bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multicausality and Equifinality
Authors: Wolfschwenger Johann , Young Kevin L.
Published: August 2021

This chapter evaluates multicausality and equifinality, which refer to a research situation whereby an outcome is explained by more than one causal factor. The term ‘equifinality’ stems from systems analysis, and refers to a situation in which ‘the same final state may be reached from different initial conditions and in different ways’. ‘Equifinality’ also appears in related disciplines such as psychology, archaeology, or environmental studies, while ‘multicausality’ is often used in literature on social science methodology. Ultimately, multicausality and equifinality are important reasons why social phenomena are particularly challenging to study. Multicausality and equifinality are often explored by research traditions and methods of social inquiry that approach causal processes through a ‘causes-of-effects’ approach, rather than an ‘effect-of-causes’ approach.
Ontology
Authors: Fabri Eric
Published: August 2021

This chapter addresses ontology, which is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being. As a branch of metaphysics, ontology is mainly concerned with the modes of existence of different entities (tangible and intangible). Every subdiscipline in the social sciences relies on an ontology that defines which elements really matter when it comes to explaining the phenomenon they set out to elucidate. A specific branch of ontology is devoted to the modes of existence of social phenomena: social ontology. Two main positions emerge: realism and constructivism. Scientific realism assumes that social phenomena have an objective existence, independent of the subject. By contrast, constructivism claims that social phenomena have no objective existence and are a construction of the human mind. Its fundamental axiom is that, even if reality exists outside the subject’s perception, the subject cannot reach it without perceiving it. This implies the mediation of imaginary structures, which are provided by social groups. It is important to note, however, that many other positions exist apart from realism and constructivism.
Positivism, Post-positivism, and Social Science
Authors: Jackson Patrick Thaddeus , Dolan Lucas
Published: August 2021

This chapter highlights positivism and post-positivism in the social sciences. ‘Post-positivism’, much like ‘positivism’, is a notoriously imprecise term that nonetheless does significantly effective work in shaping academic controversies. Post-positivist approaches are loosely organized around a common rejection of the notion that the social sciences should take the natural sciences as their epistemic model. This rejection, which is a dissent from the naturalist position that all the sciences belong together and produce the same kind of knowledge in similar ways, often also includes a rejection of what are taken to be the central components of a natural-scientific approach: a dualist separation of knowing subjects from their objects of study, and a limitation of knowledge to the tangible and measurable. To get a handle on ‘post-positivism’, the chapter discusses these three rejections (naturalism, dualism, and empiricism) in turn.
Research Question
Authors: Wieczorek Irene , Parisi Piergiuseppe
Published: August 2021

This chapter looks at research questions, which identify what the researcher wants to find out or understand. They are a crucial component of any study and are connected to all parts of the research. Depending on the type of study, the research question may either serve as the starting point of the entire research or change in response to the research design. A research question should naturally be formulated in an interrogative manner and should be a query to which the answer is not known at the outset of the research process. Research questions have a twofold purpose: they define the boundaries of a research project, thus guiding the investigation, and they are meant to spark the reader’s interest.
Sequence Analysis
Authors: Collas Thomas , Blanchard Philippe
Published: August 2021

This chapter explores sequence analysis (SA), which conceives the social world as happening in processes, in series of events experienced by social entities. SA refers to a set of tools used to summarize, represent, and compare sequences — i.e. ordered lists of items. Job careers (succession of job positions) are typical examples of sequences. Various other topics have been studied through SA, such as steps in traditional English dances, country-level adoption of welfare policies over one century, or individual and family time-diaries. Andrew Abbott played a pioneering role in the diffusion of SA. With colleagues, Abbott introduced optimal matching analysis (OMA) in the social sciences, a tool to compare sequences borrowed from computer science and previously adapted to DNA sequences. Abbott’s work on SA was part of a wider methodological thinking on social processes. The chapter then looks at the most common type of sequences in social science: categorical time series — i.e. successions of states with a duration defined on a more or less refined chronological scale.
Time Series
Authors: Morin Jean-Frédéric , Olsson Christian , Atikcan Ece Özlem
Published: August 2021

This chapter focuses on time series analysis, a statistical method of longitudinal analysis which is suitable if researchers are interested in the temporality of social phenomena and want to analyse social change and patterns of recurrence over time. In contrast to other statistical methods of longitudinal analysis, time series analysis can be applied even if researchers have only a few cases (maybe even only one) and only a few (maybe even only one) variables. Time series can be built for any level of analysis, as cases can be persons, but are usually organizations or countries. In order to build a time series, the variables need to have been measured several times over a given period, and for each measurement one needs to know the measurement date. There are different goals when doing time series analysis, which can be used in descriptive, explanatory, and interpretive approaches.
Triangulation
Authors: Morin Jean-Frédéric , Olsson Christian , Atikcan Ece Özlem
Published: August 2021

This chapter looks at triangulation, which is classically defined as looking at one research object from different perspectives. However, this large and consensual definition masks different approaches to triangulation and ignores its historical evolution since its emergence in social sciences literature. To gain a better insight into its current definitions, the chapter first proposes a brief historical overview and highlight its different meanings. It then illustrates how triangulation can be used in a research design in order to gain extra knowledge. Finally, the chapter talks about mixed-methods research and its relationship with triangulation. In the context of the tensions opposing qualitative and quantitative research, triangulation is used by mixed-methods research to justify that qualitative and quantitative methods should systematically be articulated.
Introduction. An Introduction to Research Methods in the Social Sciences
Authors: Atikcan Ece Özlem , Morin Jean-Frédéric , Olsson Christian
Published: August 2021

Introducing research methods in the social sciences is not an easy task given how complex the subject matter is. Social sciences, like all sciences, can be divided into categories (disciplines). Disciplines are frequently defined according to what they study (their empirical object) and how they study it (their particular problematization of the object). They are, however, by no means unitary entities. Within each discipline, multiple theories typically contend over the ability to tell provisional truths about the world. They do so by building on specific visions of the nature of the world, reflections on how to generate scientific truth, systematic ways of collecting and analyzing data (methods) and of justifying these methods as part of a coherent research design (methodologies).
Exploring the representation of antimicrobial resistance and stewardship in Australian pharmacy media: a content analysis
Authors: Lim Kathryn , Overton Kristen , Broom Alex , Seale Holly
Published: August 2021

Objectives

Tackling the global health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires a whole of system effort, which includes the involvement of pharmacists. However, the nature and extent of their current involvement may be shaped by content published in the media, including in professional publications. This study aimed to explore content inclusions relating to AMR and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in pharmacy focussed professional publications as a foundational step to understanding the impact of media content on pharmacists’ behaviour relating to AMS.

Methods

A range of search terms were used to review the key professional publications targeting the Australian pharmacy sector, from the period 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2019. A content analysis was conducted using a coding framework that explored seven key themes of interest.

Key findings

Of the 488 articles reviewed, 251 were retained for analysis. Most publications featured excerpts of research publications and published reports. Clinicians’ prescribing behaviour and the pharmaceutical industry’s manufacturing and research and development practices were described as the main contributors to the development of AMR. The breadth of pharmacists’ contribution to AMS was often segmented by place of practice, with few references to the positive links between pharmacists’ current activities in preventing and controlling infections to reducing AMR.

Conclusion

This study highlights that pharmacy-related media content is focused on raising awareness on the issue of AMR. There are opportunities, however, for increased coverage on pharmacists’ contribution to AMS, particularly in the community setting. This includes highlighting linkages between existing pharmacy services, such as immunisation, to broader AMS efforts.
Decomposition Theorems for Involutive Solutions to the Yang–Baxter Equation
Authors: Ramírez S , Vendramin L
Published: August 2021

Motivated by the proof of Rump of a conjecture of Gateva–Ivanova on the decomposability of square-free solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation, we present several other decomposability theorems based on the cycle structure of a certain permutation associated with the solution.
Net energy value of canola meal, field pea, and wheat millrun fed to growing-finishing pigs
Authors: Woyengo Tofuko Awori , Zijlstra Ruurd T
Published: August 2021

Two experiments were conducted to (1) determine net energy (NE) values of soybean meal (SBM), Napus canola meal (NCM), Juncea canola meal (JCM), field pea, and wheat millrun (WM) using indirect calorimetry, and (2) compare the determined NE values with the calculated NE values of the same feedstuffs based on a prediction equation. In experiment 1, six ileal-cannulated barrows (31 kg) were fed five diets in 5 × 6 Youden square to give six replicates per diet. Diets were cornstarch-based diets containing SBM, NCM, JCM, field pea, or WM. The SBM was included as a reference. In experiment 2, six ileal-cannulated barrows (70 kg) were fed a N-free diet for determining energy digestibility and NE values of test feedstuffs fed in experiment 1 by difference method. The NE values of test feedstuffs were also calculated from the digestible energy (DE) values and analyzed macronutrient content of the test feedstuffs. On dry matter (DM) basis, SBM, NCM, JCM, field pea, and WM contained 51%, 41%, 42%, 28%, and 18% crude protein; 1.52%, 2.95%, 2.36%, 1.33%, and 3.12% ether extract; 2.93%, 0.14%, 1.44%, 36.7%, and 28.7% starch; and 5.30%, 21.0%, 13.4%, 9.49%, and 16.1% acid detergent fiber, respectively. The determined NE value for SBM (2.29 Mcal/kg) did not differ from that of NCM (1.72 Mcal/kg DM) or JCM (2.14 Mcal/kg DM). The NCM and JCM did not differ in NE value. Also, the determined NE value did not differ between field pea (2.00 Mcal/kg) and WM (2.55 Mcal/kg). The calculated NE values for SBM (2.18 Mcal/kg DM), NCM (1.73 Mcal/kg DM), and JCM (1.86 Mcal/kg DM) did not differ from the corresponding determined NE values of the same feedstuffs. However, the calculated NE value for field pea (2.51 Mcal/kg DM) was greater (P = 0.004) than the determined NE value of field pea, whereas the calculated NE value for WM (2.27 Mcal/kg DM) tended to be lower (P = 0.054) than the determined NE value of WM. In conclusion, the NE value for SBM and canola meals can be predicted based on the DE value and the macronutrient composition of the same feedstuffs. However, the NE value for field pea and WM may not be predicted precisely based on the DE value and the macronutrient composition of the same feedstuffs.
Urban Entomology Highlights From 2020—Monitoring and Control of Urban Pests
Authors: Ko Alexander E
Published: August 2021

Pest management professionals aim to answer two primary questions for their customers: 1) ‘Where/What is the pest?’ and 2) ‘How do I kill it?’. These two questions drive at the core of any pest management program. 2020 was an exciting year for entomology research, with much work being done on novel technologies and methods for detecting and controlling pests. The objectives of the current publication were to discuss papers published in 2020 that addressed the key pest management objectives of 1) monitoring and 2) controlling pest populations.
Life Cycle of Chrysomya rufifacies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Under Semi-Controlled Laboratory Conditions
Authors: Andrade-Herrera Kepler , Núñez-Vázquez Carolina , Estrella Erendira
Published: August 2021

Adult Calliphoridae flies, as well as their immature stages collected from carcasses, have been used as evidence in forensic investigations to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI), particularly those of the genus Chrysomya as it is one of the first genera to colonize a corpse. Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart 1842), due to its appearance in cadaveric remains, plays a fundamental role in the study of forensic entomology. For this reason, we determined the biological cycle of C. rufifacies under semicontrolled laboratory conditions: uncontrolled average fluctuating temperature of 29. 76 ± 3. 22°C, uncontrolled average fluctuating humidity of 48. 91 ± 11.13%, and a controlled photoperiod of 12/12 (L/O). We established that the total development time from oviposition to adult emergence of C. rufifacies was 6. 5 d. The eggs took 12 h to hatch after oviposition. The complete larval stage took 60 h (instar 1 = 12 h, instar 2 = 12 h, instar 3 = 24 h, instar 3 post-feeding = 12 h). The pupa had a duration of 84 h. The species needed a total of 4642.8(±4.59) accumulated degree-hours (ADH) to complete its biological cycle.
Introduction
Authors: Graham Kennedy Ashley
Published: August 2021

Philosophers have been writing about the practice of medicine for some time, but relatively little has been written about the practice of clinical diagnosis or the issues of evidence, ethics, and justice involved in this process. This introduction sets the stage for the philosophical analysis that takes place in the rest of the book, which combines methods of current philosophy of science and philosophy of medicine to address both issues in diagnostic reasoning and diagnostic testing in the clinical setting.
Setting the Stage
Authors: Graham Kennedy Ashley
Published: August 2021

This chapter demonstrates how the process of clinical diagnosis requires first establishing a therapeutic alliance between the patient and the physician and then drawing on, and evaluating, both qualitative and quantitative forms of evidence. Although clinical diagnosis is a technical process that requires an understanding of scientific study design, probability theory, and statistical analysis, it is also relational because it starts with the relationship between the patient and the physician. In fact, very often, getting to a correct diagnosis directly depends on the way in which the physician navigates this relationship: If a physician is dismissive of the patient’s concerns, the physician risks cutting the patient off too quickly and possibly missing important pieces of evidence that could lead to a timely and accurate diagnosis.
Handling Uncertainty
Authors: Graham Kennedy Ashley
Published: August 2021

Medical practice—from testing methods to diagnostic reasoning, treatment protocols, and prognostic evaluations—is often both complex and uncertain. Via an examination of three case studies, this chapter demonstrates that effective management of diagnostic uncertainty must begin with an ability to recognize and acknowledge it in routine cases in the clinical setting. However, even when diagnostic uncertainty is recognized, this alone is not enough for effective diagnostic practice: Once it is recognized, it must then also be clearly communicated to the patient. If these steps are taken in routine cases, then it will become automatic to do so in even the most complex situations, and diagnostic practice will be the better for it.
Clinical Issues
Authors: Quill Timothy E. , Schwarz Judith K. , Periyakoil V. J.
Published: August 2021

VSED requires a decisionally capable, seriously ill patient who makes an informed choice to intentionally hasten death because of unacceptable current suffering or fear of imminent future suffering. In addition to being well informed and determined, patients must have access to ongoing caregiving support and a committed clinician partner. The treating clinician must carefully evaluate the reasons for the patient’s request and her decision-making capacity. Most patients who forgo all oral intake, food and liquids, die peacefully from dehydration within ten to fourteen days. Difficult symptoms of thirst and dry mouth can be adequately relieved with good oral care and access to medications to relieve additional distress. Many patients will be reassured by awareness of the option of VSED even if they never actually exercise it. Completion of advance directives (both health care proxy and instructional) as well as MOLST forms are recommended for anyone initiating VSED, as many patients lose decision-making capacity late in the process.
Introduction
Authors: Chor Julie , Watson Katie
Published: August 2021

Like all clinicians, reproductive healthcare providers face specialty-specific ethical questions. However, the first editor of this book, Dr. Julie Chor (JC), an obstetrician-gynecologist who also completed a Complex Family Planning Fellowship, has never found an ethics text that is tailored to the needs of practicing clinicians, students, and trainees in reproductive healthcare. This is an unfortunate gap in the literature because whether reproductive health providers come from obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, pediatrics, or another field, they all must be able to identify and analyze complex ethical issues that lie at the crossroads of patient decision-making, scientific advancement, political controversy, government regulation, and profound moral considerations in the context of continually evolving medical, legal, and societal factors. To fill this gap, Dr. Chor invited co-editor Professor Katie Watson (KW), a bioethics professor and lawyer who focuses on reproductive ethics, to partner in creating the text that she has always longed to use but has never found while practicing and teaching in this complex milieu....
Religiously Affiliated Healthcare Institutions
Authors: Freedman Lori , Stulberg Debra
Published: August 2021

Religious hospitals represent a large and growing share of the United States healthcare system. As these networks expand their reach, patients may face additional threats to their ability to receive care based on their own values. Physicians practicing in religious institutions—especially in Catholic hospitals—have experienced moral distress when prevented from providing medical care in accordance with the patient’s best interest, and many are surprised by the scope of restrictions under Catholic directives. Patients need accurate information about the care they can expect to receive in religious institutions. However, many lack awareness and knowledge of how to identify religious institutions and services available. This chapter addresses the history, clinical conflicts, bioethical concerns, and empiric literature about reproductive care in US religious healthcare institutions, focusing on Catholic health systems.
Communication
Authors: Mack Jennifer , Sisk Bryan
Published: August 2021

Communication is the framework that supports the relationship between the clinician, the child, and their family, and this relationship is itself therapeutic. Through communication, clinicians learn who the child and family members are as unique human beings and have the opportunity to develop relationships that form the context of care and decision-making over time. Although the words that are used in conversations are important, and suggested approaches are described, it is through authentic human dialogue that the bonds are developed with patients and their families, which constitute the true significance of this work. Through self-awareness and understanding of the barriers we all use to avoid difficult conversations; solid and often profound relationships can be established so that both clinicians and families can find meaning in even the most difficult circumstances. Indeed, for many who work with these children and their families, such relationships are one of the main reasons why they continue to choose this work.
‘Children are not small adults’—the distinctiveness of ethics in children
Authors: Macauley Robert , Hain Richard
Published: August 2021

Clinicians working in paediatric palliative care encounter many of the same practical ethical quandaries that face colleagues working in the adult specialty. While the underlying moral principles must be the same, their application to children is often distinctive and ethics is an illustration that ‘children are not small adults’. The key ethical test is the child’s interests; the benefits that an intervention will offer relative to its harms. Establishing them, however, is often not straightforward, and there is a risk that interests become abstracted from the context of a caring relationship that defines the state of being a child. In this chapter we consider a number of specific challenges in paediatric ethics at the end of life: the source of authority in medical decision making, ethics of research in children, collusion (especially in older children and young adults), the principle of double effect (PDE), and euthanasia.
Difficult pain
Authors: McCulloch Renee , Berde Charles
Published: August 2021

A child in pain needs not only appropriate medical treatment, but specific attention to psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual issues in order to allow meaningful exploration of wider fears or concerns. Management requires a collaborative, multimodal approach; optimal use of non-pharmacological strategies, targeted analgesic pharmacotherapy, and if necessary, specific interventional therapies. Although managing pain is only one aspect of providing palliative care for children, however, it is a core task. The experience of severe pain demands an individual’s whole attention, leaving little chance of addressing wider psychosocial or existential concerns while it remains uncontrolled. Difficult pain is a highly prevalent symptom among children with life-limiting conditions (LLC). It is complex, usually multifactorial and multifaceted. It is encountered in every dimension; the physical perception and experience of pain will be dictated by the existential and psychosocial context in which it occurs for the individual child.
Neurological and neuromuscular conditions and symptoms
Authors: Bogetz Jori F. , Hauer Julie M.
Published: August 2021

Conditions associated with the impaired nervous system are common in paediatric palliative care (PPC). And yet, many neurological conditions are themselves rare, thereby limiting knowledge about each condition and its expected course. Parents and providers often face significant uncertainty about the risks and benefits associated with treatment decisions as prognostic information and scientific evidence may be limited. Other challenges include difficult assessment for the presence and source of distressing symptoms and the lifelong nature of many of the symptoms these children experience. This chapter addresses several aspects of palliative care in the management of neurological and neuromuscular symptoms. The first section provides a palliative framework for addressing neurological and neuromuscular conditions and a brief overview of the major life-limiting conditions related to the nervous system. The second section reviews the associated symptoms of the impaired central nervous system (CNS) along with their treatment strategies. This chapter deliberately focuses on care for children with severe neurological impairment, as these children increasingly benefit from the specific expertise of palliative care teams.
Healthcare providers’ responses to the death of a child
Authors: Papadatou Danai
Published: August 2021

Caring for children who die may evoke suffering in healthcare professionals that is normal, healthy, and unavoidable. It is acknowledged when practitioners remain ‘vulnerable enough’ in their encounters with children and families and engage in an ongoing self- and team-reflective process their approaches work. In this chapter, a model that illuminates the grieving process of healthcare professionals is presented, along with the functional and dysfunctional patterns that teams develop to cope with the suffering of their own members in death situations. A systemic approach helps expand our understanding and underscores the responsibility of the organization’s leaders to cultivate a work culture which promotes self-care, compassion, learning, and collaboration.
Education
Authors: Rawlinson Fiona , Meiring Michelle
Published: August 2021

While education of specialists in paediatric palliative care (PC) and palliative medicine remains an important priority, it is also imperative to upscale education efforts for other healthcare professionals, policy makers, and governments in order to integrate PC into the care of an estimated 21 million children globally. PC education should be available to all child-focused healthcare professionals and beyond in order to correct misconceptions that threaten to impede delivery of adequate PC to children. That can be done through advocacy and through mass media, as well as through targeted educational initiatives based on an understanding of adult education theory. Novel online and other teaching strategies offer the opportunity to reach unprecedented numbers of people.
The phenomenology of psychedelic therapy
Authors: Letheby Chris
Published: August 2021

‘The phenomenology of psychedelic therapy’ provides a selective overview of experiences commonly reported by those who take psychedelics in controlled and structured settings, such as clinical trials and religious rituals. The first half of this chapter reviews a variety of typical changes to perception and the sense of self. The second half reviews qualitative evidence concerning patients’ impressions of the therapeutic process. Patients who receive psychedelics in clinical trials sometimes, but not always, describe non-naturalistic metaphysical epiphanies concerning the existence of a cosmic consciousness, spirit world, or divine Reality. More commonly emphasised are experiences of psychological insight, beneficial changes to self-representation, intense and cathartic emotional experiences, and feelings of connectedness and acceptance. This evidence provides initial clues that psychedelics’ therapeutic effects may not be due entirely to the induction of non-naturalistic metaphysical ideations.
The role of self-representation
Authors: Letheby Chris
Published: August 2021

‘The role of self-representation’ presents three lines of evidence in support of a simple hypothesis: the central mechanism of psychedelic therapy is the disruption and revision of mental representations of the self. One line of evidence connects experiences of ‘psychological insight’ to positive clinical outcomes, and the insights in question are often autobiographical in character. A second line of evidence shows that psychedelics can elevate mindfulness-related capacities for taking an open, non-reactive attentional stance toward inner experience. These capacities centrally involve changes in the sense of self. A third line of evidence links positive clinical outcomes to changes in two neural systems, the Default Mode and Salience networks. Both are implicated in self-representation by considerable independent evidence. This chapter argues that one can combine these psychological and neurobiological findings into an integrative account of psychedelic therapy by attending to the cognitive or information-processing functions of the neural systems affected by psychedelics.
Epistemology
Authors: Letheby Chris
Published: August 2021

‘Epistemology’ argues that controlled psychedelic administration can have significant epistemic benefits consistent with a naturalistic worldview. The most obvious candidate for propositional knowledge, or knowledge that, is psychodynamic insight into one’s previously unknown mental states. This chapter argues that such insights are probably often accurate, but cannot be trusted uncritically: sober scrutiny is essential. It further argues that psychedelics offer knowledge by acquaintance with various aspects of the human mind, including its potential for diverse and beneficial modes of attention and cognition. At later times, subjects can re-evoke these beneficial modes. Therefore, psychedelics also make available ability knowledge, or knowledge how. The chapter argues that psychedelic experiences also facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge of old facts, allowing subjects to experience existing beliefs in more vivid and motivating ways. Finally, the chapter argues that psychedelic experiences can cause epistemic benefits indirectly, via their psychological benefits. In Lisa Bortolotti’s terminology, therapeutic psychedelic experiences are epistemically innocent.
Spirituality
Authors: Letheby Chris
Published: August 2021

‘Spirituality’ examines the import of psychedelic evidence for the philosophical project of naturalising spirituality. This chapter argues that psychedelic research vindicates the claim that there are transformative experiences and practices that can legitimately be called ‘spiritual’ and are compatible with adherence to a naturalistic worldview. The existential transformation afforded by some psychedelic experiences provides a paradigm for naturalistic spirituality: the temporary suspension of our default, self-referential mode of cognition, making available experiences of connectedness and feelings of wonder and awe. Jerome Stone (2012) has reviewed recent philosophical work on naturalistic spirituality and extracted some core ideas: notably (i) that spirituality is about connection, aspiration, and asking the Big Questions, and (ii) that these are all ways of overcoming the limitations of the ordinary sense of self. This chapter argues that psychedelic evidence supports these claims, as well as the further claim that such experiences and practices are independent of non-naturalistic metaphysical ideations.
Introduction
Authors: Bhugra Dinesh , Mosqueiro Bruno Paz , Moreira-Almeida Alexander
Published: August 2021

Both religion and spirituality (R/S) have played a major role in lives of human beings since the dawn of mankind and that remains the case in most cultures. Scientific literature shows a remarkable increase in high-quality research publications in the past decades providing insights and evidence-based information into the relationship between R/S and mental health. However, despite most mental health professionals acknowledging the importance of R/S issues in clinical practice, there has a been a large gap in translating this knowledge to clinical practice and professional training in mental health. Based on these unmet needs and on the robust available evidence, this book presents a comprehensive and sensitive review and summary of evidence and recommendations regarding R/S and mental health to inform clinical practice. Then a brief summary of the three sections (Theory, General principles of religions and relationship with mental health, and Clinical practice) and of the 25 chapter is presented.
Sexual Minorities and Spirituality
Authors: Bhugra Dinesh , Watson Cameron , Gupta Susham
Published: August 2021

For some lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, organized religion can sometimes be a major source of stress and difficulty in identity formation and acceptance whereas others may find solace in it. Belonging to a religion and following it are different aspects of an individual, and often an important part of the culture they have been brought up in. One of the micro-identities for the individual is religion and associated rites, rituals, and taboos. Multiple micro-identities can play a major role in the smooth functioning of an individual. ‘Coming out’ is a process of self-validation and religious views of the individual and those around them can sometimes create major difficulties. Clinicians need to be cognizant of social and religious attitudes of their patients to their own sexuality and also to specific stages of coming out. It is likely that religion and spirituality can be both obstructive or facilitatory for LGBT individuals depending upon a number of factors including homophobia or transphobia related to strong religious views. Various tenets of religions are described briefly in this chapter and their attitudes to alternate sexuality or sexual variations referred to. An attempt is made to advise clinicians and other mental health professionals on how to engage with LGBT individuals. Spirituality can play a major role in some people’s lives even when they do not follow specific organized religions.
Islam and mental health
Authors: Okasha Ahmed , Okasha Tarek A.
Published: August 2021

Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that most prominently incorporates the humanities and social sciences in its scientific base and in its treatment of illness. Psychiatry has often needed to go well beyond the world of natural science into the philosophical realm. Psychiatry and religion both draw upon rich traditions of human thought and practice. Mental health providers in developed countries are increasingly treating patients whose backgrounds are very different from their own, so it is important for them to understand cultural belief systems including religious thought and practice that relate to mental health and illness. Psychiatry and religion are parallel and complementary frames of reference for understanding and describing the human experience and human behaviour.
Non-religion, atheism, and mental health
Authors: Farias Miguel , Coleman III Thomas J.
Published: August 2021

Based on the well-established link between religiosity and positive mental health outcomes, it has been argued that non-religiosity is a health liability. However, most of this research suffers from methodological problems that limit their generalizability to non-religious populations, such as atheists and agnostics. In this chapter, we draw attention to these methodological issues, and argue in favour of a richer conceptualization of non-religion than has been theorized in previous literature. We further review recent work from various countries around the world, which challenges the notion that non-religiosity presents a health risk, finding instead that the non-religious experience similar levels of health and well-being benefits as the religious. We end by briefly discussing the limitations and recent backlash at this literature, while suggesting that the study of the non-religious may transform how we understand the interaction between beliefs, rituals, and health.
Spiritual but not religious
Authors: Mosqueiro Bruno Paz
Published: August 2021

In the past few decades, there has been a substantial increase in interest in scientific publications about the impact of religiosity/spirituality on health in general but also on mental health and well-being of patients. It would appear that some individuals are moving away from organized religion to a more spiritual dimension as reflected in so-called Western countries where people are increasingly describing themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’ (SBNR), thereby differentiating their beliefs and faiths from those proposed by religious organizations and from those people without religious beliefs. More pluralistic and opened views of religiosity and spirituality are understood as a sign of personality maturity and mental health. Otherwise, available evidence supports that religious affiliation and religious attendance seems to be a protective factor to mental health. Indeed, SBNR represents a very heterogeneous group of people and more research from different cultural backgrounds is required to recognize and understand SBNR individuals. An open-minded, interested, and respectful approach to SBNR individuals is essential for addressing their religiosity/spirituality needs in mental health practice, thereby increasing therapeutic engagement and adherence.
Principles of integrating religion and spirituality in mental health care and the World Psychiatric Association’s position statement
Authors: Cook Christopher C.H. , Moreira-Almeida Alexander
Published: August 2021

Research shows that spirituality and religion are important influences upon mental well-being and may play an important part in recovery from mental disorders. The addressing of these concerns in clinical practice raises important questions concerning good practice and professional boundaries, which various national psychiatric associations, and the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) have addressed in part by way of professional guidelines and policies. This chapter presents a commentary on, and discusses the practical implications for clinical practice, teaching, research, and public health of the seven proposals made in the WPA position statement on religion and psychiatry. For these proposals to have a positive impact upon clinical practice it is important that knowledge and awareness of them should be enhanced globally amongst psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, and that they become a focus of constructive and critical professional debate.
Fruitful collaborations with religious and spiritual communities to foster mental health in general society: An international perspective
Authors: Fung Wai Lun Alan , Shepherd Victor A. , Chong King Yee Agatha , Sharma Sujatha D. , Sharma Avdesh
Published: August 2021

Collaborations between mental health professionals (including psychiatrists) and spiritual care professionals/members of faith communities have been recommended by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and several national psychiatric organizations – to help attain high quality and equitable mental health care. Nonetheless, some are concerned about potential harms of such collaborations. It is imperative that such collaborations be ethical and person-centred. The diverse range of individuals who might be regarded as members of spiritual/religious communities also leads to significant variations in how these collaborations may occur. While the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership has presented one such model of collaboration at the national level, this chapter endeavours to illustrate the diverse forms, levels, cultural and geographical contexts of how these collaborations may occur – through the perspectives of mental health and spiritual care professionals from Canada, Hong Kong and India. Implications from these examples are also explored.
Military Medicine in American Samoa—Connecting With Indo-Pacific Partners
Authors: Pierce Bradley T , Pucci Josephine U , Rich Elizabeth L , Ottolini Martin , Schramm Jill F , DeLeon Patrick H , Hussey Sean , Tripoli Louis C , Chung Kevin K
Published: July 2021

With the rise of great power competition in the Indo-Pacific, Global Health Engagement can facilitate positive foreign relations. Increasing military medical outreach in American Samoa will provide improved health care in the territory, offer relevant medical training in resource-limited environments, and build connections with a community that has many uniformed members.
Cosmological constraints using the newest VLT-KMOS H ii galaxies and the full Planck CMB spectrum
Authors: Tsiapi Pavlina , Basilakos Spyros , Plionis Manolis , Terlevich Roberto , Terlevich Elena , Gonzalez Moran Ana Luisa , Chavez Ricardo , Bresolin Fabio , Fernandez Arenas David , Telles Eduardo
Published: August 2021

We present novel cosmological constraints based on a joint analysis of our H ii galaxies (HIIG) Hubble relation with the full Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum and the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) probes. The HIIG span a large redshift range (0.088 ≤ z ≤ 2.5), reaching significantly higher redshifts than available Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) and hence they probe the cosmic expansion at earlier times. Our independent constraints compare well with those based on the ‘Pantheon’ compilation of SNeIa data, which we also analyse. We find our results to be in agreement with the conformal Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model within 1σ. We also use our HIIG data to examine the behaviour of the dark energy equation-of-state parameter under the Chevallier–Polarski–Linder (CPL) parametrization, w = w0 + waz/(1 + z), and find consistent results with those based on SNeIa, although the degeneracy in the parameter space and the individual parameter uncertainties, when marginalizing one over the other, are quite large.
DeepSZ: identification of Sunyaev–Zel’dovich galaxy clusters using deep learning
Authors: Lin Z , Huang N , Avestruz C , Wu W L K , Trivedi S , Caldeira J , Nord B
Published: August 2021

Galaxy clusters identified via the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) effect are a key ingredient in multiwavelength cluster cosmology. We present and compare three methods of cluster identification: the standard matched filter (MF) method in SZ cluster finding, a convolutional neural networks (CNN), and a ‘combined’ identifier. We apply the methods to simulated millimeter maps for several observing frequencies for a survey similar to SPT-3G, the third-generation camera for the South Pole Telescope. The MF requires image pre-processing to remove point sources and a model for the noise, while the CNN requires very little pre-processing of images. Additionally, the CNN requires tuning of hyperparameters in the model and takes cut-out images of the sky as input, identifying the cut-out as cluster-containing or not. We compare differences in purity and completeness. The MF signal-to-noise ratio depends on both mass and redshift. Our CNN, trained for a given mass threshold, captures a different set of clusters than the MF, some with signal-to-noise-ratio below the MF detection threshold. However, the CNN tends to mis-classify cut-out whose clusters are located near the edge of the cut-out, which can be mitigated with staggered cut-out. We leverage the complementarity of the two methods, combining the scores from each method for identification. The purity and completeness are both 0.61 for MF, and 0.59 and 0.61 for CNN. The combined method yields 0.60 and 0.77, a significant increase for completeness with a modest decrease in purity. We advocate for combined methods that increase the confidence of many low signal-to-noise clusters.
An unexpected high concentration for the dark substructure in the gravitational lens SDSSJ0946+1006
Authors: Minor Quinn , Gad-Nasr Sophia , Kaplinghat Manoj , Vegetti Simona
Published: August 2021

The presence of an invisible substructure has previously been detected in the gravitational lens galaxy SDSSJ0946+1006 through its perturbation of the lensed images. Using flexible models for the main halo and the subhalo perturbation, we demonstrate that the subhalo has an extraordinarily high central density and steep density slope. We robustly infer the subhalo’s projected mass within 1 kpc to be ∼2–3.7 × 109 M⊙ at >95 per cent CL for all our lens models, while the average log-slope of the subhalo’s projected density profile over the radial range 0.75–1.25 kpc is constrained to be steeper than isothermal (γ2D ≲ −1). By modeling the subhalo light, we infer a conservative upper bound on its luminosity LV < 1.2 × 108L⊙ at 95 per cent CL that shows that the perturber is dark matter dominated. We analyse lensing galaxy analogues in the Illustris TNG100-1 simulation over many lines of sight, and find hundreds of subhalos that achieve a mass within 1 kpc ≳ 2 × 109M⊙. However, less than 1 per cent of the mock observations yield a log-slope steep enough to be consistent with our lensing models, and they all have stellar masses exceeding that allowed by observations by an order of magnitude or more. We conclude that the presence of such a dark highly concentrated subhalo is unexpected in a Lambda cold dark matter universe. While it remains to be determined whether this tension can be reduced by adding more complexity to the primary lens model, it is not significantly alleviated if the perturber is assumed to be a LOS structure, rather than a subhalo.
Comparison of numerical methods for computing the repeated Compton scattering of photons in isotropic media
Authors: Acharya Sandeep Kumar , Chluba Jens , Sarkar Abir
Published: August 2021

Repeated Compton scattering of photons with thermal electrons is one of the fundamental processes at work in many astrophysical plasma. Solving the exact evolution equations is hard and one common simplification is based on Fokker–Planck (FP) approximations of the Compton collision term. Here we carry out a detailed numerical comparison of several FP approaches with the exact scattering kernel solution for a range of test problems assuming isotropic media and thermal electrons at various temperatures. The Kompaneets equation, being one of the most widely used FP approximations, fails to account for Klein–Nishina corrections and enhanced Doppler boosts and recoil at high energies. These can be accounted for with an alternative FP approach based on the exact first and second moments of the scattering kernel. As demonstrated here, the latter approach works very well in dilute media, but inherently fails to reproduce the correct equilibrium solution in the limit of many scattering. Conditions for the applicability of the FP approximations are clarified, overall showing that the Kompaneets equation provides the most robust approximation to the full problem, even if inaccurate in many cases. We close our numerical analysis by briefly illustrating the solutions for the spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) after photon injection at redshift z ≲ 105, when double Compton and Bremsstrahlung emission can be omitted. We demonstrate that the exact treatment using the scattering kernel computed with cspack is often needed. This work should provide an important step towards accurate computations of the CMB spectral distortions from high-energy particle cascades.