3-manifolds with(out) metrics of nonpositive curvature

In the context of Thurstons geometrisation program we address the question which compact aspherical 3-manifolds admit Riemannian metrics of nonpositive curvature. We show that non-geometric Haken manifolds generically, but not always, admit such metrics. More precisely, we prove that a Haken manifold with, possibly empty, boundary of zero Euler characteristic admits metrics of nonpositive curvature if the boundary is non-empty or if at least one atoroidal component occurs in its canonical topological decomposition. Our arguments are based on Thurstons Hyperbolisation Theorem. We give examples of closed graph-manifolds with linear gluing graph and arbitrarily many Seifert components which do not admit metrics of nonpositive curvature.Comment: 16 page

Infinitely many universally tight contact manifolds with trivial Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariants

In this article we present infinitely many 3-manifolds admitting infinitely many universally tight contact structures each with trivial Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariants. By known properties of these invariants the contact structures constructed here are non weakly symplectically fillable.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology on 2 April 200

Viewing the dream as process: A key to effective dreamwork

The Co-creative dream paradigm posits that dreams are indeterminate from the outset and unfold in real time according to the dream ego’s moment-to-moment responses to the emergent content. This interactive dynamic can illuminate process parallels between the dream and waking relationships, even if content parallels cannot be easily discerned. If generic process can be unambiguously observed in the dream report, and maps onto waking relational process, then one might argue that the best initial approach to dream analysis should be to analyze the dream process as a prelude to further analysis, especially in cases where the visual content may seem unrelated to, or discontinuous with waking life concerns.We contend that the analysis of generic process establishes a context or framework that focuses, and meaningfully constrains the range of dreamer associations in subsequent steps of the dreamwork, and may reap considerable insights apart from those derived from a consideration of the dream imagery alone. As for research implications, we propose that the continuity hypothesis can be tested in a novel way by analyzing dreaming-waking process parallels rather than content parallels. We also suggest that the process narrative may represent an underlying “conceptual” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1986) or “major” metaphor (Ullman, 1969) that functions as a continuous plot (Hartman, 1999) onto which the visual imagery is mapped

Reflections on offering a therapeutic creative arts intervention with cult survivors:A collective biography

A new, evidence-based, multimodal, and creative psychological therapy, Arts for the Blues, was piloted with survivors of cultic abuse in a workshop within a conference setting. The five facilitators, who occupied diverse roles and perspectives within the workshop and research project, reflected on heir experiences of introducing this novel intervention to the cult-survivor population. In this underreported territory of using structured, arts-based, psychological therapy with those who have survived cultic abuse, the authors used a process of collective biography to compile a first person, combined narrative based on those reflections. This approach allows for a visceral insight into the dynamics and obstacles encountered, and the counter transference responses of the facilitators. This reflexive process shined a light into aspects of research and practice that were not all visible to the individual researchers previously, with implications for research ethics, psychological therapy, and creative arts within the cult-survivor field

Criteria for virtual fibering

We prove that an irreducible 3-manifold whose fundamental group satisfies a certain group-theoretic property called RFRS is virtually fibered. As a corollary, we show that 3-dimensional reflection orbifolds and arithmetic hyperbolic orbifolds defined by a quadratic form virtually fiber. These include the Seifert Weber dodecahedral space and the Bianchi orbifolds. Moreover, we show that a taut sutured compression body has a finite-sheeted cover with a depth one taut-oriented foliation.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures; new theorem 7.2; to appear in Journal of Topolog

Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing:A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’

Place-based arts initiatives are regarded as rooted in local need and as having capacity to engage local assets. However, many place-based arts initiatives remain poorly funded and short-lived, receiving little attention on how to scale up and sustain their activities. In this study we make a unique contribution to knowledge about scaling up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing through focusing on the example of ‘Arts for the Blues’, an arts-based psychological group intervention designed to reduce depression and improve wellbeing amongst primary care mental health service users in deprived communities. Methodologically, we used realist evaluation to refine the study’s theoretical assumptions about scaling up, drawing on the lived and professional experiences of 225 diverse stakeholders’ and frontline staff through a series of focus groups and evaluation questions at two stakeholders’ events and four training days. Based on our findings, we recommend that to scale up place-based arts initiatives which support mental health and wellbeing: (i) the initiative needs to be adaptable, clear, collaborative, evidence-based, personalised and transformative; (ii) the organisation has to have a relevant need, have an understanding of the arts, has to have resources, inspiration and commitment from staff members, relevant skillsets and help from outside the organisation; (iii) at a policy level it is important to pay attention to attitude shifts towards the arts, meet rules, guidelines and standards expected from services, highlight gaps in provision, seek out early intervention and treatment options, and consider service delivery changes. The presence of champions at a local level and buy-in from managers, local leaders and policy makers are also needed alongside actively seeking to implement arts initiatives in different settings across geographical spread. Our theoretically-based and experientially-refined study provides the first ever scaling up framework developed for place-based arts initiatives that support the mental health and wellbeing, offering opportunities for spread and adoption of such projects in different organisational contexts, locally, nationally and internationally

Developing a strategy to scale up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing: A realist evaluation of ‘Arts for the Blues’

Place-based arts initiatives are regarded as rooted in local need and as having capacity to engage local assets. However, many place-based arts initiatives remain poorly funded and short-lived, receiving little attention on how to scale up and sustain their activities. In this study we make a unique contribution to knowledge about scaling up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing through focusing on the example of ‘Arts for the Blues’, an arts-based psychological group intervention designed to reduce depression and improve wellbeing amongst primary care mental health service users in deprived communities. Methodologically, we used realist evaluation to refine the study’s theoretical assumptions about scaling up, drawing on the lived and professional experiences of 225 diverse stakeholders’ and frontline staff through a series of focus groups and evaluation questions at two stakeholders’ events and four training days. Based on our findings, we recommend that to scale up place-based arts initiatives which support mental health and wellbeing: (i) the initiative needs to be adaptable, clear, collaborative, evidence-based, personalised and transformative; (ii) the organisation has to have a relevant need, have an understanding of the arts, has to have resources, inspiration and commitment from staff members, relevant skillsets and help from outside the organisation; (iii) at a policy level it is important to pay attention to attitude shifts towards the arts, meet rules, guidelines and standards expected from services, highlight gaps in provision, seek out early intervention and treatment options, and consider service delivery changes. The presence of champions at a local level and buy-in from managers, local leaders and policy makers are also needed alongside actively seeking to implement arts initiatives in different settings across geographical spread. Our theoretically-based and experientially-refined study provides the first ever scaling up framework developed for place-based arts initiatives that support the mental health and wellbeing, offering opportunities for spread and adoption of such projects in different organisational contexts, locally, nationally and internationally

Bringing Creative Psychotherapies to Primary NHS Mental Health Services in the UK:A Feasibility Study on Patient and Staff Experiences of Arts for the Blues Workshops Delivered at Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services

There have been several arguments for the need to generate evidence-based creative forms of psychological interventions in Improving Access to Psychological Services (IAPT), the main primary mental health provider in hospitals in England, UK. In this feasibility study, we sought to identify helpful and unhelpful factors of a new creative group psychotherapy, titled Arts for the Blues. We also wanted to find out whether the research tools used were acceptable and sensitive. We therefore engaged a group of seven patients attending an IAPT service in the North West of England, and a group of six staff working in the same service, to attend one creative workshop each, followed by a focus group. The two focus groups were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. We also collected pre- and post-measures of depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7), measures commonly used in IAPT services, plus measures of well-being (WHO-5), the PANAS, and goal-setting, which were considered for acceptability and sensitivity. We received largely positive responses from service users and staff in the use of creative methods in psychotherapy. Although the measures used had limitations due to the short duration of one-off creative workshops, we found that they were sensitive enough, easy to complete and, thus, were acceptable. We concluded that Arts for the Blues is a promising intervention in IAPT, especially since it is shaped by service users and staff working in these services. Further work is needed to establish the effectiveness of this new intervention

Comments on Closed Bianchi Models

We show several kinematical properties that are intrinsic to the Bianchi models with compact spatial sections. Especially, with spacelike hypersurfaces being closed, (A) no anisotropic expansion is allowed for Bianchi type V and VII(A\not=0), and (B) type IV and VI(A\not=0,1) does not exist. In order to show them, we put into geometric terms what is meant by spatial homogeneity and employ a mathematical result on 3-manifolds. We make clear the relation between the Bianchi type symmetry of space-time and spatial compactness, some part of which seem to be unnoticed in the literature. Especially, it is shown under what conditions class B Bianchi models do not possess compact spatial sections. Finally we briefly describe how this study is useful in investigating global dynamics in (3+1)-dimensional gravity.Comment: 14 pages with one table, KUCP-5

Geometric Cone Surfaces and (2+1)- Gravity coupled to Particles

We introduce the (2+1)-spacetimes with compact space of genus g and with r gravitating particles which arise by ``Minkowskian suspensions of flat or hyperbolic cone surfaces'', by ``distinguished deformations'' of hyperbolic suspensions and by ``patchworking'' of suspensions. Similarly to the matter-free case, these spacetimes have nice properties with respect to the canonical Cosmological Time Function. When the values of the masses are sufficiently large and the cone points are suitably spaced, the distinguished deformations of hyperbolic suspensions determine a relevant open subset of the full parameter space; this open subset is homeomorphic to the product of an Euclidean space of dimension 6g-6+2r with an open subset of the Teichm\"uller Space of Riemann surfaces of genus g with r punctures. By patchworking of suspensions one can produce examples of spacetimes which are not distinguished deformations of any hyperbolic suspensions, although they have the same masses; in fact, we will guess that they belong to different connected components of the parameter space.Comment: 14 pages Late