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Social and Clinical Correlates of Stimulant Use Disorder (Mephedrone) in a Tertiary Mental Health Setting in Mumbai: A Pilot Exploratory Study
Get PDFIntroduction: Increasing mephedrone use is a major public health concern in India. There are limited data on sociodemographic determinants and psychiatric comorbidity associated with stimulant use disorder (mephedrone) (SUD‑M) from India. Aim: The primary objective of this
study was to report the clinical and social correlates of SUD‑M among those presenting to specialist mental health services in Mumbai, India.
Methods: Patients with SUD-M were recruited from a clinical setting. Standardized culturally validated assessments were carried out to obtain information about sociodemographics and mental health: comorbid psychopathology Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory‑2 for personality traits and a clinical assessment for diagnoses of mental disorders. Results: Seventy patients (aged between 21 and 30 years, of whom 58 men) with SUD-M consented. SUD‑M was more common among young men from the low socioeconomic position. The most common reasons for choosing mephedrone over other substances were better high from the drug and peer pressure. There were no associations between sociodemographic factors with the severity of SUD-M. Around 40% of the patients with SUD-M had psychiatric comorbidity. Psychotic disorders and anxiety symptoms
were most common. Family history of substance use, comorbid substance use, and comorbid psychiatric disorders were directly related to the severity of SUD-M. Conclusions: This was a cross‑sectional study with a relatively smaller sample size of self‑nominating participantslimiting the generalizability of findings to a wider population. Therapeutic implication of this finding is that prompt attention and treatment of the comorbid psychiatric disorder is essential while treating patients with SUD-M. Further population-based studies are recommended for a better understanding of the burden of SUD-M
What does it take for flexible learning to survive? A UK case study
Get PDFAlthough there is evidence that Work Based Learning practices are expanding in universities worldwide, fully flexible programmes using a non-subject specific 'Shell programme' are often closed down. The paper is an attempt to identify non-pedagogic reasons why one such programme has been able to flourish over a twenty year time period. The implication is that those advocating such programmes should consider the broader organisational objectives of the host institution in order to achieve sustainability. this means ensuring programmes are financially sound, adapting to changing circumstances, cohesive team work and adherence to the maintenance of rigorous academic standards.Purpose: To identify potential reasons why an innovative Work based learning shell framework has succeeded in an adverse environment
Design/methodology/approach: Case study
Findings: Demand-led, flexible Work based learning programmes have to overcome a number of internal cultural and institutional barriers in order to succeed. Important requirements are likely to include effective leadership, financial viability, adherence to Quality Assurance, adaptability, entrepreneurialism and a cohesive community of practice incorporating these traits.
Research limitations/implications: The conclusions are drawn from shared experience and are suggestive only as they are not readily susceptible to empirical verification. The authors accept that for some the conclusions appear speculative but they suggest that in order for innovative programmes to survive more is required than sound pedagogy.
Practical implications: Although lessons may not be directly transferable, the paper draws attention to the importance of managerial, leadership and organisational factors necessary for innovative Work based learning programmes to survive and develop.
Social implications:
Originality/value: There is some literature on why some innovative higher education programmes and institutions have failed: there is little on why some programmes are successful
Identifying barriers to the adoption of Certificated and Experiential Accreditation/Recognition of Prior Learning: A global perspective
Get PDFThe presentation reviews research into practice in the UK and beyond to identify barriers to adoption and examples where there has been a systemic increase. The various terms used to describe practice are outlined and its application in the UK and beyond briefly reviewed. The presentation will refer to national, institutional and pedagogical constraints to the wider adoption of practice. Two national examples are cited where practice appears most widespread- the USA and France. Possible explanations are cited and examples of institutional practice in each country described. Finally lessons from a global perspective are used to highlight opportunities and constraints in the UK
Beyond Facsimile: The haptic photobook as a distributed archive
Get PDFThis is a case study describing the development of a dossier format photobook as a distributed archive, Long Grove Asylum Medical Journal by Tim Daly. The work presents a twenty-five year long project recording
the interior spaces, ephemera and artifacts of an abandoned large scale hospital facility, alongside material
collected separately by a county archivist. The work makes explicit the link between past and present by re-materialising archive matter and original photography to create new, tactile ‘things’ that challenge our notions of the past and the present; public and private and the original and the copy. The books forefronts the materiality of collected photographs, documents and ephemera through touch and disruptive sequencing. By handling the loose-leaf contents of the books, viewers are presented with an enhanced, haptic reading experience. The recirculation of material artefacts within the dossier provides an additional kind of archive experience recalling souvenirs, the museum and private collecting. As Scott (2014: 130) suggests ‘The interaction between the book as a material object and its readers brings the book to life, just as the materiality of the book interacts with its narrative.’ Designed to be handled and navigated in a manner that wouldn’t be possible with fragile originals, the choice of papers, unconventional printing processes and hand assembly techniques creates an enhanced experience for the reader. Disrupting the reader’s expectations of a facsimile, the book encourages touch and explores a type of tacit knowledge that is unavailable from viewing alone
A review of tropical dry forest ecosystem service research in the Caribbean – gaps and policy-implications
Get PDFTropical dry forests (TDFs) are globally threatened, yet remain poorly studied. In the Caribbean, the most biodiverse of island biodiversity hotspots, TDFs have structural properties distinct from the Neotropical mainland and are important to local communities for ecosystem services. We undertook a systematic review (n = 186) of ecosystem services literature of Caribbean TDF. Only 19.89% qualified for inclusion, with the majority (56.76%) from primary literature. Research on supporting services (31.14%), particularly primary production was predominant. Most studies (70.97%) took a biophysical perspective and quantification focused on the supply of ecosystem services (43.00%), while measurement of wellbeing benefits were uncommon. Geographic coverage of all studies was patchy originating from only nine of 28 independent countries and dependent territories. Our findings highlight a lack of research, while accentuating the value of grey literature in quantifying cultural services. Of concern, are gaps in air- and water-related services and the importance of TDF to human health. To move from biophysical assessments to a broader portfolio of ecosystem services studies, research on Caribbean TDF should be collaborative and strategic. Such gaps and research biases suggest opportunities for evidence-led policy-making. These lessons are relevant for mainstreaming ecosystem services into decision-making in Small Island Developing States
Praise by animals in the Hebrew Bible
Get PDFAmong ancient Near Eastern societies was a widespread and particularly intriguing belief that animals were able to worship and praise deities. This study shows the Hebrew Bible evidences the idea that animals were capable of praising God too and proceeds to observe and document the presence of numerous examples of this in specific biblical texts. Through understanding the place of animals in the Hebrew Bible, and their perceived activity in the ancient Near East, this study suggests animals are distinct agents of praise in their own right in the biblical texts
The Hidden Narratives of Medieval Art
No full textWhose Middle Ages? is an interdisciplinary collection of short, accessible essays intended for the non-specialist reader and ideal for teaching at an undergraduate level. Each of twenty-two essays takes up an area where humans have dug for meaning into the medieval past and brought something distorted back into the present: in our popular entertainment; in our news, our politics, and our propaganda; and in subtler ways that inform how we think about our histories, our countries, and ourselves. Each author teases out the stakes of a history that has refused to remain past and uses the tools of the academy to read and reread familiar stories, objects, symbols, and myths.
By communicating consensus positions within the academy, Whose Middle Ages? gives non-specialists access to the richness of our historical knowledge while debunking damaging misconceptions about the medieval past. Myths about the medieval period are especially beloved among the globally resurgent far right, from the crusading emblems on the shields borne by alt-right demonstrators to the harassment of actors of color by internet trolls deeply invested in the on-screen image of a lily-white medieval Europe. This collection attacks these myths directly by addressing the conditions, actions, and materials of the Middle Ages on their own terms.
Each essay uses its author's academic research as a point of entry and takes care to explain how the author knows what she or he knows and what kinds of tools, bodies of evidence, and theoretical lenses allow scholars to write with certainty about elements of the past to a level of detail that might seem unattainable. By demystifying the methods of scholarly inquiry, Whose Middle Ages? serves as an antidote not only to the far right's errors of fact and interpretation, but to its assault on scholarship and expertise as valid means for the acquisition of knowledge.To modern readers and viewers, objects like the Arnolfini portrait or the Angers Apocalypse tapestry appear to be the product and preserve of an elite class of consumers in the Middle Ages. This chapter argues that our analyses of these objects should not focus exclusively, or even predominantly on elites. In addition, the essay gives a voice and a place to the workers behind art of the Middle Ages examining the economic uncertainty and instability of employment that underpinned their production. It considers entrepreneurs who saw medieval courts and elite customers as commercial opportunities to be exploited. It ends by examining elite users of these products to complicate the narratives of their consumption. Far from simply reflecting the power and status of their owners, objects like the Arnolfini portrait or the Apocalypse tapestry also conveyed the uncertainty of everyday life and the fragility of princely rule during the Middle Ages
Improving the practicality of using non-aversive handling methods to reduce background stress and anxiety in laboratory mice
Get PDFHandling can stimulate stress and anxiety in laboratory animals that negatively impacts welfare
and introduces a confounding factor in many areas of research. Picking up mice by the tail is a major
source of handling stress that results in strong aversion to the handler, while mice familiarised with
being picked up in a tunnel or cupped on the open hand show low stress and anxiety, and actively seek
interaction with their handlers. Here we investigate the duration and frequency of handling required for
effective familiarisation with these non-aversive handling methods, and test whether this is sufficient
to prevent aversion and anxiety when animals then experience immobilisation and a mild procedure
(subcutaneous injection). Very brief handling (2 s) was sufficient to familiarise mice with tunnel
handling, even when experienced only during cage cleaning. Brief but more frequent handling was
needed for familiarisation with cup handling, while pick up by tail induced strong aversion even when
handling was brief and infrequent. Experience of repeated immobilisation and subcutaneous injection
did not reverse the positive effects of tunnel handling. Our findings demonstrate that replacing tail with
tunnel handling during routine cage cleaning and procedures provides a major refinement with little if
any cost for familiarisation
Delamination Detection via Reconstructed Frequency Response Function of Composite Structures
No full textOnline damage detection technologies could reduce the weight of structures by allowing the use of less conservative margins of safety. They are also associated with high economical benefits by implementing a condition-based maintenance system. This paper presented a damage detection and location technique based on the dynamic response of glass fibre composite laminate structures (frequency response function). Glass fibre composite laminate plates of 200×200×2.64 mm, which had a predefined delamination, were excited using stationary random vibration waves of 500 Hz band-limited noise input at ≈1.5 g. The response of the structure was captured via Micro-ElectroMechanical System (MEMS) accelerometer to detect damage. The frequency response function requires data from damaged structures only, assuming that healthy structures are homogeneous and smooth. The frequency response of the composite structure was then reconstructed and fitted using the least-squares rational function method. Delamination as small as 20 mm was detected using global changes in the natural frequencies of the structure, the delamination was also located with greater degree of accuracy due to local changes of frequency response of the structure. It was concluded that environmental vibration waves (stationary random vibration waves) can be utilised to monitor damage and health of composite structures effectively
The diagnostic analysis of the fault coupling effects in planet bearing
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the fault coupling effects in the planet bearing as well as the corresponding vibration signatures in the resultant vibration spectrum. In a planetary gear application, the planet bearing can not only spin around the planet gear axis, but also revolve about the sun gear axis and this rotating mechanism poses a big challenge for the diagnostic analysis of the planet bearing vibration spectrum. In addition, the frequency component interaction and overlap phenomenon in the vibration spectrum caused by the fault coupling effect can even worsen the diagnosis results. To further the understanding of the fault coupling effects in a planet bearing, a 34° of freedom planetary gear model with detailed planet bearing model was established to obtain the dynamic response in the presence of various bearing fault scenarios. The method of modelling the bearing distributed faults and localized faults has been introduced in this paper, which can be further incorporated into the planetary gear model to obtain the faulted vibration signal. The “benchmark” method has been adopted to enhance the planet bearing fault impulses in the vibration signals and in total, the amplitude demodulation results from 20 planet bearing fault scenarios have been investigated and analyzed. The coherence estimation over the vibration frequency domain has been proposed as a tool to quantify the fault impact contribution from different fault modes and the results suggested that the outer raceway fault contributes most to the resultant planet bearing vibration spectrum in all the investigated fault scenarios
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