Psychological therapies for women who experience intimate partner violence

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is prevalent and strongly associated with mental health problems. Women experiencing IPV attend health services frequently for mental health problems. The World Health Organization recommends that women who have experienced IPV and have a mental health diagnosis should receive evidence-based mental health treatments. However, it is not known if psychological therapies work for women in the context of IPV and whether they cause harm. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of psychological therapies for women who experience IPV on the primary outcomes of depression, self-efficacy and an indicator of harm (dropouts) at six- to 12-months' follow-up, and on secondary outcomes of other mental health symptoms, anxiety, quality of life, re-exposure to IPV, safety planning and behaviours, use of healthcare and IPV services, and social support. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Controlled Trials Register (CCMDCTR), CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and three other databases, to the end of October 2019. We also searched international trials registries to identify unpublished or ongoing trials and handsearched selected journals, reference lists of included trials and grey literature. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-RCTs, cluster-RCTs and cross-over trials of psychological therapies with women aged 16 years and older who self-reported recent or lifetime experience of IPV. We included trials if women also experienced co-existing mental health diagnoses or substance abuse issues, or both. Psychological therapies included a wide range of interventions that targeted cognition, motivation and behaviour compared with usual care, no treatment, delayed or minimal interventions. We classified psychological therapies according to Cochrane Common Mental Disorders's psychological therapies list. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors extracted data and undertook 'Risk of Bias' assessment. Treatment effects were compared between experimental and comparator interventions at short-term (up to six months post-baseline), medium-term (six to under 12 months, primary outcome time point), and long-term follow-up (12 months and above). We used standardised mean difference (SMD) for continuous and odds ratio (OR) for dichotomous outcomes, and used random-effects meta-analysis, due to high heterogeneity across trials. MAIN RESULTS: We included 33 psychological trials involving 5517 women randomly assigned to experimental (2798 women, 51%) and comparator interventions (2719 women, 49%). Psychological therapies included 11 integrative therapies, nine humanistic therapies, six cognitive behavioural therapy, four third-wave cognitive behavioural therapies and three other psychologically-orientated interventions. There were no trials classified as psychodynamic therapies. Most trials were from high-income countries (19 in USA, three in Iran, two each in Australia and Greece, and one trial each in China, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Spain and UK), among women recruited from healthcare, community, shelter or refuge settings, or a combination of any or all of these. Psychological therapies were mostly delivered face-to-face (28 trials), but varied by length of treatment (two to 50 sessions) and staff delivering therapies (social workers, nurses, psychologists, community health workers, family doctors, researchers). The average sample size was 82 women (14 to 479), aged 37 years on average, and 66% were unemployed. Half of the women were married or living with a partner and just over half of the participants had experienced IPV in the last 12 months (17 trials), 6% in the past two years (two trials) and 42% during their lifetime (14 trials). Whilst 20 trials (61%) described reliable low-risk random-sampling strategies, only 12 trials (36%) described reliable procedures to conceal the allocation of participant status. While 19 trials measured women's depression, only four trials measured depression as a continuous outcome at medium-term follow-up. These showed a probable beneficial effect of psychological therapies in reducing depression (SMD -0.24, 95% CI -0.47 to -0.01; four trials, 600 women; moderate-certainty evidence). However, for self-efficacy, there may be no evidence of a difference between groups (SMD -0.12, 95% CI -0.33 to 0.09; one trial with medium-term follow-up data, 346 women; low-certainty evidence). Further, there may be no difference between the number of women who dropped out from the experimental or comparator intervention groups, an indicator of no harm (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.44; five trials with medium-term follow-up data, 840 women; low-certainty evidence). Although no trials reported adverse events from psychological therapies or participation in the trial, only one trial measured harm outcomes using a validated scale. For secondary outcomes, trials measured anxiety only at short-term follow-up, showing that psychological therapies may reduce anxiety symptoms (SMD -0.96, 95% CI -1.29 to -0.63; four trials, 158 women; low-certainty evidence). However, within medium-term follow-up, low-certainty evidence revealed that there may be no evidence between groups for the outcomes safety planning (SMD 0.04, 95% CI -0.18 to 0.25; one trial, 337 women), post-traumatic stress disorder (SMD -0.24, 95% CI -0.54 to 0.06; four trials, 484 women) or re-exposure to any form of IPV (SMD 0.03, 95% CI -0.14 to 0.2; two trials, 547 women). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence that for women who experience IPV, psychological therapies probably reduce depression and may reduce anxiety. However, we are uncertain whether psychological therapies improve other outcomes (self-efficacy, post-traumatic stress disorder, re-exposure to IPV, safety planning) and there are limited data on harm. Thus, while psychological therapies probably improve emotional health, it is unclear if women's ongoing needs for safety, support and holistic healing from complex trauma are addressed by this approach. There is a need for more interventions focused on trauma approaches and more rigorous trials (with consistent outcomes at similar follow-up time points), as we were unable to synthesise much of the research

Arrêt 4 -Réflexions sur l'instabilité des versants de la basse Vallée d'Aoste ; les mouvements de terrain entre Bard et Donnas

Nella valle glaciale délia Dora Baltea, da entrambi i fianchi del verrou di Bard, la Bassa Valle d'Aosta si carat-terizza non solamente dalla ripidità dei suoi fianchi ma anche dal forte contrasto fra gli affioramenti rocciosi e le formazioni superficiali. Le pareti gneissiche sono esposte ai crolli rocciosi mentre gli scivolamenti complessi interessano le scarpate costituite da micascisti. In uno spazio ristretto, densamente occupato e fortemente antro-pizzato, le società umane sono minacciate dai capricci délia Dora Baltea e dai pericoli dei versanti. Una migliore conoscenza dei processi morfodinamici e dei loro fattori di innesco, ed anche una ridefinizione dei Piani Regolatori Comunali, dovrebbero favorire una più diffusa prevenzione di questi rischi naturali.Dalbard Emmanuel. Arrêt 4 -Réflexions sur l'instabilité des versants de la basse Vallée d'Aoste ; les mouvements de terrain entre Bard et Donnas. In: Collection EDYTEM. Cahiers de géographie, numéro 3, 2005. Le quaternaire des vallées alpines. Fronts glaciaires, mouvements de versants et comblements dans les vallées de l'Arve, d'Aoste et de Suse. Livret-guide de l'excursion organisée par l'AFEQ du 2 au 4 juin 2005. pp. 121-126

Comparative study on performance between ASP.NET and Node.js Express for web-based calculation tools

Calculations have been a core part of business processes in several industries throughout the years. To streamline the process of calculations, companies seek to digitize their calculation tools to web-based calculation tools. There is currently a lack of studies regarding the performance of web-based calculation tools, and since technology changes occur rapidly, which leads to comparative studies becoming outdated, the availability of actual and relevant research regarding performance comparisons between web-development frameworks becomes imperative. The purpose of this study was to compare ASP.NET with Node.js Express performance-wise, while implemented as web-based calculation tools. The calculations implemented were placed in both the backend and frontend of ASP.NET and Node.js Express. This study consists of experimentation, presenting the experiment results, and analyzing the results to conclude the research questions of this study. The results showed that Node.js Express was the better framework performance-wise and the analysis explains why. This study also concluded that the backend was better performing than the frontend for calculations in ASP.NET, and that the frontend was better performing than the backend for calculations in Node.js Express

Sweden’s relationship with the DPRK : An analysis of Sweden’s motives and actions through a neoliberal perspective

The aim of this thesis was to study Sweden’s relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from the Korean War to this day. To do so, the focus was put on Sweden’s different motives during that time resulting in the identification of two phases. The first, characterized by an economical interest and the second, by a diplomatic and humanitarian one. Moreover, a non-governmental perspective was presented with the Swedish NGO Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP) in focus. This perspective showed the importance of non-governmental actors’ engagement with the DPRK. Finally, the international relations’ theory of neoliberalism was used as a theoretical framework for the thesis. The conclusion is that neoliberalism is correct at explaining the engagement of Sweden towards the DPRK. As one of the western countries with the best relations with the DPRK, we conclude that Sweden has an important role to play in facilitating the dialogue between the international community and the DPRK.

Bright Patterns as an Ethical Approach to Counteract Dark Patterns : A Closer Investigation of The Ethics of Persuasive Design

The purpose of this study is to explore the ethical dilemma in design that User Experience (UX) designers encounter in their workplace, consumers’ perception of ethics in bright patterns and dark patterns, and consumers’ decisions between bright patterns and dark patterns. The former aims to understand the reason behind the prevalence of dark patterns, while the latter aims to determine whether bright patterns are a potential ethical approach that designers can adopt in the future. In this study, the methods semi-structured interview and within-subjects experiment with follow-up interview were conducted to gather empirical data. For both methods, a content analysis was selected to analyze the empirical data, which resulted in findings that answered the research questions of this study. The findings show that (1) authority to decide how designers should address ethics in design is more distributed to those investing in a product development project, (2) most ethical issues revolve around challenges of working in an ethical manner rather than bad practices of incorporating ethics in design work, (3) designers adopt one or more ethical approaches to stay ethical and /or address ethical issues that arise in their workplace, (4) some specific bright patterns and dark patterns have no influence on consumer decisions while other specific bright patterns and dark patterns influence consumer decisions, and (5) consumers perceive bright patterns to be more ethical than dark patterns in terms of freedom of choice and transparency.

Bright Patterns as an Ethical Approach to Counteract Dark Patterns : A Closer Investigation of The Ethics of Persuasive Design

The purpose of this study is to explore the ethical dilemma in design that User Experience (UX) designers encounter in their workplace, consumers’ perception of ethics in bright patterns and dark patterns, and consumers’ decisions between bright patterns and dark patterns. The former aims to understand the reason behind the prevalence of dark patterns, while the latter aims to determine whether bright patterns are a potential ethical approach that designers can adopt in the future. In this study, the methods semi-structured interview and within-subjects experiment with follow-up interview were conducted to gather empirical data. For both methods, a content analysis was selected to analyze the empirical data, which resulted in findings that answered the research questions of this study. The findings show that (1) authority to decide how designers should address ethics in design is more distributed to those investing in a product development project, (2) most ethical issues revolve around challenges of working in an ethical manner rather than bad practices of incorporating ethics in design work, (3) designers adopt one or more ethical approaches to stay ethical and /or address ethical issues that arise in their workplace, (4) some specific bright patterns and dark patterns have no influence on consumer decisions while other specific bright patterns and dark patterns influence consumer decisions, and (5) consumers perceive bright patterns to be more ethical than dark patterns in terms of freedom of choice and transparency.

Sweden’s relationship with the DPRK : An analysis of Sweden’s motives and actions through a neoliberal perspective

The aim of this thesis was to study Sweden’s relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from the Korean War to this day. To do so, the focus was put on Sweden’s different motives during that time resulting in the identification of two phases. The first, characterized by an economical interest and the second, by a diplomatic and humanitarian one. Moreover, a non-governmental perspective was presented with the Swedish NGO Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP) in focus. This perspective showed the importance of non-governmental actors’ engagement with the DPRK. Finally, the international relations’ theory of neoliberalism was used as a theoretical framework for the thesis. The conclusion is that neoliberalism is correct at explaining the engagement of Sweden towards the DPRK. As one of the western countries with the best relations with the DPRK, we conclude that Sweden has an important role to play in facilitating the dialogue between the international community and the DPRK.

Efficacy of Different Forms of Green Manure Crops to Reduce Verticillium dahliae in Different Soils

The efficacy of green manure crops to reduce the number of Verticillium dahliae microsclerotia in different soils was investigated. Green manures tested were Indian mustard with a high glucosinolate content and sorghum-sudangrass as biocidal plants, and Indian mustard with a low glucosinolate content and rye as non-biocidal plants. The green manure plants were applied in fresh, dried, and ensilaged form. When applied as fresh plants, the glucosinolate content determining the biocidal activity of Indian mustard was only important in loam soil but not in sandy loam soil. In the latter soil, the non-biocidal rye had significantly higher efficacy than the Indian mustard. Volatiles released by fresh and dried, but not ensilaged, Indian mustard with a high glucosinolate content strongly decreased the number of living V. dahliae microsclerotia. When the same green manure crops were added to sandy loam and clay loam soil, the effect of the high glucosinolate content Indian mustard in fresh and dried form disappeared, whereas the ensilaged green manure crops had the highest efficacy. This effect was based on the increase of the soil microbial activity and the Streptomyces population size, which were negatively correlated with the number of living V. dahliae microsclerotia in the soil