Clinical Master of Social Work Students: Personal Therapy’s Influence upon Professional Development

The purpose of this research was to better understand the perceptions, experiences, and opinions of Master of Social Work (MSW) students and recent graduates in regard to personal therapy. Specifically, this study sought to investigate the factors that are involved in the process of professional development through the use of personal therapy. This study utilized a mixed methods design to survey 82 MSW students or recent graduates. Data was collected through an online questionnaire that asked participants questions, in both a qualitative and quantitative format, regarding their perceptions of and experiences with personal therapy in reference to professional development. Findings reveal that the majority of MSW students and recent graduates report personal therapy to be important to their professional development, specifically in the areas of increased self insight, increased emotional functioning, increased understanding of the therapeutic process, and increased efficacy in their own practice. Participants indicated that they found personal and professional development to be deeply interrelated. Findings also indicate that participants encounter a number of barriers in obtaining personal therapy, as well as a lack of discussion around the topic, during their MSW education. These findings highlight the need for further discussion among MSW students, educators, and professionals in regard to the use of personal therapy for professional development

Clinical Master of Social Work Students: Personal Therapy’s Influence upon Professional Development

The purpose of this research was to better understand the perceptions, experiences, and opinions of Master of Social Work (MSW) students and recent graduates in regard to personal therapy. Specifically, this study sought to investigate the factors that are involved in the process of professional development through the use of personal therapy. This study utilized a mixed methods design to survey 82 MSW students or recent graduates. Data was collected through an online questionnaire that asked participants questions, in both a qualitative and quantitative format, regarding their perceptions of and experiences with personal therapy in reference to professional development. Findings reveal that the majority of MSW students and recent graduates report personal therapy to be important to their professional development, specifically in the areas of increased selfinsight, increased emotional functioning, increased understanding of the therapeutic process, and increased efficacy in their own practice. Participants indicated that they found personal and professional development to be deeply interrelated. Findings also indicate that participants encounter a number of barriers in obtaining personal therapy, as well as a lack of discussion around the topic, during their MSW education. These findings highlight the need for further discussion among MSW students, educators, and professionals in regard to the use of personal therapy for professional development

Life cycle assessment of biomass-based ethylene production in Sweden - is gasification or fermentation the environmentally preferable route?

Purpose To reduce its environmental impact, the chemical industry is investigating the biomass-based production of chemicals such as ethylene, including fermentation and gasification conversion processes. However, a comprehensive study that compares the environmental impact of these biomass routes is missing. This study assesses and compares a wood gasification with a wood fermentation route to ethylene in Sweden, as well as compares it with the commercialized sugarcane and fossil oil alternatives. Methods The study followed the methodology of life cycle assessment. A cradle-to-gate perspective for the production of 50,000 t ethylene/year was applied, and the following impact categories were investigated: global warming (GWP), acidification (ACP), photochemical ozone creation (POCP), and eutrophication (EP). Results and discussion Biomass acquisition including transport to the gasification plant was the major cause of the gasification route’s GWP and POCP, suggesting improvements with regard to fuel source and machine efficiency. NOx emissions from the gasification process had the main share on the ACP and EP. The comparison of the gasification with a wood and a sugarcane fermentation route showed a lower impact for the gasification route. Among other things, this is caused by high emissions from transport and cultivation for the sugarcane route and high emissions from enzyme and ethanol production for the wood fermentation route. The results were less distinct for a comparison of the gasification with a fossil-based route. Fossil-based ethylene production was found to be preferable for the ACP and the EP, but less preferable for the GWP and POCP. However, it needs to be considered that the fossil route has been optimized for decades and is still ahead of the gasification and other biomass routes. Conclusions The study shows that a gasification-based production of ethylene could outperform a fermentation-based one; however, further investigations are recommended, given the state of development of the investigated biomass routes. Moreover, based on the limited availability of biomass, further investigations into economical and ecological restrictions are of importance

Prospective life cycle assessment of adipic acid production from forest residue

Moving from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy requires the development of novel technologies for the production of bio-based chemicals and materials, and the Swedish forestry sector may play a major role in this. These technologies may become part of novel biorefinery concepts that combine the production of bulk and fine chemicals. This paper presents the life cycle assessment (LCA) of such a technology, in its early stages of development, which targets the biochemical production of adipic acid from Swedish forest residue. Adipic acid is a bulk chemical and its yearly production is approximately 2.3 million tonnes. It is mainly used as a precursor in the production of nylon, and its current fossil-based production process emits significant quantities of nitrous oxide (N2O), a strong greenhouse gas. Preliminary calculations showed that, compared to conventional adipic acid production, eliminating the emission of N2O would lead to a reduction of GWP by 75%, and that switching from a fossil-based to a biomass-based feedstock would reduce GWP by an additional 10%. This LCA focused on the technology for producing adipic acid, but also considered its connection with other technologies in the biorefinery concept. An anaerobic digestion process is used to produce biogas from the waste water. As well, lignin is produced as a by-product. The heat from biogas and lignin incineration can be used to meet the energy demands of the adipic acid production. Lab-scale experimental results were used in the assessment, and scaling up these results to an industrially relevant process capacity was done by using process modelling and simulation. Furthermore, an assessment was done of the impact of extracting forest residue from the Swedish forest. The results of this LCA show that the environmental impacts of producing adipic acid from forest residues, except for acidification potential, are significantly lower than those of its conventional production. The environmental hotspot of the technology is the downstream processing stage due to its need of additional energy which was assumed to be fossil. This additional energy is needed because of the low concentration of adipic acid in the fermentation broth. Further improvements can thus be made by minimizing fossil energy use in this stage, or by aiming for a higher end concentration of adipic acid in the fermentation broth. Lastly, the extraction of forest residue was found to only marginally contribute to global warming

Improving call quality by generation of replacement packets

Voice communications often suffer from lost packets due to, e.g., radio channel fades, network errors, etc., resulting in audio glitches and poor call quality. This disclosure describes machine learning techniques to replace lost packets. By masking audio glitches and providing continuity, the replacement packets improve call quality as perceived by call participants

Modified Sagnac interferometer for contact-free length measurement of a direct absorption cell

International audienceAccurate path length measurements in absorption cells are recurrent requirements in quantitative molecular absorption spectroscopy. A new twin path laser interferometer for length measurements in a simple direct path absorption geometry is presented, along with a full uncertainty budget. The path in an absorption cell is determined by measuring the optical path length change due to the diminution of the refractive index when the cell originally filled with nitrogen gas is evacuated. The performance of the instrument based on a stabilized HeNe laser is verified by comparison with the results of direct mechanical length measurements of a roughly 45 mm long, specially designed absorption cell

A mixed methods evaluation of a digital intervention to improve sedentary behaviour across multiple workplace settings

Background: Prolonged sedentary behaviour (SB) is associated with risk of chronic diseases. Digital interventions in SB require mixed method evaluations to understand potential for impact in real-world settings. In this study, the RE-AIM QuEST evaluation framework will be used to understand the potential of a digital health promotion application which targets reducing and breaking up SB across multiple workplace settings. Methods: Four companies and 80 employees were recruited to use a digital application. Questionnaires were used to measure SB, and additional health and work-related outcomes at baseline, one month, three month and six month follow-up. Qualitative data was collected through focus groups with employees and interviews with stakeholders. Questionnaire data was analysed using Wilcoxon Sign Rank tests and qualitative data was thematically analysed. Results: The digital application significantly increased standing time at one month for the total group and transitions per hour in one of the companies. Facilitators and barriers were identified across RE-AIM. Conclusions: Addressing the barriers which have been identified, while maintaining the positive attributes will be critical to producing an effective digital application which also has the potential for impact in the real world

A mixed methods evaluation of a digital intervention to improve sedentary behaviour across multiple workplace settings

Background: Prolonged sedentary behaviour (SB) is associated with risk of chronic diseases. Digital interventions in SB require mixed method evaluations to understand potential for impact in real-world settings. In this study, the RE-AIM QuEST evaluation framework will be used to understand the potential of a digital health promotion application which targets reducing and breaking up SB across multiple workplace settings. Methods: Four companies and 80 employees were recruited to use a digital application. Questionnaires were used to measure SB, and additional health and work-related outcomes at baseline, one month, three month and six month follow-up. Qualitative data was collected through focus groups with employees and interviews with stakeholders. Questionnaire data was analysed using Wilcoxon Sign Rank tests and qualitative data was thematically analysed. Results: The digital application significantly increased standing time at one month for the total group and transitions per hour in one of the companies. Facilitators and barriers were identified across RE-AIM. Conclusions: Addressing the barriers which have been identified, while maintaining the positive attributes will be critical to producing an effective digital application which also has the potential for impact in the real world

Pilot testing of a nudge-based digital intervention (Welbot) to improve sedentary behaviour and wellbeing in the workplace

Welbot is a nudge-based digital intervention that aims to reduce sedentary behaviour and improve physical and mental wellbeing at work. The purpose of this study was to pilot test the Welbot intervention. Forty-one (6M/35F) University staff (M age = 43-years) participated in this study, which was a single arm repeated measures trial conducted over three weeks of intervention. The primary outcome was sedentary behaviour (measured subjectively and objectively) and secondary outcomes included: mental wellbeing, procrastination, depression, anxiety and stress, and work engagement. A subset of participants (n = 6) wore an ActivPAL to objectively measure activity data, while another subset of participants (n = 6) completed a qualitative semi-structured interview to ascertain experiences of using Welbot. Following the intervention, a Friedman non-parametric test revealed that participants self-reported significantly less time sitting and more time standing and objectively recorded more steps at the week-1 follow-up. A series of paired t-tests exhibited that changes in all secondary outcomes were in the expected direction. However, only improvements in depression, anxiety, and stress were significant. After using Welbot, thematic analysis demonstrated that participants perceived they had a positive behaviour change, increased awareness of unhealthy behaviours at work, and provided suggestions for intervention improvement. Overall, findings provided indications of the potential positive impact Welbot may have on employees’ wellbeing, however, limitations are noted. Recommendations for intervention improvement including personalisation (e.g., individual preferences for nudges and the option to sync Welbot with online calendars) and further research into how users engage with Welbot are provided

Experimental long-distance haplotyping of OCA2-HERC2 variants

The regulatory HERC2 SNP, rs12913832, is strongly associated with blue and brown eye colour. However, eye colour in heterozygous rs12913832 individuals is observed to vary greatly. Missense mutations in OCA2, such as rs1800407 and rs74653330, are associated with lighter eye colour in some but not all heterozygous rs12913832 individuals. Determining the physical linkage of these variants might help to further explain eye colour variation. So far, experimental haplotyping of these variants has been challenging because the genomic distance between them (~ 135 kb) exceeds the fragment lengths produced by commonly used DNA isolation kits. The aim for this study was to explore novel methods for long distance haplotyping to assess associations between OCA2-HERC2 haplotypes and eye colour. DNA was isolated from frozen blood samples collected from Norwegians that are known to be heterozygous for both HERC2 rs12913832 and OCA2 SNPs, either rs1800407 (n = 23) or rs74653330 (n = 17), using the newly commercially available Monarch® HMW (heigh molecular weight) DNA Extraction Kit (New England BioLabsinc). We successfully isolated DNA fragments up to 210 kb, which were long enough to haplotype OCA2-HERC2 loci by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Three haplotypes were observed in the study population: rs12913832:A-rs1800407:T in 22/23 individuals, rs12913832:A-rs1800407:C in 1/23 individuals and rs12913832:A-rs74653330:T in 16/16 individuals. As expected, all individuals with the rs12913832:A-rs74653330:T haplotype had intermediate to blue eye colour. However, the rs12913832:Ars1800407:T haplotype was observed in both blue and brown-eyed individuals, suggesting more research is needed