Configuring the caller in ambiguous encounters: volunteer handling of calls to Samaritans emotional support services

This paper discusses volunteer strategies for handling and assessing calls to Samaritans emotional support services for the suicidal and despairing. It presents findings from the qualitative components of a two year mixed methods study based on an online caller survey, branch observations and interviews with volunteers and callers throughout the UK. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data analysis was undertaken using the principle of constant comparison. Many calls fell beyond the primary remit of a crisis service, and called for rapid attribution and assessment. Uncertainty about identifying ‘good’ calls and recognizing those which were not caused difficulty, frustration and negative attribution towards some callers. This paper presents our analysis of volunteers’ accounts of how they configure the caller in intrinsically uncertain and ambiguous encounters, and how such strategies relate to the formal principles of unconditional support and non-judgemental active listening espoused by the organization

Affine Illumination compensation on hyperspectral/multiangular remote sensing images

The huge amount of information some of the new optical satellites developed nowadays will create demands to quickly and reliably compensate for changes in the atmospheric transmittance and varying solar illumination conditions. In this paper three different forms of affine transformation models (general, particular and diagonal) are considered as candidates for rapid compensation of illumination variations. They are tested on a group of three pairs of CHRIS-PROBA radiance images obtained in a test field in Barrax (Spain), and where there is a difference in the atmospheric as well as in the geometrical acquisition conditions. Results indicate that the proposed methodology is satisfactory for practical normalization of varying illumination and atmospheric conditions in remotely sensed images required for operational applicationsThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the projects Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2007 − 00018, EODIX AYA2008 − 05965 − C04 − 04/ESP and ALFI3D TIN2009 − 14103 − C03 − 01, by the Generalitat Valenciana through the project PROMETEO/2010/028 and by Fundació Caixa-Castellóthrough the project P1 1B2007 − 4

Stellar Content from high resolution galactic spectra via Maximum A Posteriori

This paper describes STECMAP (STEllar Content via Maximum A Posteriori), a flexible, non-parametric inversion method for the interpretation of the integrated light spectra of galaxies, based on synthetic spectra of single stellar populations (SSPs). We focus on the recovery of a galaxy's star formation history and stellar age-metallicity relation. We use the high resolution SSPs produced by PEGASE-HR to quantify the informational content of the wavelength range 4000 - 6800 Angstroms. A detailed investigation of the properties of the corresponding simplified linear problem is performed using singular value decomposition. It turns out to be a powerful tool for explaining and predicting the behaviour of the inversion. We provide means of quantifying the fundamental limitations of the problem considering the intrinsic properties of the SSPs in the spectral range of interest, as well as the noise in these models and in the data. We performed a systematic simulation campaign and found that, when the time elapsed between two bursts of star formation is larger than 0.8 dex, the properties of each episode can be constrained with a precision of 0.04 dex in age and 0.02 dex in metallicity from high quality data (R=10 000, signal-to-noise ratio SNR=100 per pixel), not taking model errors into account. The described methods and error estimates will be useful in the design and in the analysis of extragalactic spectroscopic surveys.Comment: 31 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Fast linear algebra is stable

In an earlier paper, we showed that a large class of fast recursive matrix multiplication algorithms is stable in a normwise sense, and that in fact if multiplication of $n$-by-$n$ matrices can be done by any algorithm in $O(n^{\omega + \eta})$ operations for any $\eta > 0$, then it can be done stably in $O(n^{\omega + \eta})$ operations for any $\eta > 0$. Here we extend this result to show that essentially all standard linear algebra operations, including LU decomposition, QR decomposition, linear equation solving, matrix inversion, solving least squares problems, (generalized) eigenvalue problems and the singular value decomposition can also be done stably (in a normwise sense) in $O(n^{\omega + \eta})$ operations.Comment: 26 pages; final version; to appear in Numerische Mathemati

Dissipation time and decay of correlations

We consider the effect of noise on the dynamics generated by volume-preserving maps on a d-dimensional torus. The quantity we use to measure the irreversibility of the dynamics is the dissipation time. We focus on the asymptotic behaviour of this time in the limit of small noise. We derive universal lower and upper bounds for the dissipation time in terms of various properties of the map and its associated propagators: spectral properties, local expansivity, and global mixing properties. We show that the dissipation is slow for a general class of non-weakly-mixing maps; on the opposite, it is fast for a large class of exponentially mixing systems which include uniformly expanding maps and Anosov diffeomorphisms.Comment: 26 Pages, LaTex. Submitted to Nonlinearit

In the Beginning … Creation

The creative activities involved all members of the Godhead. A possible delineation of theirroles was investigated. Further, a rationale for creation was sought given knowledge that theprogenitors of the race would betray their trust.The historical-grammatical approach was used in textual understanding. The Genesis accountwas compared with parallel passages and this was combined with variants in word meaningsand was contrasted with the message conveyed by other passages. An understanding of God’scharacter and the defining features of His government were used to answer the secondresearch question.Accounts given by the apostle John and those recorded at Jesus’ baptism and at the preadvent judgment described by Daniel suggests that at creation the Father spoke, the Soninitiated the creative acts, and the Spirit performed an organizational and activating role. Thecooperative activities of the members of the Godhead illustrate the reality of the operation oflove (agape type) from the beginning. Further analysis showed that the creation of this worldrepresented an expression and the triumph of love in the face of knowledge that humanswould fail in the trust given them. Love also explains how the foundational elements ofGod’s character and government fit together—concepts of righteousness, justice, truth, mercyand faithfulness— and hence illustrates how human salvation (recreation) is possible.Creation is seen as a planned event dashing the claims of evolution that existence precededessence. The existence of a widespread sense of right and wrong, of human sexuality, of theamazing analytical and creative capacity of the human mind speaks that essence precededexistence. This is confirmed by the day to day experiences of those who permit God toundertake the recreation of His character image in them. Further research on the questionsraised is merited

Linking Brown Adipose Tissue and NAFLD By Metabolomics in Adults and Children

Nina Varah MSc ThesisBACKGROUND: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has emerged as an attractive target to address the dramatic rise in obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults and children due to its ability to clear lipids through thermogenesis when activated with cold stimulation. Cross-sectional studies have identified an inverse relationship between BAT and NAFLD in adults, although no linking mechanism or relevance in children is known. Metabolomics provides a non-invasive platform to investigate BAT physiology and its relationship with hepatic fat in an effort to identify potential targets for further investigation. PROJECT OBJECTIVES: 1) To explore the associations between the plasma metabolome and BAT in adults and children. 2) To explore the associations between the plasma metabolome and hepatic fat in adults and children. 3) To identify metabolites associated with both BAT and hepatic fat as potential linking mechanisms for further study. METHODOLOGY: We recruited 63 male and female adults aged 18 to 57 years and 25 healthy male children aged 8 to 10 years into this cross-sectional study. Study participants underwent blood work, body composition measurement (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; DXA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - proton density fat fraction (PDFF) measurements of whole liver hepatic fat, pre- and post-cold supraclavicular fat. BAT activity was calculated as the percent change between post and pre-cold BAT PDFF with the cold stimulus consisting of a water-perfused suit maintained at 18°C for 3-hours (adult) or 1-hour (pediatric). Targeted liquid-chromatography/mass spectrometry metabolomics of 102 metabolites was conducted on fasted plasma and multivariate linear regression with multiple testing correction was used to examine metabolite predictors of BAT measures and hepatic fat. RESULTS: In the adult cohort (n=63, median age 25.9 years, median body mass index (BMI) 25.4 kg/m2), five metabolites were associated with baseline BAT lipid content, where an elevated lipid content may indicate a whiter adipose tissue-like phenotype. Aconitate and creatine commonly predict increased baseline BAT lipid content (β=0.420, P=0.001 and β=0.408, P=0.001, respectively), and reduced BAT activity (β=-0.462, P=0.002 and (β=-0.402, P=0.002, respectively). Alanine and two acyl-carnitines also predicted reduced BAT activity. Glutamic acid was similarly related to higher baseline BAT (β=0.480, P<0.001) and hepatic lipid content independent of age and sex (β=0.392, P=0.002). Three other metabolites were directly related to hepatic fat, and serine inversely. In children (n=25, median age 9.89 years, mean BMI Z-score 1.25), cysteine and cystine were trending towards a significant relationship with higher baseline BAT lipid content, and were both related to elevated hepatic fat independent of adiposity (cysteine: quadratic β=-0.714, p<0.001 and cystine: quadratic β=0.592, p<0.001). Two hydroxy-proline isomers and L-carnitine were associated with reduced BAT activity. CONCLUSION: In adults, several metabolites were associated with reduced BAT activity and with a higher baseline BAT lipid content in the non-stimulated state – aconitate and creatine were related to both. Acylcarnitines or their metabolites related to BAT in both children and adults, which may suggest areas for subsequent investigation of BAT metabolism. Glutamic acid in adults and cysteine and cystine in children were weakly related to elevated baseline BAT and hepatic fat content. Further, amino acids such as glutamic acid and cysteine may be markers of increased ectopic fat accumulation – and are also associated with a whiter ambient BAT phenotype. Cumulatively, these findings highlight targets for further investigation into BAT physiology and the link to the liver.ThesisMaster of Science (MSc

Implementasi Pendekatan TaRL pada Materi Perbanyakan Tanaman Secara Generative untuk Meningkatkan Hasil Belajar Peserta Didik

educate the younger generation. However, there are still many obstacles, including differences in characteristics and learning needs of students. This research aims to determine the learning method using the TaRL (Teaching at The Right Level) approach in generative plant propagation material on the level of students' understanding. This type of research is classroom action research.  The research subjects using 1 class X of SMK Negeri 1 Bawen were 31 students. This research was carried out by providing pre-test and post-test questions regarding generative plant propagation. The implementation of the TaRL approach is carried out by grouping students according to their respective levels of ability, where each group consists of students who get low, medium and high scores. Grouping is done so that cooperation in groups and discussion activities to complete tasks can run smoothly and effectively. The research that has been carried out shows that the TaRL approach can improve students' understanding. The results of the research showed that there was an increase in students' understanding with the increase in the test results by 5.41 or increased from 84.29 to 89.70