Vulnerability and identity negotiation in childbirth: a narrative approach

Despite knowledge and policy support of the positive contributors to a woman’s birth experience and awareness of the lasting impact of her interpretation of the event, there is a distinct lack of acknowledgement in the childbirth literature of the woman’s exposure to a vulnerability characteristic of birth. I feel that this transient experience of vulnerability exposes a woman’s identity to subliminal messages about her body, her competence and her social positioning, while the physicality of birth is foregrounded. I believe women use the telling of their birth stories to make meaning out of their experience. To analyse the identity work of the story, I selected 20 birth stories from a popular ‘mums’ internet forum. Using a multi component narrative analysis technique, comprising structural, thematic and discourse analyses, I have been able to explore the influence of competing discourses upon woman’s experience of birth in the UK. In complement I have woven my story of transition to motherhood into the project to chart my subjective position as it evolved with the development of this project. This project has contributed evidence to the discussion of women’s experiences of subjectivity in the discursive landscape of birth, while uncovering previously unacknowledged sites of resistance. The linguistic restrictions, sustained by the neoliberal control mechanisms on society and the self, act to shape the reality, feelings and expressions of birthing women. Naming these silencing strategies, as I have done through the findings of this project, and celebrating women’s discourse on birth as the explosion of birth stories across the internet are doing, offer bold moves to challenge the muting status quo of women in birth. Reclaiming women’s language for birth and working to create a new vocabulary encapsulating the experiences of birthing women, will also present opportunities for the issue of birth and women’s experiences of it to occupy greater political space with a confident and decisive voice

Alien Registration- Maclellan, Florence J. (Bath, Sagadahoc County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/9067/thumbnail.jp

Single shot, temporally and spatially resolved measurements of fast electron dynamics using a chirped optical probe

A new approach to rear surface optical probing is presented that permits multiple, time-resolved 2D measurements to be made during a single, ultra-intense ( > 1018 W cm−2) laser-plasma interaction. The diagnostic is capable of resolving rapid changes in target reflectivity which can be used to infer valuable information on fast electron transport and plasma formation at the target rear surface. Initial results from the Astra-Gemini laser are presented, with rapid radial sheath expansion together with detailed filamentary features being observed to evolve during single shots

Effect of nutrition education and dairy group membership on nutrition knowledge, practices and diet quality for rural Kenyan farm women

The typical high-starch, low diversity diet in developing countries is associated withundernutrition, morbidity and mortality. Previous research with households inMukurwe-ini Division (Central Kenya) found that members of a community-baseddairy development group were more food secure and had higher intake of certainmicronutrients compared with non-members; however, the prevalence of inadequateintake of multiple micronutrients was high among all women. A nutrition educationintervention was developed to enhance women’s nutrition knowledge and food skills toultimately improve diet quality and micronutrient intakes for women and their families.In addition, it was proposed that the intervention effects would be greater for dairygroup members. The Mukurwe-ini study group consisted of 88 women in four dairymembership-duration categories (n=4 x 22) and non-member women (n=23). The studygroup was previously selected using chain referral sampling. For the intervention,women from each duration-group and non-member women were randomly allocated tointervention (n=55) and control (n=56) groups. Nutrition knowledge and dietary intake(24-hour recall) data were collected from all women over three weeks immediatelyprior to the intervention (baseline) and again, six months post-intervention, inindividual face-to-face interviews. The intervention encouraged food-based strategiesto improve intake of vitamin A, iron and zinc and was developed and delivered incollaboration with a Kenyan dietitian. WFood2 was used to compute food and nutrientintakes, dietary diversity and the phytate:zinc molar ratio. Descriptive statistics andlinear and logistic regressions analyses were performed using Stata10. Independent ofdairy-group membership, a larger proportion of intervention group women, comparedto control group women, had the targeted nutrition knowledge and practiced thestrategies to improve intake of vitamin A (76% vs 67%, respectively) and zinc and iron(soaked beans and maize 80% vs 13%; avoided tea with meals 67 % vs 5%,respectively). A positive effect of the intervention on dietary diversity was dependenton dairy-group membership status. Positive intervention effects on intake of vitamin Aand C were found for non-member women. This study provided evidence that certainintervention effects were dependent on poverty reduction and that all women were ableto make positive dietary changes when informed. There is a need to examine longertermimpacts of nutrition education interventions and to explore effective methods todisseminate nutrition information and food-based strategies.Key words: nutrition intervention, micronutrients, food-based strategy, rural, women,dairy, smallholder farme

Practising critical resilience as an advanced peer support worker in London: A qualitative evaluation of a peer-led hepatitis C intervention amongst people experiencing homelessness who inject drugs

Background: Peer support has been used as a mechanism to facilitate active engagement with healthcare amongst underserved populations. The HepCare project upskilled experienced peer support workers (PSWs) to become equal members of a service provider team, taking on advanced clinical roles normally carried out by medical or nursing specialists. Method: A participatory case study approach was taken to the study following the methodological guidance of Merriam (1998). The subject of the case in our study is the advanced peer support workers (APSWs) functioning in the HepCare project as service providers. The object of the case is an exploration of their transition to service provider in the HCV screening and treatment support service. Five peer led in-depth interviews with APSWs were supplemented by a survey of health professionals, interviews with service users, documentary evidence in the form of job descriptions, observational notes and a blog from the field. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted, refined and finalised in a workshop with the research team and APSW participants. Results Three themes were generated from the data that explore the peer support worker's transition to APSW in the programme: Transition to Integration, Retaining ‘Peerness’, and Practising Critical Resilience. The advocacy and support enacted by the APSWs through the HepCare project, offer purpose and meaning alongside integration into a new social group. This is buffered by the supportive context of the programme and facilitates a motivating sense of worth. Conclusion: The programme offers policy guidance for the structured career development of APSWs and a platform for enactment of critical resilience as they transition to their advanced role, in the healthcare provider team

Flexible access to conformationally-locked bicyclic morpholines

A preparatively accessible route to a series of conformationally-locked bicyclic morpholines has been developed. This flexible approach allows for diversification in order for a small array of lead-like scaffolds to be synthesised from readily available key building blocks

Experienced tutors' deployment of thinking skills and what might be entailed in enhancing such skills

In the context of research that reports weaknesses in adults' critical thinking skills, the primary aim was to examine adults' use of critical thinking skills that are described in taxonomies and to identify areas for development. Position papers written by an opportunity sample of 32 experienced adult educators formed the data for a descriptive sample survey design intended to reveal participants' use of critical thinking skills. Each 6000-word paper was written during a development programme that supported such skills. A content analysis of the papers revealed that when participants drew on personal and published ideas about learning to derive their proposals for change, they accepted the ideas uncritically, thereby implying that they might find it difficult to help learners to examine ideas critically. The evidence supports research that implies that critical thinking skills are unlikely to develop unless overall course design privileges the development of epistemological understanding (King and Kitchener 1994, Kuhn 1999). A fundamental assumption underlying the study is that this understanding influences effective citizenship and personal development, as well as employability. A proposition that merits attention in future research is that the development of epistemological understanding is largely neglected in current curricula in formal post-16 education

Performance testing of radiobioassay laboratories: In vitro measurements (urinalysis): Final report

This report provides results of the two-round nationwide in vitro bioassay intercomparison study. Conclusions were based on analyses by 35 bioassay laboratories of nearly 1400 artificial urine samples containing known quantities of radionuclides. The test radionuclides were H, /sup 89/Sr, /sup 238/Pu, /sup 241/Am, /sup 137/Cs, /sup 60/Co, and natural uranium. The data reported included background count rates, total samples counts, counting times, counting efficiencies, sample yields, and estimated errrors of the determinations. The measurement data were evaluated according to statistical methods presented in the November 1985 version of the draft ANSI Standard N13.30. If a laboratory failed a performance test for any one of the three criteria, the laboratory was considered to have failed the test for that category. 22 refs., 18 figs., 14 tab

Di[2,6-bis(5-phenylpyrazol-3-yl)pyridine]Co(II): an old coordination mode fora novel supramolecular assembly

CoCl2 was treated with 1, 2, and 6 eq. of 2,6-bis(5-phenylpyrazol-3-yl)pyridine (H2L) yielding respectively the monosubstituted [Co(H2L)Cl2], the disubstituted [Co(H2L)2][PF6]2, and a supramolecular assembly formed by a central disubstituted octahedral complex and four more hydrogen bonded peripheral ligands, [{Co(H2L)2}(H2L)4][PF6]2, as illustrated by X-ray crystal structure analysis