Opening up the black box of recovery processes in persons with complex mental health needs: a qualitative study of place-making dynamics in a low-threshold meeting place.

BACKGROUND: The recovery processes of persons with complex mental health needs take a slow and unpredictable course. Despite the fact that a number of essential building blocks of recovery in this population have been identified (e.g. social relationships, treatment, personal beliefs), the actual process of recovery in persons with complex mental health needs largely remains a black box. The aim of this study was to gain insight into how the recovery processes of persons with complex mental health needs take place, by applying a relational geographical approach and scrutinizing the place-making dynamics of one low-threshold meeting place in Belgium engaging with this group. METHODS: Data collection took place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic by means of 11 in-depth interviews with different involved actors (service users, staff members, volunteers) and analyzed thematically. RESULTS: Results showed how the daily practice of the meeting place is continuously reproduced through place-making rituals that create an inclusive space of hospitality, are fueled by creative processes and form an indispensable counterweight for service users' mental health needs. CONCLUSIONS: To further open up the 'black box' of recovery in persons with complex mental health needs, it is vital to focus our analytic gaze onto recovery as a dynamic and relational practice.

Simulation of image detectors in radiology for determination of scatter-to-primary ratios using Monte Carlo radiation transport code MCNP/MCNPX.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare and validate three methods to simulate radiographic image detectors with the Monte Carlo software MCNP/MCNPX in a time efficient way. METHODS: The first detector model was the standard semideterministic radiography tally, which has been used in previous image simulation studies. Next to the radiography tally two alternative stochastic detector models were developed: A perfect energy integrating detector and a detector based on the energy absorbed in the detector material. Validation of three image detector models was performed by comparing calculated scatter-to-primary ratios (SPRs) with the published and experimentally acquired SPR values. RESULTS: For mammographic applications, SPRs computed with the radiography tally were up to 44% larger than the published results, while the SPRs computed with the perfect energy integrating detectors and the blur-free absorbed energy detector model were, on the average, 0.3% (ranging from -3% to 3%) and 0.4% (ranging from -5% to 5%) lower, respectively. For general radiography applications, the radiography tally overestimated the measured SPR by as much as 46%. The SPRs calculated with the perfect energy integrating detectors were, on the average, 4.7% (ranging from -5.3% to -4%) lower than the measured SPRs, whereas for the blur-free absorbed energy detector model, the calculated SPRs were, on the average, 1.3% (ranging from -0.1% to 2.4%) larger than the measured SPRs. CONCLUSIONS: For mammographic applications, both the perfect energy integrating detector model and the blur-free energy absorbing detector model can be used to simulate image detectors, whereas for conventional x-ray imaging using higher energies, the blur-free energy absorbing detector model is the most appropriate image detector model. The radiography tally overestimates the scattered part and should therefore not be used to simulate radiographic image detectors.

Application of EPMA data for the development of the code systems TRANSURANUS and ALEPH.

In the present article, electron probe microanalysis data for Pu and Nd is being used for validating the predictions of the radial power profile in a nuclear fuel rod at an ultrahigh burn-up of 95 and 102 MWd/kgHM. As such the validation of both the new Monte Carlo burn-up code ALEPH and the simpler TUBRNP model of the fuel rod performance code TRANSURANUS has been extended. The analysis of the absolute concentrations and individual isotopes also indicates potential improvements in the predictive capabilities of the simple TUBRNP model, based on the one-group cross sections inferred from the neutron transport calculations in the ALEPH code. This is a first important step toward extending the application range of the fuel rod performance code to burn-up values projected in nuclear power rods based on current trends.