Moving Beyond Christianity: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Mental Health

To date the literature on religion and mental health has focused upon Christianity. We cannot assume that these findings can be transposed onto other faith groups. In this paper I focus upon Islam, Judaism and Hinduism and discuss understandings of mental illness and the relationships between central beliefs and mental health. I discuss implications for clinical work and psychotherapy

Global Position Statement: Religion and Spirituality in Mental Health Care

Careif is an international mental health charity that works towards protecting and promoting mental health and resilience, to eliminate inequalities and strengthen social justice. Our principles include working creatively with humility and dignity, and with balanced partnerships in order to ensure all cultures and societies play their part in our mission of protecting and promoting mental health and wellbeing. We do this by respecting the traditions of all world societies, whilst believing traditions can evolve, for even greater benefit to individuals and society. Careif believes that knowledge should not only be available to those with wealth or those who live in urban and industrialised parts of the world. It considers knowledge sharing to be a basic human right, particularly where this knowledge can change lives and help realise true human potential. Furthermore, there is substantial knowledge to be found in low and middle income countries and within rural and poorer areas of the world and this knowledge is just as valuable to the wellbeing of people in areas which are wealthier. This Position Statement aims to highlight the current position and need for understanding the role of culture, spirituality and religion in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Globalisation has created culturally rich and diverse societies. During the past several decades, there has been a steadily increasing recognition of the importance of cultural influences on life and health. Societies are becoming multi-ethnic and poly-cultural in nature worldwide, where different groups enrich each other's lives with their unique culture/s. Cultural transition and acculturation is often discussed as relevant to migrants and the need to integrate, when in fact it is of relevance to all cultures in an ever-interconnected world. It is indeed necessary to be equipped with knowledge about cultures and their influence on mental health and illness. Until the early 19th century, psychiatry and religion were closely connected. Religious institutions were responsible for the care of the mentally ill. A major change occurred when Charcot and his pupil Freud associated religion with hysteria and neurosis. This created a divide between religion and mental health care, which has continued until recently. Psychiatry has a long tradition of dismissing and attacking religious experience. Religion has often been seen by mental health professionals in Western societies as irrational, outdated, and dependency forming and has sometimes been viewed as resulting in emotional instability

Global Position Statement: Stigma, Mental Illness and Diversity

Careif is an international mental health charity that works towards protecting and promoting mental health, wellbeing, resilience and resourcefulness with a special focus towards eliminating inequalities and strengthening social justice. Our principles include working creatively with humility, dignity and balanced partnerships in order to ensure that all cultures and societies play their part in our mission of protecting and promoting mental health and wellbeing. We do this by respecting the traditions of all world societies, whilst believing that culture and traditions can evolve for even greater benefit to individuals and society. Globalisation has created culturally rich and diverse societies. During the past several decades, there has been a steadily increasing recognition of the importance of societal and cultural influences on life and health. Societies are becoming multi-ethnic and poly-cultural in nature worldwide, where different groups enrich each other's lives with their unique culture/s. Cultural transition and acculturation is often discussed as relevant to migrants and mentions the need to integrate, when in fact it is of relevance to all cultures in an ever interconnecting world. It is indeed necessary to be equipped with knowledge about cultures and their influence on mental health and illness. Culturally informed mental health care is rapidly moving from an attitudinal orientation to an evidence-based approach, therefore understanding culture and mental health care becomes greater than a health care issue

Oh Baltimore: Incarceration and Re-entry in Marginalized Communities

After years of decay, Baltimore City’s urban poor face disparities within an economic and political climate that demands austerity and personal responsibility. This qualitative research project aimed to identify the impact of deindustrialization on the socioeconomic changes within the community, the subsequent disparate incarceration rates, and burden on affected individuals, communities, and organizations. We also theorized the best practices for advocacy and community organizing. The findings suggest that in many communities, the nature of social capital has transformed in relation to local and national processes, such as recession, unemployment, declines in industries, and exposure to surveillance. Though fragile, the existing community cultural and social capitals, networks critical to family functioning and daily survival, must be reappraised and integrated in participatory collaboration with stakeholders. Traditional community organizing tools must be re-examined and reframed to reach larger audiences and to build alliances

Reef Balls as a Proxy Habitat for Fish Species in Lieu of Available Suitable Natural Coral Reef, off the South-west Coast of Barbados, Caribbean Sea

Understanding the habitat requirements for a variety of fish species with outstanding commercial and/or conservation value will become more important as managers develop an increasingly holistic approach to fisheries and nature conservation within the coastal zone, due to the rising human inflicted impacts. Barbados is home to many coral reefs, however, most are degrading due to overfishing, rise in sea surface temperature, and marine pollution. Artificial reefs have been used to try and help repopulate the coral habitat in Barbados, with the most recent being Reef Balls which are hollow concrete circular structures. This study investigates if Reef Balls could act as a proxy habitat for fish species in lieu of available suitable natural reef, by examining the fish species richness and fish abundance at a site off the south-west coast of Barbados, in the Caribbean Sea. The data for this study was collected from the Barbados Marine Trust for April 2004 to December 2005, and a professional diver collected data from February to May 2014, both using the reef-fish visual census. The Reef Ball fish abundance and species richness were compared with two different neighbouring natural reefs, and a site similar to where the Reef Balls were placed initially, using t-tests, ANOVA, MDS and ANOSIM. The Reef Balls attracted fish from the surrounding area which improved the fish abundance and species richness at the site. This produced similar fish abundance to the patch reef; however, the Reef Balls had significantly less species richness. When compared to the bank reef, the Reef Balls had significantly less fishes and species richness. However, the Reef Balls provided an essential niche for specific species as 11 out of 61 species were only found at the Reef Balls

Microstructure and High Temperature Creep of Platinum Group Metal Modified Nickel Base Superalloys.

Increasing efficiency in aeropropulsion and energy generation systems drives the development of higher temperature structural materials with good mechanical properties and environmental resistance. Platinum group metal (PGM) additions are known to be beneficial for the oxidation and corrosion resistance of superalloys and Ni rich intermetallics. However, there is limited understanding of how they influence the microstructure and high temperature mechanical properties of γ-γ´ superalloys. The objective of this research is to examine experimental Ni-base compositions that systematically alter PGM and non-PGM elements. The PGMs used for this study are Pt, Ir, and Ru. The non-PGM elements are ones commonly used in conventional Ni-base compositions, such as Re, W, and Ta. Partitioning studies indicates that platinum preferentially partitions to the γ´ phase, resulting in alloys that exhibit positive misfit behavior – quite uncommon for Ni-base superalloys. Iridium influences the partitioning behavior of PGM and non-PGM elements, which could be useful in manipulating alloying chemistry. The unique partitioning behavior of the PGMs results in a wide range of lattice misfit and, therefore, γ´ morphology. Coarsening studies demonstrate that Pt slows γ´ coarsening and helps maintain unusually high volume fractions at temperatures up to 1200 °C. Such high volume fractions at these elevated temperatures could lead to impressive creep properties. High temperature creep tests at 1000 °C demonstrate variations in creep strength between PGM alloys. Alloys with precipitate boundary strengthening elements boron, carbon, and zirconium, can increase the creep resistance by at least a factor of three. For alloys that directionally coarsen, the formation of dense, interfacial dislocation networks increases creep strength. Dislocation density measurements within positive misfit alloys indicate, in some cases, that a majority of the dislocations are deposited within the precipitate phase rather than the matrix phase – a very unusual feature for high temperature deformation. The calculation of a creep stress exponent establishes that creep is carried out in the power-law regime. A climb velocity is calculated that can be applied not only to the PGM alloys in this investigation, but other Ni-base systems as well.Ph.D.Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77722/1/vanjason_1.pd

Surface Characterization of DD6 Single Crystal Superalloy during Acid Etching at Different Temperatures

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of acid etching on surface integrity of a single crystal nickelbased superalloy. The corrosion tests were conducted in solution of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide at different reaction temperatures. The corroded specimens were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, weight loss measurements and surface roughness measuring instrument. The results indicate that DD6 suffers serious selective corrosion at cold bath temperature due to unduly slow etching when immersed for the maximum time. It is found that preferential dissolution of γ′ phase occurred, leading to the increase of surface roughness

Constructing Taxonomies: Identifying Distinctive Class of HIV Support and Risk Networks among People Who Use Drugs (PWID) and Their Network Members in the HPTN 037 Randomized Controlled Trial

Injection drug use is a significant mode of HIV transmission. Social networks are potential avenues for behavior change among high-risk populations. Increasing knowledge should include a classification or taxonomy system of networks’ attributes, risks, and needs. The current study employed 232 networks comprising 232 indexes, with 464 network members enrolled in Philadelphia. LCA revealed a three-class solution, Low-Risk, Paraphernalia Risk, and High Sex/Moderate Paraphernalia Risk class, among participants. The analysis found receiving money or drugs for sex and employment status increased the odds of belonging to PR and PSR classes. Homelessness and incarceration increased the odds of belonging to the PR class when compared to the LR class. Our findings suggest that classes of risk among PWID comprise clusters of information concerning their members. These findings add depth to our understanding while extending our knowledge of the contextual environment that nurtures or exacerbates the problem