities as workers and parents). Women presented themselves as staying in control of their drinking while men described going out with the intention of getting drunk (although still claiming to meet their responsibilities). While women experienced peer pressure to drink, they seemed to have more options for socialising without alcohol than did men. Choosing not to drink alcohol is a behaviour that still requires explanation in early mid-life. Harm reduction strategies should pay more attention to drinking in this age group

Removing black-hole singularities with nonlinear electrodynamics

We propose a way to remove black hole singularities by using a particular nonlinear electrodynamics Lagrangian that has been recently used in various astrophysics and cosmological frameworks. In particular, we adapt the cosmological analysis discussed in a previous work to the black hole physics. Such analysis will be improved by applying the Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation to the black hole case. At the end, fixed the radius of the star, the final density depends only on the introduced quintessential density term $\rho_{\gamma}$ and on the mass.Comment: In this last updated version we correct two typos which were present in Eqs. (21) and (22) in the version of this letter which has been published in Mod. Phys. Lett. A 25, 2423-2429 (2010). In the present version, both of Eqs. (21) and (22) are dimensionally and analytically correc

On the Impact of Entity Linking in Microblog Real-Time Filtering

Microblogging is a model of content sharing in which the temporal locality of posts with respect to important events, either of foreseeable or unforeseeable nature, makes applica- tions of real-time filtering of great practical interest. We propose the use of Entity Linking (EL) in order to improve the retrieval effectiveness, by enriching the representation of microblog posts and filtering queries. EL is the process of recognizing in an unstructured text the mention of relevant entities described in a knowledge base. EL of short pieces of text is a difficult task, but it is also a scenario in which the information EL adds to the text can have a substantial impact on the retrieval process. We implement a start-of-the-art filtering method, based on the best systems from the TREC Microblog track realtime adhoc retrieval and filtering tasks , and extend it with a Wikipedia-based EL method. Results show that the use of EL significantly improves over non-EL based versions of the filtering methods.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. SAC 2015, Salamanca, Spain - April 13 - 17, 201

Probabilistic models of information retrieval based on measuring the divergence from randomness

We introduce and create a framework for deriving probabilistic models of Information Retrieval. The models are nonparametric models of IR obtained in the language model approach. We derive term-weighting models by measuring the divergence of the actual term distribution from that obtained under a random process. Among the random processes we study the binomial distribution and Bose--Einstein statistics. We define two types of term frequency normalization for tuning term weights in the document--query matching process. The first normalization assumes that documents have the same length and measures the information gain with the observed term once it has been accepted as a good descriptor of the observed document. The second normalization is related to the document length and to other statistics. These two normalization methods are applied to the basic models in succession to obtain weighting formulae. Results show that our framework produces different nonparametric models forming baseline alternatives to the standard tf-idf model

Numerical simulation of natural convection in a spherical container due to cooling at the center (idealization of the Lal/Kroes experiment)

Natural convection in a spherical container with cooling at the center was numerically simulated using a numerical fluid dynamics computer program. The numerical analysis was simplified by assuming axisymmetric flow in the spherical container, with the symmetry axis being a sphere diagonal parallel to the gravity vector. This axisymmetric spherical geometry was intended as an idealization of the proposed Lal/Kroes crystal growing experiment to be performed on Spacelab. Results were obtained for a range of Rayleigh numbers from 25 to 10,000. The computed velocities were found to be approximately proportional to the Rayleigh number over the range of Rayleigh numbers investigated

Tonight It?s Government Funded: A Rhetorical Analysis of Manufactured Social Controversy and Government Funding of the Arts

Thomas Goodnight?s definition of controversy offers an initial examination of Reverend Donald Wildmon and Reverend Pat Robertson?s attack of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), initiating the Culture Wars of 1989. Using their most reliable communication tactics, Wildmon and Robertson attempted to garner support for their values by manufacturing controversy related to government funding of the National Endowment for the Arts. Together, they manufacture social controversy around two inter-related themes, one of morality, in which they argued Christians were being persecuted by the art community, and the other against federal funding of objectionable art, using Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe as symbols of corruption. In addition to the initial attacks on Serrano and Mapplethorpe, my rhetorical analysis illustrates how Wildmon?s and Robertson?s rhetoric seemingly sanctioned the manufacturing of a social controversy regarding the Federal funding for objectionable art as a way to promote their pro-family and anti-homosexual agenda

'Working our way to health': Final Evaluation Report

This summary presents the findings of an independent evaluation of the ‘Working our Way to Health’ programme. This programme was delivered by Sefton PCT, funded through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, and was aimed at improving the health of men in three of the most deprived wards in its locality. It aimed to encourage men to be health aware and increase access to health and leisure services in order to improve key lifestyle behaviours and advance gender equity. The programme included: • Community agency and health staff training • Peer mentoring programme • Healthy lifestyle programme It aimed to promote community partnerships to assist the expansion of health advice and services into a new community arena and engage a previously unattainable section of the male population in healthier lifestyle interventions

"Talk" about male suicide? Learning from community programmes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of public awareness campaigning in developing community capacity toward preventing male suicide and explores emerging considerations for suicide prevention programme development. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on campaign evaluation data, specifically qualitative discussion groups with the general public, to report results concerning campaign processes, and “interim” effectiveness in changing public awareness and attitudes, and then discusses how progress is to be lasting and transformational. Findings – The campaign raised the awareness of a substantial proportion of those targeted, and affected attitudes and behaviour of those who were highly aware. The community settings approach was effective in reaching younger men, but there were challenges targeting the public more selectively, and engaging communities in a sustained way. Practical implications – The paper discusses emerging considerations for suicide prevention, focusing on gender and approaches and materials for engaging with the public as “influencers”. There are challenges to target audiences more specifically, provide a clear call to action, and engage the public in a sustained way. Social implications – The paper discusses emerging considerations for suicide prevention, focusing on gender and approaches and materials for engaging with the public as “influencers”. There are challenges to target audiences more specifically, provide a clear call to action, and engage the public in a sustained way. Originality/value – The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered communication processes, including their effects on public awareness, attitudes and engagement. Application of a theory of change model leads to systems level findings for sustaining programme gains