Mechanisms of change in psychotherapy for people diagnosed with schizophrenia : the role of narrative reflexivity in promoting recovery

Narrative reflexivity was investigated as a potential mechanism of therapeutic change during a 12 - 18 month trial of Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy for people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Participants were nine adult clients (8 male, 1 female) aged between 25-65 years (M = 44, SD = 12.76) with a diagnosis of schizophrenia consistent with DSM-IV criteria and seven female provisional psychologists aged between 25-29 years (M = 26.8 years, SD = 1.47 years). Recovery and narrative reflexivity were measured at three time points using the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS) and the Narrative Processes Coding System (NPCS). Results were reported descriptively due to limited sample size (n = 9). The majority of clients (n = 7) reported an increase in recovery over the course of treatment. For six clients, an overall increase in recovery was associated with an increase in narrative reflexivity. This study provides preliminary support for narrative reflexivity as a potential mechanism of therapeutic change in the psychotherapy of people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

A Tradable Permit System in an Intertemporal Economy

It is known that in an intertemporal competitive economy, a tradable permit system may not achieve efficiency without setting appropriate permit interest rates (i.e., rewards for holding permits). To find the rates, however, we need to know in advance the path of efficient permit prices, which is difficult to obtain. This study intends to solve this problem in two ways. First, we analyze a special case in which the permit interest rates are given by a simple rule. For example, if the marginal abatement cost of pollution emission is constant, then the appropriate rate is to equal the monetary interest rate. As is the case for global warming, if the damage is caused in the future far beyond the planning period of the environmental program, the appropriate rate coincides with the marginal self-recovery of environmental stock under certain conditions. As a second approach, we propose a tradable permit system with a permit bank, as a mechanism by which the permit interest rates are generated endogenously without governmental intervention other than the issuance of permits. However, we also show that this approach raises the problem of indeterminacy of the equilibrium. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Design and test of a custom instrumented leg press for injury and recovery intervention

There is an increasing desire and emphasis to integrate assessment tools into the everyday training environment of athletes. These tools are intended to fine-tune athlete development, enhance performance and aid in the development of individualised programmes for athletes. The areas of workload monitoring, skill development and injury assessment are expected to benefit from such tools. This paper describes the development of an instrumented leg press and its application to testing leg dominance with a cohort of athletes. The developed instrumented leg press is a 45° reclining sled-type leg press with dual force plates, a displacement sensor and a CCD camera. A custom software client was developed using C#. The software client enabled near-real-time display of forces beneath each limb together with displacement of the quad track roller system and video feedback of the exercise. In recording mode, the collection of athlete particulars is prompted at the start of the exercise, and pre-set thresholds are used subsequently to separate the data into epochs from each exercise repetition. The leg press was evaluated in a controlled study of a cohort of physically active adults who performed a series of leg press exercises. The leg press exercises were undertaken at a set cadence with nominal applied loads of 50%, 100% and 150% of body weight without feedback. A significant asymmetry in loading of the limbs was observed in healthy adults during both the eccentric and concentric phases of the leg press exercise (P < .05). Mean forces were significantly higher beneath the non-dominant limb (4–10%) and during the concentric phase of the muscle action (5%). Given that symmetrical loading is often emphasized during strength training and remains a common goal in sports rehabilitation, these findings highlight the clinical potential for this instrumented leg press system to monitor symmetry in lower-limb loading during progressive strength training and sports rehabilitation protocols.

Inter-organisational characteristics of resilience in a post-disaster recovery context

During post-disaster recovery, an infrastructure system may be subject to a number of disturbances originating from several other interdependent infrastructures. These disturbances might result in a series of system failures, thereby having immediate impact on societal living conditions. The inability to detect signs of disturbance from one infrastructure during recovery might cause significant disruptive effects on other infrastructure via the interconnection that exist among them. In such circumstances, it clearly appears that critical infrastructures' interdependencies affect the recovery of each individual infrastructure, as well as those of other interdependent infrastructure systems. This is why infrastructure resilience needs to be improved in function of those interdependencies, particularly during the recovery period to avoid the occurrence of a ‘disaster of disaster’ scenario. Viewed from this perspective, resilience is achieved through an inter-organisational collaboration between the different organisations involved in the reconstruction of interdependent infrastructure systems. This paper suggests that to some extent, the existing degree of interconnectedness between these infrastructure systems can also be found in their resilience ability during post-disaster recovery. For instance, without a resilient energy system, a large-scale power outage could affect simultaneously all the interdependent infrastructures after a disaster. Thus, breaking down the silos of resilience would be the first step in minimizing the risks of disaster failures from one infrastructure to cascade or escalate to other interconnected systems.

Low temperature solar cooling system with absorption chiller and desiccant wheel

Nowadays Solar Cooling systems are becoming popular to reduce the carbon footprint of air conditioning. The use of an absorption chiller connected to solar thermal panels is increasing, but little study has been carried out to assess the advantage of join together an absorption chiller and a desiccant wheel to remove the sensible heat and the latent heat in different ways than the current design adopted in the industry. In this work I assess the possibility of implement a desiccant wheel in a conventional solar cooling system and the possibility of recovering the heat rejected by the absorption chiller which is then used for the regeneration of the desiccant wheel. The implementation of a desiccant wheel and the recovery of the heat rejected could provide a significant energy saving when compared to traditional solar cooling system. The results assist in the practical development of a solar cooling system which simultaneously uses absorption and adsorption technology.

What does built environment research have to do with risk mitigation, resilience and disaster recovery?

One could argue that the nature of our housing stock is a key determining factor in the ability of our citizens to manage risk, be resilient to various natural and human events, and to recover from these events. Recent research has been examining current challenges posed by our housing stock and exploring potential solutions from a range of perspectives. The aim of this paper is to discuss key findings from recent built environment research in Australia to initiate cross-sectorial discussion and debate about the implications and opportunities for other sectors such as emergency management and insurance. Three recent building research projects are discussed: - Heat waves The impact of heat waves on houses and occupants, and proposed changes to building regulations, air conditioning standards and building design, to reduce risks associated with heat waves. - Net zero energy homes Exploration of the potential benefits of a strategic optimization of building quality, energy and water efficiency, and household or community level distributed energy and water services for disaster management and recovery. - Building information Mapping of the flow of information about residential buildings, and the potential for national or regional building files (in a similar manner to personal medical records) to assist all parties to make more informed decisions that impact on housing sustainability and community resilience. The paper discusses how sustainability, environmental performance and resilience are inter-related, and can be supported by building files. It concludes with a call for increased cross-sectorial collaboration to explore opportunities for a whole-of-systems approach to our built environment that addresses a range of economic and environmental challenges as well as disaster and emergency management.