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Nordic walking and well-being of senior walkers
No full textMost adults living in western societies miss the recommended level of 30 minutes' daily physical activity (British Heart Foundation, 2001; DH, 2011) which, when added to the fact that we are living longer, suggests that the associated risks present increasing concerns as we age. Walking is the most common daily physical activity. In addition, walking has known social benefits implicated in psychological wellbeing and quality of life; especially for older adults who prefer this type of lower intensity exercise. Nordic Walking is a form of exercise, based on marching technique. It makes an active use of specially designed poles. The growing interest in Nordic Walking endorsed researchers' attention to activity and its effects on human body. However, none research findings have explained its benefits on mental well-being. The key focus of this research study is to investigate potential influence of Nordic Walking on mental well-being in later life. Using the socio-ecological approach this research explores well-being of elderly people in the North West England and provides insight into determinants contributing to regular participation in Nordic walking. This study draws on data from close-ended questionnaires to chosen Nordic walking groups in the North West England. Questionnaires measure mental well-being with use of Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) and the socio-ecological factors influence regular participation in the activity. The outcome of this study will produce some new evidence on the potential influences of regular participation in Nordic walking on mental well-being of elderly people. The research will also independent and original contribution to knowledge based on its socio-ecological approach, as it will be the first to investigate the socio-ecological influences on regular participation in the Nordic walking that may affect the growing popularity of Nordic walking in the North West England
Remarkable lives: Julie Leibrich in conversation with Jerome Carson
No full textPurpose - This paper aims to offer a profile of Julie Leibrich.Design methodology approach - After a short introduction by Jerome, Julie provides a short biography and is then interviewed by Jerome. Areas covered in the interview include community care, discovery and sanctuary.Findings - Julie is a psychologist, a poet and someone who has "lived experience" of mental health problems. Julie tells us about the historical problems of implementing community care, here and in New Zealand; she suggests that discrimination towards the mentally ill is more important than stigma; she talks about the importance of "A Gift of Stories" and why she has written her latest book on sanctuary.Originality value - The paper illustrates that Julie provides a unique perspective on recovery, though she prefers the term discovery. Her experiences as a research psychologist and as someone with lived experience have informed her writing
Influence of Substrate Temperature on Structural Properties and Deposition Rate of AlN Thin Film Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering
No full textAluminum nitride (AlN) thin films with c-axis preferred orientation have been prepared by reactive direct-current (DC) magnetron sputtering. The degree of preferred crystal orientation, the cross-sectional structure, and the surface morphology of AlN thin films grown on Si (100) substrates at various substrate temperatures from 60A degrees C to 520A degrees C have been investigated by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Results show that the substrate temperature has a significant effect on the structural properties, such as the degree of c-axis preferred orientation, the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve, the surface morphology, and the cross-sectional structure as well as the deposition rate of the AlN thin films. The optimal substrate temperature is 430A degrees C, with corresponding root-mean-square surface roughness (R (rms)) of 1.97 nm, FWHM of AlN (002) diffraction of 2.259A degrees, and deposition rate of 20.86 nm/min. The mechanisms behind these phenomena are discussed. Finally, film bulk acoustic resonators based on AlN films were fabricated; the corresponding typical electromechanical coupling coefficient (k (t) (2) ) is 5.1% with series and parallel frequencies of 2.37 GHz and 2.42 GHz, respectively
Thickness dependent electronic structure of ultra-thin tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films
No full textMicrostructural properties of ultrathin (1-10 nm) tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films are investigated by Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The CK-edge NEXAFS spectra of 1 nm ta-C films provided evidence of surface defects (C - H bonds) which rapidly diminish with increasing film thickness. A critical thickness for stabilization of largely sp 3 matrix structure distorted by sp 2 sites is observed via the change of ?*C*C peak behavior. Meanwhile, an increase in the film thickness promotes an enhancement in sp 3 content, the film roughness remains nearly constant as probed by spectroscopic techniques and AFM, respectively. The effect of thickness on local bonding states of ultrathin ta-C films proves to be the limiting factor for their potential use in magnetic and optical storage devices
Development of a novel experimental technique for quantitative study of melt dripping of themoplastic polymers
No full textThis paper presents a methodology developed to quantitatively record the real-time melt and burn dripping behaviour of thermoplastic polymers. Six different commodity polymers were tested for their melt dripping behaviour exposed to convective heat in a purpose built electric furnace. The number, diameters and shapes of individual drops were measured and found to be influenced by the mechanism of decomposition of each polymer type. By conducting thermogravimetric analysis and measuring the viscosity of both the polymers and their molten drops, it could be established that the melt dripping is a combined effect of physical melting and polymer decomposition, which results in decrease in the viscosity of the molten drops. The effect of fire and heat on melt dripping was also observed in a UL-94 equivalent test where it was observed that the behaviour is quite different from pure melt dripping. Relationships between the glass transition temperature and melt viscosity with melt/flame dripping and burning intensity of these polymers have been observed. These will be studied in detail in a subsequent publication. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
High molecular weight soft segment based polyethylene shape memory polymers
No full textShape memory polyurethanes (SMPUs) are typically synthesized using polyols of low molecular weight, Mw, and high hydroxyl number as it is believed that high density of cross-links in these polyols are essential for high performance shape memory polymers. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG- 6000) with Mw similar to 6000 g/mol and low hydroxyl number (OH similar to 18 mg K OH/g) as the soft segment and diisocyanate as the hard segment were used to synthesize SMPUs. It revealed that although the PEG-6000 based SMPUs have lower maximum elongation at break (425%) and recovery stress than those of PCL-2000 polyol based SMPUs, they have much better shape recovery ratio (98%) and shape fixity (95%). Furthermore, these SMPUs showed a much shorter actuation time of < 10sec for up to 85% shape recovery, much shorter than those low Mw SMPUs, clearly demonstrated their great potential for applications
Ab initio study of energy-band modulation in graphene-based two-dimensional layered superlattices
No full textPeriodically stacked graphene and its insulating isomorph provide a fascinating structural element in implementing highly functional superlattices at the atomic scale, which offers possibilities in designing nanoelectronic and photonic devices. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we demonstrate that various types of superlattices can be obtained by stacking two-dimensional (2D) materials alternately, namely, graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), hydrogenated graphene, and fluorinated graphene. The energy band in layer-stacked superlattices is found to be more sensitive to the barrier width than that in conventional III-V semiconductor superlattices. When adding more than one atomic layer to the barrier in each period, the coupling of electronic wavefunctions in neighboring potential wells can be significantly reduced, which leads to the degeneration of continuous subbands into quantized energy levels. When varying the well width, the energy levels in the potential wells along the L-M direction behave distinctly from those along the K-H direction. Our results indicate that the quantized energy states in atomic-layered superlattices can be effectively tuned by modifying each individual barrier/well layer; enabling atomic-scale material engineering
Improved sequential and batch learning in neural networks using the tangent plane algorithm
No full textThe principal aim of this research is to investigate and develop improved sequential and batch learning algorithms based upon the tangent plane algorithm for artificial neural networks. A secondary aim is to apply the newly developed algorithms to multi-category cancer classification problems in the bio-informatics area, which involves the study of dna or protein sequences, macro-molecular structures, and gene expressions