A Systematic review of a statistical vacuum circuit breaker model for condition monitoring

Vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) overvoltage failure and its catastrophic failures during shunt reactor switching have been analyzed through computer simulations for multiple reignitions with a statistical VCB model found in the literature. However, a systematic review (SR) that is related to the multiple reignitions with a statistical VCB model does not yet exist. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze and explore the multiple reignitions with a statistical VCB model. It examines the salient points, research gaps and limitations of the multiple reignition phenomenon to assist with future investigations following the SR search. Based on the SR results, seven issues and two approaches to enhance the current statistical VCB model are identified. These results will be useful as an input to improve the computer modeling accuracy as well as the development of a reignition switch model with point-on-wave controlled switching for condition monitoring

Narrative review of changing medical and feminist perspectives on menopause : from femininity and ageing to risk and choice

Meanings and descriptions of menopause have shifted focus over the past century and a half; more particularly the past sixty years has seen a shift from descriptions of hormone decline and its relation to ageing, femininity and symptoms of menopause since the 1960's to the possibility for preventive medicine afforded by menopause. Medicine is not a static field in its construction of menopause. It has changed, not least by its engagement (positively or negatively) with critique from both within (epidemiological) and without (feminist and social sciences). In this review we identify three recent changes: (1) Increasing concern with women's decision-making. (2) The emergence from within medicine of the rejection of the use of language which defines menopause as a condition of deficiency. (3) New insights from postmodern and poststructural analyses of menopause that examine the epistemological foundations of medical and feminist concepts of menopause and contest fixed descriptions of the experience of menopause. Key aspects of a ‘medical menopause’ nevertheless remain constant: menopause is a loss of hormones that results in predictable effects and risks and may be ameliorated by hormone replacement therapy. A question therefore emerges about how and to what effect medical practitioners have engaged with critiques of the medical menopause?

Book Review : "The Psychology of Eating : From Healthy to Disordered Behaviour"

WHEN JANE Ogden embarked on writing a book about the psychology of eating I wonder whether she realized the enormity of the task given the breadth of research literature in this field. Through a series of 12 closely related chapters on eating, health, food choice, dieting, obesity, body image, eating disorders and others, an extensive range of areas of the psychology of eating is covered. As well as these areas, included within each chapter is a discussion of the significance of historical, cultural, social and familial factors, theoretical approaches and empirical data in the understanding of the multifaceted problems related to eating. At the end of each chapter there is a box entitled ‘Towards an integrated model of diet’ that links the content with that of the following chapters...

Book review : Reply to Holmes’s review of the "Social Construction of Anorexia Nervosa"

It is always difficult to know what reviewers such as Colin Holmes (2001) want from a book. While he knows something of the claims that Gull was thought by some to be Jack the Ripper – an historical digression deliberately omitted from the book – Holmes has, it would seem, little understanding of the practice implications of Foucauldian analysis...

Book review: "Ideologies of Breast Cancer : Feminist Perspectives" Edited by Laura K. Potts. New York: St. Martin’s Press

Laura K. Potts’s edited collection of research on the meanings of breast cancer includes authors from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada whose perspectives draw on literary criticism, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies among others. The research employs various methodological approaches—for example, media analysis (Saywell et al.), autobiographical narratives (Potts), and analysis of social activism (Fishman)—to elucidate the multiple dimensions and diversity of breast cancer experiences. The first of two parts, “Meanings of Breast Cancer,” presents the problematical relationship between biomedicine and women’s constructions of breast cancer knowledge, the sexualized and maternalized breast in the print media about breast cancer, environmental risks to women’s health in the Bay Area of San Francisco, and women’s narratives of breast cancer and situating the self. In part 2, “Discourses of Risk and Breast Cancer,” examination of the discourses of prevention and risks to health are taken up in relation to breast cancer screening, the problem of prophylactic mastectomy for hereditary breast cancer, and environmental activism...

Book review: "Qualitative Health Psychology. Theories and Methods" Michael Murray and Kerry Chamberlain (Eds.)

Qualitative Health Psychology aims to contribute to the debate about the nature of psychology and of science through ‘an examination of the role of qualitative research within health psychology’ (p. 3). The editors, in bringing together contributors from the UK, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia, have compiled a text that reflects different uses of qualitative health research in diverse social and cultural contexts. Structured into three parts, the book encompasses key theoretical and methodological issues in qualitative research in its attempt to encourage broad epistemological debate within health psychology.

Book review: Leaky Bodies and Boundaries. Feminism, Post-modernism and (Bio)ethics. Shildrick, M. (1997)

This thoughtful book is a much needed contribution to feminist ethics that is brimming with detailed and insightful analyses of the positioning of women in contemporary health care and particularly in relation to new reproductive technologies (NRTs). The clearly written and structured chapters provide accessible points to modern ethics, post-modernism, and feminist ethics. Margrit Shildrick takes on these areas with authority and vigour, building an argument for women to enter the relations of reproduction on terms more expressive of feminine desire...

People with ID as active participants in nursing research : a literature review.

Aim: The movement from a medical model of disability to a more social model implies an imperative to include the views of people with ID in research regarding their care. Contemporary quality processes in improving care require consumer involvement at many levels and in doing so have shown better outcomes. A New Zealand research study is being undertaken utilizing focus groups with people with ID to understand their experiences during a psychiatric inpatient admission. The primary focus of this presentation will concern the literature review, undertaken as part of the study, of research in which people with ID have participated. Method: The literature review was conducted using a variety of electronic databases and search terms to identify studies with people with ID as active participants. Results: Only a few studies have been undertaken with people with ID as participants. While these studies demonstrate numerous benefits in including the voice of the person with ID this still remains absent from much of the research discourse. Conclusion: It is accepted and indeed advocated that people with ID have the same rights as others in regard to choosing whether or not they wish to participate in research. High response rates in the few identified studies indicated that people with ID are eager to be consulted. It is recommended that the unique needs of people with ID be taken into account in the research evidence base for future services.

Book Review : Criminological and Legal Consequences of Climate Change. Edited by Stephen Farrell, Tawhida Ahmed and Duncan French (Oxford : Hart Publishing, 272 pp.)

The book addresses a number of pressing social and environmental issues of global concern. It takes the reader on a socio-legal journal of climate change and explores a range of challenging and complex topics including renewable energies, emissions reduction, carbon trading, deforestation, migration and corporate governance.

[Book Review] Urban Maps : Instruments of Narrative and Interpretation in the City by Richard Brook and Nick Dunn, Ashgate, Farham, United Kingdom, 2011, 250pp. ISBN 978-0-754676-5-77.

Urban maps discusses new ways and tools to read and navigate the contemporary city. Each chapter investigates a possible approach to unravel the complexity of contemporary urban forms. Each tool is first defined, introducing its philosophical background, and is then discussed with case studies, showing its relevance for the navigation of the built environment. Urbanism classics such as the work of Lynch, Jacobs, Venuti and Scott-Brown, Lefebrve and Walter Benjamin are fundamental in setting the framework of the volume. In the introduction cities and mapping are first discussed, the former are illustrated as ‘a composite of invisible networks devoid of landmarks and overrun by nodes’ (p. 3), and ‘a series of unbounded spaces where mass production and mass consumption reproduce a standardised quasi-global culture’ (p. 6).

High-strength high-performance lightweight concrete : a review (Invited)

In the last two decades, there are developments that lead to greater understanding on how and why lightweight concretes (LWC) may achieve similar or higher performance than their normal weight counterparts. The present paper reviews some of these aspects beginning with basic properties such as unit weight, compressive strength and specific strength (strength/ unit weight). Stability and workability of LWC is discussed from rheological perspective. The volumetric stability of LWC in terms of shrinkage and creep are presented with some recent published data. Transport properties of the LWC in terms of sorptivity, water permeability and resistance to chloride-ion penetration are reviewed in comparison with normal weight concrete. Fire resistance of LWC and some current measures used to improve the resistance are discussed. With continual research and development, the performance of LWC is being enhanced to provide new opportunities for practical applications.

Review of current fire design rules for cold-formed steel wall systems

Light gauge steel frame wall systems are commonly used in industrial and commercial buildings, and there is a need for simple fire design rules to predict their load capacities and fire resistance ratings. During fire events, the light gauge steel frame wall studs are subjected to non-uniform temperature distributions that cause thermal bowing, neutral axis shift and magnification effects and thus resulting in a combined axial compression and bending action on the studs. In this research, a series of full-scale fire tests was conducted first to evaluate the performance of light gauge steel frame wall systems with eight different wall configurations under standard fire conditions. Finite element models of light gauge steel frame walls were then developed, analysed under transient and steady-state conditions and validated using full-scale fire tests. Using the results from fire tests and finite element analyses, a detailed investigation was undertaken into the prediction of axial compression strength and failure times of light gauge steel frame wall studs in standard fires using the available fire design rules based on Australian, American and European standards. The results from both fire tests and finite element analyses were used to investigate the ability of these fire design rules to include the complex effects of non-uniform temperature distributions and their accuracy in predicting the axial compression strength of wall studs and the failure times. Suitable modifications were then proposed to the fire design rules. This article presents the details of this investigation on the fire design rules of light gauge steel frame walls and the results.

A systematic review of naturalistic interventions in refugee populations

Naturalistic interventions with refugee populations examine outcomes following mental health interventions in existing refugee service organisations. The current review aimed to examine outcomes of naturalistic interventions and quality of the naturalistic intervention literature in refugee populations with the view to highlight the strengths and limitations of naturalistic intervention studies. Database search was conducted using the search terms ‘refugee’, ‘asylum seeker’, ‘treatment’, ‘therapy’ and ‘intervention. No date limitations were applied, but searches were limited to articles written in English. Seven studies were identified that assessed the outcome of naturalistic interventions on adult refugees or asylum seekers in a country of resettlement using quantitative outcome measures. Results showed significant variation in the outcomes of naturalistic intervention studies, with a trend towards showing decreased symptomatology at post-intervention. However, conclusions are limited by methodological problems of the studies reviewed, particularly poor documentation of intervention methods and lack of control in the design of naturalistic intervention studies. Further examination of outcomes following naturalistic interventions is needed with studies which focus on increasing the rigour of the outcome assessment process.