A Hydrodynamic Model of the West Coast of Scotland with Coupled Sea Lice Dispersion

Hydrodynamic

Assets, Health, and Well Being: Neighborhoods, Families, Children and Youth

Assets, Health, and Well Being: Neighborhoods, Families, Children and Yout

Numerical simulation of centrifugal pumps

The power computers increase and the specific calculation software development have made possible, nowadays, the numerical simulation of flow and energy transfer inside the turbomachinery. To teach Fluid Mechanics is not easy not only for the professors but also for the students because the theoretical part must be complemented with a technical part where students can see the phenomena. However, specially in hydraulic turbomachinery, we canít see the phenomena except if we have a specific material, for example a PIV. Even if we would have this material, the access to specific parts of turbomachinery is not possible due to its constructive layout. The use of numerical simulation tools allows us to obtain data in inaccessible positions for the experimentation, as well as the study of unusual or dangerous performances. With the numerical simulation, the pressure fluctuation at any point of the pump can be easily obtained. Other important results are the radial forces on the impeller, which have a significant variation with the working points. One of the advantages of this kind of modelling is the ease to carry out changes in the geometry, parametric studies and analysis of anomalous operation conditions

A hydrodynamic model of the west coast of Scotland with coupled sea lice dispersion

In order to assess the risk that wild salmon and sea trout will be harmed by parasitic sea lice emanating salmon farms a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and biological model of the West Coast of Scotland has been developed. The model uses TELEMAC-3D-WAQTEL and the computational domain extends from the Mull of Kintyre in the South to Cape Wrath in the North and includes all main islands of the West Coast. The model was successfully validated against observed hydrographic data (water levels and currents) and was found to provide a reasonable description of salinity and temperature levels. In an integrated biological model, virtual particles were constructed within the framework of the open-source particle-tracking code OpenDrift. These were released at each farm site and allowed to disperse into the marine environment. Each particle is a “super-individual”, representing a number of sea lice larvae. The biological effects of sea lice production, maturity and mortality rates, salinity avoidance, temperature preference and phototactic vertical swimming behaviour (diel migration) were included. Results show that infective lice copepodids accumulate along tidal and salinity fronts, at the mouths of sea lochs and along shorelines, in different places according to the neap/spring tidal cycle and provide an indication of infestation risk to migrating wild fish

Perceived barriers to accessing mental health services among black and minority ethnic (BME) communities: a qualitative study in southeast England

Objective: In most developed countries substantial disparities exist in access to mental health services for black and minority ethnic (BME) populations. We sought to determine perceived barriers to accessing mental health services among people from these backgrounds to inform the development of effective and culturally acceptable services to improve equity in healthcare. Design and Setting: Qualitative study in Southeast England. Participants: Twenty-six adults from BME backgrounds (13 men, 13 women; aged >18 years) were recruited to two focus groups. Participants were identified through the registers of the Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership centre and by visits to local community gatherings, and were invited to take part by community development workers. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify key themes about perceived barriers to accessing mental health services. Results: Participants identified two broad themes that influenced access to mental health services. First, Personal and environmental factors included inability to recognize and accept mental health problems, positive impact of social networks, reluctance to discuss psychological distress and seek help among men, cultural identity, negative perception of and social stigma against mental health, and financial factors. Second, factors affecting the relationship between service user and healthcare provider included the impact of long waiting times for initial assessment, language barriers, poor communication between service users and providers, inadequate recognition or response to mental health needs, imbalance of power and authority between service users and providers, cultural naivety, insensitivity and discrimination towards the needs of BME service users, and lack of awareness of different services among service users and providers. Conclusions: People from BME backgrounds require considerable mental health literacy and practical support to raise awareness of mental health conditions and combat stigma. There is a need for improving information about services and access pathways. Healthcare providers need relevant training and support in developing effective communication strategies to deliver individually tailored and culturally sensitive care. Improved engagement with people from BME backgrounds in the development and delivery of culturally appropriate mental health services could facilitate better understanding of mental health conditions and improve access

How to Identify Disadvantage: Taking the Envy Test Seriously

In this paper, I am concerned with the comparative disadvantage an individual suffers in having less valuable opportunities than another individual. The dominant approach with respect to this topic proceeds by identifying a metric by which to determine whether an individual?s opportunities are less valuable than another?s. Let?s call this the Metric Test. However, there is another way in which to proceed. Rather than appealing to a metric by which to determine disadvantage, we could instead allow an individual to determine for herself whether or not she is disadvantaged. On the version of this view that I shall defend, we should treat an individual as disadvantaged if and only if that individual envies another?s opportunities. Let?s call this the Envy Test. My overall aim is to illuminate the appeal of the Envy Test and, in particular, to explain its superiority over the Metric Test

A resilience-based alcohol education intervention for adolescents in the UK

Alcohol education often encourages avoidance of excessive drinking, but is rarely designed to help young people to develop the skills required to manage alcohol in social situations. A resilience-based approach could help young people to limit alcohol intake by encouraging the development of skills to manage alcohol in social situations. Methods: We developed a two-lesson school-based intervention designed to model, and facilitate discussion of, moderate drinking. A prospective longitudinal design was used to examine the intervention impact on personal resilience, drink-refusal self-efficacy (DRSE), and intended and actual alcohol intake. The sample consisted of 16-18 year olds in intervention schools and 2 control schools (total N = 500). Findings: Analyses provide important information about students' responses to the new classroom materials. Comparisons between intervention and control schools indicate that these new lessons may have an important impact on resilience, DRSE, and alcohol intake. Discussion: Resilience-based interventions employing realistic models of behaviour may be an important complement to existing alcohol education in facilitating healthy behaviours among young people, particularly in cultures of normative alcohol use

Lifespan extension and the doctrine of double effect

Recent developments in biogerontology—the study of the biology of ageing—suggest that it may eventually be possible to intervene in the human ageing process. This, in turn, offers the prospect of significantly postponing the onset of age-related diseases. The biogerontological project, however, has met with strong resistance, especially by deontologists. They consider the act of intervening in the ageing process impermissible on the grounds that it would (most probably) bring about an extended maximum lifespan—a state of affairs that they deem intrinsically bad. In a bid to convince their deontological opponents of the permissibility of this act, proponents of biogerontology invoke an argument which is grounded in the doctrine of double effect. Surprisingly, their argument, which we refer to as the ‘double effect argument’, has gone unnoticed. This article exposes and critically evaluates this ‘double effect argument’. To this end, we first review a series of excerpts from the ethical debate on biogerontology in order to substantiate the presence of double effect reasoning. Next, we attempt to determine the role that the ‘double effect argument’ is meant to fulfil within this debate. Finally, we assess whether the act of intervening in ageing actually can be justified using double effect reasoning

Conceptual responsibility

Conceptual engineering is concerned with the improvement of our concepts. The motivating thought behind many such projects is that some of our concepts are defective. But, if to use a defective concept is to do something wrong, and if to do something wrong one must be in control of what one is doing, there might be no defective concepts, since we typically are not in control of our concept use. To address this problem, this paper turns from appraising the concepts we use to appraising the people who use them. First, I outline several ways in which the use of a concept can violate moral standards. Second, I discuss three accounts of moral responsibility, which I call voluntarism, rationalism, and psychologism, arguing that each allows us to find at least some cases where we are responsible for using defective concepts. Third, I answer an objection that because most of our concepts are acquired through processes for which we are not responsible, our use of defective concepts is a matter of bad luck, and not something for which we are responsible after all. Finally, I conclude by discussing some of the ways we may hold people accountable for using defective concepts