Factors influencing quality of behaviour support plans and the impact of plan quality on restrictive intervention use

Background: The quality and effectiveness of the support provided to people with disability who show challenging behaviour can be influenced by the design and content of their behaviour support plans (BSPs). This study examined some of the factors that might influence the quality of behaviour support plans and the impact of quality of BSPs on the use of restrictive intervention.

Method: An audit of the quality of a sample of BSPs submitted to the Senior Practitioner in Victoria in the years 2009 and 2010 was conducted using the Behavior Support Plan Quality Evaluation, 2nd Edition (BSP-QE II).

Results: Factors found to positively influence quality of BSPs included: involvement of behaviour consultants and involvement of clinicians from the Office of the Senior Practitioner (Office). Overall quality of plans was also negatively related to restrictive intervention use over time.

Conclusions: The findings support the need for behaviour intervention and provision of clinical support. The findings also provide tentative support for the notion that the inclusion of evidence-based quality components into behaviour support plan formats may reduce the use of restrictive interventions.

A prospective study of diet quality and mental health in adolescents

Objectives: A number of cross-sectional and prospective studies have now been published demonstrating inverse relationships between diet quality and the common mental disorders in adults. However, there are no existing prospective studies of this association in adolescents, the onset period of most disorders, limiting inferences regarding possible causal relationships.
Methods: In this study, 3040 Australian adolescents, aged 11–18 years at baseline, were measured in 2005–6 and 2007–8. Information on diet and mental health was collected by self-report and anthropometric data by trained researchers.
Results: There were cross-sectional, dose response relationships identified between measures of both healthy (positive) and unhealthy (inverse) diets and scores on the emotional subscale of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), where higher scores mean better mental health, before and after adjustments for age, gender, socio-economic status, dieting behaviours, body mass index and physical activity. Higher healthy diet scores at baseline also predicted higher PedsQL scores at follow-up, while higher unhealthy diet scores at baseline predicted lower PedsQL scores at follow-up. Improvements in diet quality were mirrored by improvements in mental health over the follow-up period, while deteriorating diet quality was associated with poorer psychological functioning. Finally, results did not support the reverse causality hypothesis.
Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of diet in adolescence and its potential role in modifying mental health over the life course. Given that the majority of common mental health problems first manifest in adolescence, intervention studies are now required to test the effectiveness of preventing the common mental disorders through dietary modification.

Efficient management of drinking water distribution systems through the application of water quality modeling

The quality of drinking water generally degrades when it is delivered through a distribution system due to the decay of disinfectant, which subsequently allows the re-growth of microorganisms in the distribution system. A model that describes the changes that occur in the water quality in distribution system is needed to determine whether to enhance the treatment processes or to improve the distribution system so that microbiological criteria are met. This paper describes how chlorine decay kinetics are modeled and the model output is used in finding the elements that are contributing to the consumption of chlorine at the treatment plant other than the water itself; this allows better control of chlorine dosing at the treatment plant, which in tum will reduce the formation of disinfectant by-products. In addition, the model will accurately predict the decay due to the organic/inorganic and nitrogenous compounds that are remaining in the water at any point in the distribution system, which will indicate the status of the distribution system with respect to its chlorine consumption. Further, if re-chlorination is introduced in the distribution system downstream of the treatment plant, the model will predict the chlorine decay due to the slow reacting organic and nitrogenous compounds accurately.

Improvement of DDoS attack detection and web access anonymity

The thesis has covered a range of algorithms that help to improve the security of web services. The research focused on the problems of DDoS attack and traffic analysis attack against service availability and information privacy respectively. Finally, this research significantly advantaged DDoS attack detection and web access anonymity.

Electrospinning of nanofibres with parallel line surface texture for improvement of nerve cell growth

Nanofibres having a parallel line surface texture were electrospun from cellulose acetate butyrate solutions using a solvent mixture of acetone and N,N'-dimethylacetamide. The formation mechanism of the unusual surface feature was explored and attributed to the formation of voids on the jet surface at the early stage of electrospinning and subsequent elongation and solidification of the voids into a line surface structure. The fast evaporation of a highly volatile solvent, acetone, from the polymer solution was found to play a key role in the formation of surface voids, while the high viscosity of the residual solution after the solvent evaporation ensured the line surface to be maintained after the solidification. Based on this principle, nanofibres having a similar surface texture were also electrospun successfully from other polymers, such as cellulose acetate, polyvinylidene fluoride, poly(methyl methacrylate), polystyrene and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene), either from the same or from different solvent systems. Polarized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to measure the polymer molecular orientation within nanofibres. Schwann cells were grown on both aligned and randomly oriented nanofibre mats. The parallel line surface texture assisted in the growth of Schwann cells especially at the early stage of cell culture regardless of the fibre orientation. In contrast, the molecular orientation within nanofibres showed little impact on the cell growth.

Code of ethics quality : an international comparison of corporate staff support and regulation in Australia, Canada and the United States

The objective of this paper is to examine the ‘Code of Ethics Quality’ (CEQ) in the largest companies of Australia, Canada and the United States. For this purpose, a proposed CEQ construct has been applied. It appears from the empirical findings that while Australia, Canada and the United States are extremely similar in their economic and social development, there may well be distinct cultural mores and issues that are forming their business ethics practices. A research implication derived from the performed research is that the construct provides a selection of observable and measurable elements in the context of CEQ. The construct of CEQ consists of nine measures divided into two dimensions (i.e. staff support and regulation). They should not be seen as a complete list. On the contrary, it is encouraged that others propose and elaborate revisions and extensions. A practical implication of this paper is a structure of what and how to examine the CEQ in a managerial setting. It may assist companies in their efforts to establish, maintain and improve their ethical culture, norms and beliefs within the organization and supporting them in their ethical business practices with different stakeholders in the marketplace and society. The dimensions and measures of the construct may be used as a frame of reference for further research. They may be useful and applicable across contexts and over time using similar samples when it comes to large companies, as small- or medium-sized ones may not have considered all areas nor have the elements in place. This is a research limitation, but it provides an opportunity for further research.

Comparing the seasonal survival of resident and migratory oystercatchers : carry-over effects of habitat quality and weather conditions

Events happening in one season can affect life-history traits at (the) subsequent season(s) by carry-over effects. Wintering conditions are known to affect breeding success, but few studies have investigated carry-over effects on survival. The Eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus is a coastal wader with sedentary populations at temperate sites and migratory populations in northern breeding grounds of Europe. We pooled continental European ringing-recovery datasets from 1975 to 2000 to estimate winter and summer survival rates of migrant and resident populations and to investigate long-term effects of winter habitat changes. During mild climatic periods, adults of both migratory and resident populations exhibited survival rates 2% lower in summer than in winter. Severe winters reduced survival rates (down to 25% reduction) and were often followed by a decline in survival during the following summer, via short-term carry-over effects. Habitat changes in the Dutch wintering grounds caused a reduction in food stocks, leading to reduced survival rates, particularly in young birds. Therefore, wintering habitat changes resulted in long-term (>10 years) 8.7 and 9.4% decrease in adult annual survival of migrant and resident populations respectively. Studying the impact of carry-over effects is crucial for understanding the life history of migratory birds and the development of conservation measures.

The effects of website quality on adoption of e-government service : an empirical study applying UTAUT model using SEM

In today’s global age, e-government services have become the main channel for online communication between the government and its citizens. They aim to provide citizens with more accessible, accurate, real-time and high quality services. Therefore, the quality of government websites which provide e-services is an essential factor in the successful adoption of e-government services by the public. This paper discusses an investigation of the effect of the Website Quality (WQ) factor on the acceptance of using e-government services (G2C) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model. Survey Data collected from 400 respondents were examined using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique and utilising AMOS tools. This study found that the factors that significantly influenced the Use Behaviour of e-government services in KSA (USE) include Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort expectancy (EE), Facilitating Conditions (FC) and Website Quality (WQ), while the construct known Social Influence (SI) did not. Moreover, the results confirm the importance of quality government websites and support systems as one of the main significant and influential factors of e-government services adoption. The results of this study can be helpful to Saudi’s governmental sectors to adjust their corporate strategies and plans to advance successful adoption and diffusion of e-government services (G2C) in KSA.

A critical evaluation and comparison of two formative measures of system quality using criterion variables

Evaluating the validity of formative variables has presented ongoing challenges for researchers. In this paper we use global criterion measures to compare and critically evaluate two alternative formative measures of System Quality. One model is based on the ISO-9126 software quality standard, and the other is based on a leading information systems research model. We find that despite both models having a strong provenance, many of the items appear to be non-significant in our study. We examine the implications of this by evaluating the quality of the criterion variables we used, and the performance of PLS when evaluating formative models with a large number of items. We find that our respondents had difficulty distinguishing between global criterion variables measuring different aspects of overall System Quality. Also, because formative indicators “compete with one another” in PLS, it may be difficult to develop a set of measures which are all significant for a complex formative construct with a broad scope and a large number of items. Overall, we suggest that there is cautious evidence that both sets of measures are valid and largely equivalent, although questions still remain about the measures, the use of criterion variables, and the use of PLS for this type of model evaluation.

The impact of the quality of behaviour support plans on the use of restraint and seclusion in disability services

Background: Behaviour support plan (BSP) quality is known to be an important aspect of the support provided to people with disability who show challenging behaviours and has been found to lead to reductions in challenging behaviour. Preliminary evidence suggests that quality of plans is associated with reductions in the use of restraint
and seclusion.
Method and materials: Quality of a sample of behaviour support plans was assessed using the Behaviour Support Plan – Quality Evaluation II (BSP-QE II) Guide (Browning Wright, Saren & Mayer, 2003). Episodes of restraint and seclusion before and during implementation of plans were examined by comparing restraint and seclusion use between individuals with high quality versus low quality plans.
Results: Compared to individuals with low quality plans, individuals with high quality plans were found to be subjected to less restraint and seclusion over time, while those with low quality plans were subjected to increases. With the exception of one quality component, all components in high quality plans were found to be associated with decreases in restraint and seclusion use.
Conclusions: The results support earlier preliminary findings that quality of behaviour support plans are associated with reductions in restrictive intervention use. The findings are important because they suggest that increasing quality of behaviour support plans may lead to decreases in restraint and seclusion over time.