The journal project: written expression of trauma as intervention for high school students in Ayacucho, Peru

This between groups quasi experimental study examined the efficacy of Pennebaker\u27s Written Expression Paradigm (WEP; Pennebaker & Beall, 1986) as a multiculturally responsive therapeutic intervention among Peruvian high school students who grew up in Ayacucho during the Sendero Luminoso\u27s guerilla insurgency. Journaling about prior traumatic experiences eludes many of the cultural and contextual limitations of the traditional Euro therapeutic model; enabling a person to disclose their deepest thoughts and emotions privately, without expense, and at the time and location they choose. It was hypothesized that written expression would be perceived by local participants as less value threatening than traditional psychotherapy, allowing for increased disclosure of prior traumatic life events and a resulting decrease in depressive symptoms, somatic symptoms, negative affect, and increased positive affect, operationalized by the CES-D-18, BSI-21, and the SPANAS negative and positive scales (consecutively). Changes were assessed from pretest to posttest between the experiemental WEP group which was asked to write about prior traumatic events and their associated emotions, and the control group which was asked to write only about designated superficial topics. Promising trends were seen in the present study\u27s data results that support the potential effectiveness of Pennebaker\u27s written expression task for high school students in Ayacucho, Peru. However, an increase in reported somatic symptomology among the WEP group was the only significant effect obtained in the results. This finding may be representative of an improvement in participant well being and experiential awareness due to its positive correlation with WEP group participants\u27 value ratings of the experience at posttest. It may also be a result of culture specific response styles and differential content validity across measures utilized in the present study. Based on these findings and the WEP\u27s feasibility for communities with limited economic and mental health resources, further exploration of the WEP in multicultural settings appears warranted. Future considerations for multiculturally focused research are also presented

Gender, HIV/AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Micro-Level Investigations in Three African Countries

gender, HIV/AIDS impacts, livelihoods, Sub-Saharan Africa

Test Particle Analysis of High Altitude Ion Transport and Escape on Mars.

Because Mars has a weak magnetic field in comparison with Earth, the solar wind can directly interact with the neutral planetary environment and drive atmospheric erosion. Located in the overlap region of the atmosphere and the solar wind, the neutral constituents of the atmosphere are ionized and instantaneously affected by the fast-moving solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field. These newly-created ions are 'picked up' by the solar wind, and accelerated away from Mars by the solar wind's motional electric field. The main objective of this work is to extensively probe the high altitude ion transport and escape on Mars using a test particle model that tracks the motion and acceleration of pick-up ions through near-Mars space using virtual detectors. The first focus of this study addresses how the escape of O+ is influenced relative to the production mechanisms: photoionization, charge exchange and electron impact, finding that the total production and loss rates differ up to two orders of magnitude. This dissertation also investigates the influence of the hot oxygen corona and the solar cycle on the individual ion trajectories. This study found that the inclusion of the corona roughly doubles the total escape for solar minimum conditions and directly contributing to high energy sources above 1 keV and increases the O+ flux and total escape by an order of magnitude from solar minimum to maximum. Two other related focal points for this dissertation included examining which species dominates pick-up ion loss from Mars and quantifying how the ionospheric source influences subsequent pick-up ion acceleration. While the results indicate that O+ dominate the loss, the ionospheric species O2+ and CO2+ were most likely to escape. The simulations have robustly described the physics controlling high altitude ion escape by isolating the influence of ion production, the solar cycle, the ionospheric contributions, the dominant species and the background fields. The results presented are significant for the eventual interpretation of ion observations at Mars in order to quantify how much of the atmosphere is escaping, which is a critical aspect of understanding how water has evolved on Mars.PHDAtmos, Oceanic & Space SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97939/1/smcurry_1.pd

Chaotic Observer-based Synchronization Under Information Constraints

Limit possibilities of observer-based synchronization systems under information constraints (limited information capacity of the coupling channel) are evaluated. We give theoretical analysis for multi-dimensional drive-response systems represented in the Lurie form (linear part plus nonlinearity depending only on measurable outputs). It is shown that the upper bound of the limit synchronization error (LSE) is proportional to the upper bound of the transmission error. As a consequence, the upper and lower bounds of LSE are proportional to the maximum rate of the coupling signal and inversely proportional to the information transmission rate (channel capacity). Optimality of the binary coding for coders with one-step memory is established. The results are applied to synchronization of two chaotic Chua systems coupled via a channel with limited capacity.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 27 reference

Seeing the big PICTURE: A framework for improving the communication of requirements within the Business-IT relationship

The relationship between the business and IT departments in the context of the organisation has been characterised as highly divisive. Contributing problems appear to revolve around the failure to adequately communicate and understand the required information for the alignment of business and IT strategies and infrastructures. This study takes a communication-based view on the concept of alignment, in terms of the relationship between the retail business and IT within a major high street UK bank. A research framework (PICTURE) is used to provide insight into this relationship and guide the analysis of interviews with 29 individuals on mid-high management level for their thematic content. The paper highlights the lessons that can be derived from the study of the BIT relationship and how possible improvements could be made

Exoplanet Diversity in the Era of Space-based Direct Imaging Missions

This whitepaper discusses the diversity of exoplanets that could be detected by future observations, so that comparative exoplanetology can be performed in the upcoming era of large space-based flagship missions. The primary focus will be on characterizing Earth-like worlds around Sun-like stars. However, we will also be able to characterize companion planets in the system simultaneously. This will not only provide a contextual picture with regards to our Solar system, but also presents a unique opportunity to observe size dependent planetary atmospheres at different orbital distances. We propose a preliminary scheme based on chemical behavior of gases and condensates in a planet's atmosphere that classifies them with respect to planetary radius and incident stellar flux.Comment: A white paper submitted to the National Academy of Sciences Exoplanet Science Strateg

Atmospheric Escape Processes and Planetary Atmospheric Evolution

The habitability of the surface of any planet is determined by a complex evolution of its interior, surface, and atmosphere. The electromagnetic and particle radiation of stars drive thermal, chemical and physical alteration of planetary atmospheres, including escape. Many known extrasolar planets experience vastly different stellar environments than those in our Solar system: it is crucial to understand the broad range of processes that lead to atmospheric escape and evolution under a wide range of conditions if we are to assess the habitability of worlds around other stars. One problem encountered between the planetary and the astrophysics communities is a lack of common language for describing escape processes. Each community has customary approximations that may be questioned by the other, such as the hypothesis of H-dominated thermosphere for astrophysicists, or the Sun-like nature of the stars for planetary scientists. Since exoplanets are becoming one of the main targets for the detection of life, a common set of definitions and hypotheses are required. We review the different escape mechanisms proposed for the evolution of planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres. We propose a common definition for the different escape mechanisms, and we show the important parameters to take into account when evaluating the escape at a planet in time. We show that the paradigm of the magnetic field as an atmospheric shield should be changed and that recent work on the history of Xenon in Earth's atmosphere gives an elegant explanation to its enrichment in heavier isotopes: the so-called Xenon paradox