Doctoral students’ access to non-academic support for mental health

Increased doctoral student numbers has led to a growth in studies dedicated to doctoral experience. These studies have raised a range of mental health concerns around workload, supervision processes and student well-being. Despite these challenges being well documented, few studies have looked at doctoral student’s experiences of accessing non-academic support services. This article presents the findings of a mixed-method study to investigate doctoral experiences of non-academic support, conducted at one British university with a large postgraduate research population. Drawing on focus groups and a student survey, the article concludes that many doctoral students are not accessing institutional support when they could benefit from it, with many turning to external support mechanisms including family, personal doctor and online resources. Five institutional recommendations are proposed to develop improved dedicated doctoral student mental health support: clear signposting, online self-help, workshops, parity of support and supervisor training

Bandura's exercise self-efficacy scale: Validation in an Australian cardiac rehabilitation setting

Background. Despite the established benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in improving health outcomes for people with cardiovascular disease, adherence to regular physical activity at recommended levels remains suboptimal. Self-efficacy has been shown to be an important mediator of health behaviour, including exercise. Objectives. To assess the psychometric properties of Bandura's exercise self-efficacy (ESE) scale in an Australian CR setting. Design. Validation study. Setting. Cardiac rehabilitation. Participants. One hundred and ten patients (Mean: 60.11, S.D.: 10.57 years). Methods. Participants completed a six-minute walk test (6MWT) and Bandura's exercise self-efficacy scale at enrolment and on completion of a 6-week CR program. Results. Bandura's ESE scale had a single factor structure with high internal consistency (0.95), and demonstrated no floor or ceiling effects. A comparison of ESE scores by distance walked on 6MWT indicated those who recorded more than 500m at baseline had significantly higher ESE scores (Mean: 116.26, S.D.: 32.02m) than those patients who only achieved up to 400m on the 6MWT at baseline (Mean: 89.94, S.D.: 29.47m) (p=0.044). A positive and significant correlation between the change in scores on the ESE scale and the change in the 6MWT distance (r=0.28, p=0.035) was seen. Conclusions. The ESE scale was a robust measure of exercise self-efficacy over the range of patients attending this outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program. Interventions to improve self-efficacy may increase CR patient's efficacy for regular physical activity

Muon anomalous magnetic moment and lepton flavor violation in MSSM

We give a thorough analysis of the correlation between the muon anomalous magnetic moment and the radiative lepton flavor violating (LFV) processes within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that in the case when the slepton mass eigenstates are nearly degenerate, $\delta a_\mu$, coming from SUSY contributions, hardly depends on the lepton flavor mixing and, thus, there is no direct relation between $\delta a_\mu$ and the LFV processes. On the contrary, if the first two generations' sleptons are much heavier than the 3rd one, i.e., in the effective SUSY scenario, the two quantities are closely related. In the latter scenario, the SUSY parameter space to account for the experimental $\delta a_\mu$ is quite different from the case of no lepton flavor mixing. Especially, the Higgsino mass parameter $\mu$ can be either positive or negative.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures; Some discussions are modifie

Paradoxes of the Aharonov-Bohm and the Aharonov-Casher effects

For a believer in locality of Nature, the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the Aharonov-Casher effect are paradoxes. I discuss these and other Aharonov's paradoxes and propose a local explanation of these effects. If the solenoid in the Aharonov-Bohm effect is treated quantum mechanically, the effect can be explained via local interaction between the field of the electron and the solenoid. I argue that the core of the Aharonov-Bohm and the Aharonov-Casher effects is that of quantum entanglement: the quantum wave function describes all systems together.Comment: To be published in Yakir Aharonov 80th birthday Festschrif

An examination of responses to surveys among Filipino-Australian migrants

© 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved. Background Surveys are frequently used to collect data. Although paper surveys are commonly used, online surveys are gaining in popularity, with the inclusion of open-ended questions (OEQs) allowing respondents to freely express their views. Little is known about how Filipino-Australian migrants respond to surveys. There is some concern about the usefulness of OEQs administered to culturally and linguistically diverse migrants, who may have limited capacity to articulate their thoughts in writing. Aim To examine the responses of Filipino-Australian migrants to a survey. Discussion A total of 552 respondents were recruited, of whom 428 (78%) completed the questionnaire online. The overall response rate to the OEQs was 69%, with higher completion rates among those given a paper-based questionnaire and those with university educations. Conclusion Filipino migrants with functional English language skills responded well to the online survey. Paper-based administration elicited more OEQ responses, which is attributed to greater interaction between participants and researchers. Those with university educations may have more capacity to express themselves in English and were therefore more likely to complete the OEQs. Implications for practice The high response rate obtained in this study suggests that among Filipino-Australian migrants who rated their English language skills and educational level highly, the translation of OEQs may not be necessary. This has important implications for resources in research. Face-to-face interaction between participants and researchers is an important strategy for increasing the rates of response to OEQs

Health-Seeking Behaviors of Filipino Migrants in Australia: The Influence of Persisting Acculturative Stress and Depression

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York. This study examined the relationships among the constructs of acculturative stress, depression, English language use, health literacy, and social support and the influence of these factors on health-seeking behaviors of Filipino Australians. Using a self-administered questionnaire, 552 respondents were recruited from November 2010 to June 2011. Structural equation modelling was used to examine relationships. A direct and negative relationship between health-seeking behaviors and depression, and an indirect relationship with acculturative stress, was observed mediated through depression. Social support had an important moderating influence on these effects. Although there was an inverse relationship between age and English language usage and depression, age was positively related to health-seeking behavior. Despite their long duration of stay, Filipino Australian migrants continue to experience acculturative stress and depression leading to lower health-seeking behaviors. This study highlights the importance of screening for acculturative stress and depression in migrants and fostering social support

Nonlocal Aspects of a Quantum Wave

Various aspects of nonlocality of a quantum wave are discussed. In particular, the question of the possibility of extracting information about the relative phase in a quantum wave is analyzed. It is argued that there is a profound difference in the nonlocal properties of the quantum wave between fermion and boson particles. The phase of the boson quantum state can be found from correlations between results of measurements in separate regions. These correlations are identical to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations between two entangled systems. An ensemble of results of measurements performed on fermion quantum waves does not exhibit the EPR correlations and the relative phase of fermion quantum waves cannot be found from these results. The existence of a physical variable (the relative phase) which cannot be measured locally is the nonlocality aspect of the quantum wave of a fermion.Comment: 12 page

Nearly Bi-Maximal Neutrino Mixing, Muon g-2 Anomaly and Lepton-Flavor-Violating Processes

We interpret the newly observed muon g-2 anomaly in the framework of a leptonic Higgs doublet model with nearly degenerate neutrino masses and nearly bi-maximal neutrino mixing. Useful constraints are obtained on the rates of lepton-flavor-violating rare decays $\tau \to \mu \gamma$, $\mu \to e \gamma$ and $\tau \to e \gamma$ as well as the $\mu$-$e$ conversion ratio $R_{\mu e}$. We find that $\Gamma (\mu \to e \gamma)$, $\Gamma (\tau \to e \gamma)$ and $R_{\mu e}$ depend crucially on possible non-zero but samll values of the neutrino mixing matrix element $V_{e3}$, and they are also sensitive to the Dirac-type CP-violating phase. In particular, we show that $\Gamma (\tau \to \mu \gamma)/m^5_\tau$, $\Gamma (\mu \to e \gamma)/m^5_\mu$ and $\Gamma (\tau \to e \gamma)/m^5_\tau$ are approximately in the ratio $1: 2|V_{e3}|^2: 2|V_{e3}|^2$ if $|V_{e3}|$ is much larger than ${\cal O}(10^{-2})$, and in the ratio $2 (\Delta m^2_{\rm atm})^2: (\Delta m^2_{\rm sun})^2:(\Delta m^2_{\rm sun})^2$ if $|V_{e3}|$ is much lower than ${\cal O}(10^{-3})$, where $\Delta m^2_{\rm atm}$ and $\Delta m^2_{\rm sun}$ are the corresponding mass-squared differences of atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations.Comment: LaTex 6 pages (2 PS figures). Phys. Rev. D (in printing

LBT Reveals Large Dust Particles and a High Mass Loss Rate for K2-22 b

The disintegrating planet candidate K2-22 b shows periodic and stochastic transits best explained by an escaping debris cloud. However, the mechanism that creates the debris cloud is unknown. The grain size of the debris as well as its sublimation rate can be helpful in understanding the environment that disintegrates the planet. Here, we present simultaneous photometry with the g band at 0.48 microns and KS band at 2.1 microns using the Large Binocular Telescope. During an event with very low dust activity, we put a new upper limit on the size of the planet of 0.71 earth radii or 4500 km. We also detected a medium-depth transit which can be used to constrain the dust particle sizes. We find that the median particle size must be larger than about 0.5 to 1.0 microns, depending on the composition of the debris. This leads to a high mass loss rate of about 3e8 kg/s that is consistent with hydrodynamic escape models. If they are produced by some alternate mechanism such as explosive volcanism, it would require extraordinary geological activity. Combining our upper limits on the planet size with the high mass loss rate, we find a lifetime of the planet of less than 370 Myr. This drops to just 21 Myr when adopting the 0.02 earth masses predicted from hydrodynamical models.Comment: AJ, accepted, 13 page