Documenting InStory ��� Mobile Storytelling in a Cultural Heritage Environment

This paper describes the process and problems that had to be faced during the elaboration of a digital interactive narrative for the Instory project (http://img.di.fct.unl.pt/InStory/) implanted in ��Quinta da Regaleira��, Sintra, Portugal, and classified as World Heritage by Unesco. It also explores some of the practical and theoretical issues in what regards the literary terminology and strategies involved.

Energy-efficient diversity combining for different access schemes in a multi-path dispersive channel

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrot��cnica e Computadores

Landscape composition and climatic parameters significant in the spread of an invasive species (Pine wood Nematode)

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente

Contribution of Mental Health Service User Groups to Mental Health Services and Policy in Ghana : The Case of Mental Health Society of Ghana

RESUMO: Este estudo procurou documentar a perspectiva (s) dos utentes de sa��de mental e das associa����es de prestadores de cuidados sobre a presta����o, o papel e a contribui����o de servi��os de sa��de mental da comunidade tal como foram percebidos por um n��mero de informadores-chave, incluindo os utentes do servi��o mentais e os pr��prios prestadores de cuidados. O caso espec��fico da Sociedade Sa��de Mental do Gana (MEHSOG) foi o foco deste estudo. O modelo foi o de um estudo de caso, utilizando discuss��es de grupo e entrevistas com informadores-chave como instrumentos de recolha de dados. Estas ferramentas de colheita de dados foram complementadas por observa����es dos participantes e pela revis��o de documentos da MEHSOG e dos v��rios grupos de apoio da comunidade de auto-ajuda que comp��em a associa����o nacional. O estudo revelou que os utentes dos servi��os de sa��de mental e seus prestadores de cuidados constituem um importante grupo de partes interessadas na presta����o de servi��os de sa��de mental da comunidade e no desenvolvimento de pol��ticas que tenham em conta as necessidades e os direitos das pessoas com doen��a mental ou epilepsia. O envolvimento da MEHSOG promove a mobiliza����o de membros e fam��lias relacionadas com a doen��a mental de beneficiar de servi��os de tratamento bem organizados com um impacto significativo na melhoria da sa��de e da participa����o dos utentes dos servi��os e seus prestadores de cuidados prim��rios em processos de tomada de decis��o da fam��lia e na comunidade processos de desenvolvimento. Os utentes dos servi��os por beneficiarem de tratamento, e os prestadores de cuidados prim��rios, por se tornarem mais livres e menos sobrecarregados com a responsabilidade de cuidar, podem passar a envolver-se mais em atividades que melhoramo seu estado, o de suas fam��lias e das comunidades. A advocacia dos membros da MEHSOG para conseguir que a ���Mental Health Bill��� se transforme numa Lei foi tamb��m um desenvolvimento significativo resultante da participa����o ativa dos utentes do servi��o em chamar a aten����o para uma nova e inclusiva legisla����o de sa��de mental para o Gana. Entre os fatores e oportunidades que permitiram aos utentes dos servi��os de sa��de mental e aos prestadores de cuidados prim��rios de pessoas com doen��a mental apoiar activamente a presta����o de servi��os de sa��de mental comunit��ria e o desenvolvimento de pol��ticas conta-se a contribui����o da sociedade civil do Gana, particularmente o movimento da defici��ncia, e os esfor��os anteriores de ONGs em sa��de mental e dos profissionais de sa��de mental para ter uma nova lei em sa��de mental. Observ��mos um certo n��mero de desafios e barreiras que actuam de forma a limitar a influ��ncia dos utentes dos servi��os de sa��de mental na provis��o da sa��de mental comunit��ria e no desenvolvimento de pol��ticas. Entre elas o estigma social contra a doen��a mental e pessoas com doen��a mental ou epilepsia e seus cuidadores primaries �� um factor chave. O estigma tem alterado a percep����o e as an��lises do p��blico em geral, especialmente dos profissionais de sa��de e das autoridades pol��ticas afetando a prioriza����o dos problemas de sa��de mental nas pol��ticas e programas. Outro desafio foi a deficiente infra-estrutura dispon��vel para apoiar servi��os de sa��de mentais que assegurem aos utentes permanecerem em bom estado de sa��de e bem-estar para serem advogados de si pr��prios. A recomenda����o do presente estudo �� que os movimentos de utentes dos servi��os de sa��de mental s��o importantes e que eles precisam de ser apoiados e encorajados a desempenhar o seu papel como pessoas com experi��ncia vivida para contribuir para a organiza����o e presta����o de servi��os de sa��de mental, bem como para a implementa����o, monitoriza����o e avalia����o de pol��ticas e programas. ------------------------------------ ABSTRACT: This study sought to document the perspective(s) of mental health users and care-givers associations in community mental health service provision and their role and contribution as it was perceived by a number of key informants including the mental service users and care-givers themselves. The specific case of the Mental Health Society of Ghana (MEHSOG) was the focus of this study. A case study approach was used to with Focus Group Discussions and Key Informants Interviews being the data collection tools that were used. These data collection tools were complemented by participant observations and review of documents of the MEHSOG and the various community self-help peer support groups that make up the national association. The study revealed that mental health service users and their care-givers constitute an important stakeholder group in community mental health service provision and development of policies that factor in the needs and rights of persons with mental illness or epilepsy. MEHSOG���s involvement in mobilising members and education families to come forward with the relations with mental illness to benefit from treatment services were well made a significant impact in improving the health and participation of service users and their primary carers in family decision-making processes and in community development processes. Service users, on benefiting from treatment, and primary care-givers, on becoming freer and less burdened with the responsibility of care, move on to engage in secure livelihoods activities, which enhanced their status in their families and communities. The advocacy MEHSOG members undertook in getting the mental health Bill become Law was also noted as significant development that was realised as a result of active involvement of service users in calling for a new and inclusive mental health legislation for Ghana. Enabling factors and opportunities that enabled mental health service users and primary care-givers of people with mental illness to actively support community mental health service provision and policy development is with the vibrant civil society presence in Ghana, particularly the disability movement, and earlier efforts by NGOs in mental health in Ghana long-side mental health professionals to have a new law in mental health. A number of challenges were also noted which were found to limit the extent to which mental health service users can be influential in community mental health service provision and policy development. Key among them was the social stigma against mental illness and people with mental illness or epilepsy and their primary carers. Stigma has affected perceptions, analyses of the general public, especially health practitioners and policy authorities that it has affected their prioritisation of mental health issues in policies and programmes. Another challenge was the poor infrastructure available to support enhanced mental health care services that ensure mental health service users remain in a good state of health and wellbeing to advocate for themselves. The recommendation from the study is that mental health service user movements are important and need to be supported and encouraged to play their role as persons with lived experience to inform organisation and provision of mental health services as well as design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programes.

Labor supply response to international migration and remittances in the Republic of Haiti

The Republic of Haiti is the prime international remittances recipient country in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region relative to its gross domestic product (GDP). The downside of this observation may be that this country is also the first exporter of skilled workers in the world by population size. The present research uses a zero-altered negative binomial (with logit inflation) to model households' international migration decision process, and endogenous regressors' Amemiya Generalized Least Squares method (instrumental variable Tobit, IV-Tobit) to account for selectivity and endogeneity issues in assessing the impact of remittances on labor market outcomes. Results are in line with what has been found so far in this literature in terms of a decline of labor supply in the presence of remittances. However, the impact of international remittances does not seem to be important in determining recipient households' labor participation behavior, particularly for women.

Bayesian Inference in the Time Varying Cointegration Model

There are both theoretical and empirical reasons for believing that the parameters of macroeconomic models may vary over time. However, work with time-varying parameter models has largely involved Vector autoregressions (VARs), ignoring cointegration. This is despite the fact that cointegration plays an important role in informing macroeconomists on a range of issues. In this paper we develop time varying parameter models which permit cointegration. Time-varying parameter VARs (TVP-VARs) typically use state space representations to model the evolution of parameters. In this paper, we show that it is not sensible to use straightforward extensions of TVP-VARs when allowing for cointegration. Instead we develop a specification which allows for the cointegrating space to evolve over time in a manner comparable to the random walk variation used with TVP-VARs. The properties of our approach are investigated before developing a method of posterior simulation. We use our methods in an empirical investigation involving a permanent/transitory variance decomposition for inflation.

An interregional input-output analysis of the pollution content of trade flows and environmental trade balances between five states in the US Mid-West

In this paper we attempt an empirical application of the multi-region input-output (MRIO) method in order to enumerate the pollution content of interregional trade flows between five Mid-West regions/states in the US ���Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin ��� and the rest of the US. This allows us to analyse some very important issues in terms of the nature and significance of interregional environmental spillovers within the US Mid-West and the existence of pollution ���trade balances��� between states. Our results raise questions in terms of the extent to which authorities at State level can control local emissions where they are limited in the way some emissions can be controlled, particularly with respect to changes in demand elsewhere in the Mid-West and US. This implies a need for policy co-ordination between national and state level authorities in the US to meet emissions reductions targets. The existence of an environmental trade balances between states also raises issues in terms of net losses/gains in terms of pollutants as a result of interregional trade within the US and whether, if certain activities can be carried out using less polluting technology in one region relative to others, it is better for the US as a whole if this type of relationship exists.

A critical analysis of dimensions and curve fitting practice in economics

When dealing with sustainability we are concerned with the biophysical as well as the monetary aspects of economic and ecological interactions. This multidimensional approach requires that special attention is given to dimensional issues in relation to curve fitting practice in economics. Unfortunately, many empirical and theoretical studies in economics, as well as in ecological economics, apply dimensional numbers in exponential or logarithmic functions. We show that it is an analytical error to put a dimensional unit x into exponential functions ( a x ) and logarithmic functions ( x a log ). Secondly, we investigate the conditions of data sets under which a particular logarithmic specification is superior to the usual regression specification. This analysis shows that logarithmic specification superiority in terms of least square norm is heavily dependent on the available data set. The last section deals with economists��� ���curve fitting fetishism���. We propose that a distinction be made between curve fitting over past observations and the development of a theoretical or empirical law capable of maintaining its fitting power for any future observations. Finally we conclude this paper with several epistemological issues in relation to dimensions and curve fitting practice in economics

Cultural competency of health-care providers in a Swiss University Hospital: self-assessed cross-cultural skillfulness in a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: As the diversity of the European population evolves, measuring providers' skillfulness in cross-cultural care and understanding what contextual factors may influence this is increasingly necessary. Given limited information about differences in cultural competency by provider role, we compared cross-cultural skillfulness between physicians and nurses working at a Swiss university hospital. METHODS: A survey on cross-cultural care was mailed in November 2010 to front-line providers in Lausanne, Switzerland. This questionnaire included some questions from the previously validated Cross-Cultural Care Survey. We compared physicians' and nurses' mean composite scores and proportion of "3-good/4-very good" responses, for nine perceived skillfulness items (4-point Likert-scale) using the validated tool. We used linear regression to examine how provider role (physician vs. nurse) was associated with composite skillfulness scores, adjusting for demographics (gender, non-French dominant language), workplace (time at institution, work-unit "sensitized" to cultural-care), reported cultural-competence training, and cross-cultural care problem-awareness. RESULTS: Of 885 questionnaires, 368 (41.2%) returned the survey: 124 (33.6%) physicians and 244 (66.4%) nurses, reflecting institutional distribution of providers. Physicians had better mean composite scores for perceived skillfulness than nurses (2.7 vs. 2.5, p < 0.005), and significantly higher proportion of "good/very good" responses for 4/9 items. After adjusting for explanatory variables, physicians remained more likely to have higher skillfulness (&#946; = 0.13, p = 0.05). Among all, higher skillfulness was associated with perception/awareness of problems in the following areas: inadequate cross-cultural training (&#946; = 0.14, p = 0.01) and lack of practical experience caring for diverse populations (&#946; = 0.11, p = 0.04). In stratified analyses among physicians alone, having French as a dominant language (&#946; = -0.34, p < 0.005) was negatively correlated with skillfulness. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, there is much room for cultural competency improvement among providers. These results support the need for cross-cultural skills training with an inter-professional focus on nurses, education that attunes provider awareness to the local issues in cross-cultural care, and increased diversity efforts in the work force, particularly among physicians.

Big data and other challenges in the quest for orthologs.

Given the rapid increase of species with a sequenced genome, the need to identify orthologous genes between them has emerged as a central bioinformatics task. Many different methods exist for orthology detection, which makes it difficult to decide which one to choose for a particular application. Here, we review the latest developments and issues in the orthology field, and summarize the most recent results reported at the third 'Quest for Orthologs' meeting. We focus on community efforts such as the adoption of reference proteomes, standard file formats and benchmarking. Progress in these areas is good, and they are already beneficial to both orthology consumers and providers. However, a major current issue is that the massive increase in complete proteomes poses computational challenges to many of the ortholog database providers, as most orthology inference algorithms scale at least quadratically with the number of proteomes. The Quest for Orthologs consortium is an open community with a number of working groups that join efforts to enhance various aspects of orthology analysis, such as defining standard formats and datasets, documenting community resources and benchmarking. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: All such materials are available at http://questfororthologs.org. CONTACT: erik.sonnhammer@scilifelab.se or c.dessimoz@ucl.ac.uk.

Reconsideration of dimensions and curve fitting practice in economics ellaborating on Georgescu-Roegen���s economic methodology

This paper is to examine the proper use of dimensions and curve fitting practices elaborating on Georgescu-Roegen���s economic methodology in relation to the three main concerns of his epistemological orientation. Section 2 introduces two critical issues in relation to dimensions and curve fitting practices in economics in view of Georgescu-Roegen���s economic methodology. Section 3 deals with the logarithmic function (ln z) and shows that z must be a dimensionless pure number, otherwise it is nonsensical. Several unfortunate examples of this analytical error are presented including macroeconomic data analysis conducted by a representative figure in this field. Section 4 deals with the standard Cobb-Douglas function. It is shown that the operational meaning cannot be obtained for capital or labor within the Cobb-Douglas function. Section 4 also deals with economists "curve fitting fetishism". Section 5 concludes thispaper with several epistemological issues in relation to dimensions and curve fitting practices in economics.

Report on the Regulation of Practitioners of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Ireland

This report has been written in the context of this interest and in response to a request from the Department of Health and Children. It follows a Forum on regulatory issues that was held at the IPA in June 2001 and attended by many CAM practitioners. The Minister for Health and Children asked the Institute to build on the discussions at the Forum by preparing a report on possible options in the regulation of CAM practitioners in Ireland. The focus of the report is on regulatory and policy issues in general. It is not within the Institute����?Ts competence or brief to comment on more specific clinical or technical issues. Download the document here

CARDI Research Brief: Medication use in patients with dementia at the end of life

������Palliative care and medication use are important issues in dealing with end-of-life stage dementia. As research into palliative care for patients with advanced dementia has been limited to date, CARDI funded a project, led by Dr. Carole Parsons of Queen&rsquo;s University Belfast, as part of its grants programme. This project aimed to evaluate the extent to which patient-related factors influenced clinical decision-making with regard to medication use in patients with endstagedementia. This research brief presents a summary of the findings from the full report, Assessment of factors which influence physician decisionmaking regarding medication use in patients with dementia at the end of life (Parsons, et al., 2012).Read the research brief here: Medication use in patients with dementia at the end of lifeRead the press release here

Addressing ethical dilemmas in the clinical care of adolescents: an international view.

This chapter reviews some basic concepts underlying ethical issues in adolescence and provides a step-by-step procedure to address ethical dilemmas involving minor adolescents, based on a deliberative approach. "Deliberation" with the patient, along with involving the opinion of relevant stakeholders if possible, allows for a careful, multidisciplinary examination of all options, the medical and psychosocial consequences, and the moral values stressed by each option. Although the final decision regarding which ethical option should be chosen usually belongs to the health care providers and his or her patient, the deliberative approach provides the ingredients for sound, unbiased decision-making.

Malaria on the Guiana Shield: a review of the situation in French Guiana

In a climate of growing concern that Plasmodium falciparum may be developing a drug resistance to artemisinin derivatives in the Guiana Shield, this review details our current knowledge of malaria and control strategy in one part of the Shield, French Guiana. Local epidemiology, test-treat-track strategy, the state of parasite drug resistance and vector control measures are summarised. Current issues in terms of mobile populations and legislative limitations are also discussed.