Post-school needs of young people with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study describes the post-school circumstances and service needs of older teenagers and adults with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder, living in Queensland, Australia. The respondents were 95 parents. Results indicated that the majority of the young people lived in the family home and were unemployed. Of those who worked, 56% had unskilled jobs. They were estimated to spend a significant proportion of their time engaged in solitary, technology-based activities, and comparatively little time in employment or socialising. Parents rated employment support as the greatest service priority for their sons and daughters, followed by specialised support to assist with completing post-school education and training, assistance to support the transition from high school to adulthood, and social skills training.

The Benefits Planner: Improved Work Incentives in Social Security Disability Insurance Program - Changes Will Make Work More Attractive to SSDI Recipients

This newsletter will provide valuable information on how work for persons with disabilities effects government benefits, with an emphasis on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) work incentives. Each newsletter will contribute to an ongoing dialogue on topics related to benefits and work.

“We don’t tell people what to do”: Ethical practice and Indigenous health promotion

Health promotion aspires to work in empowering, participatory ways, with the goal of supporting people to increase control over their health. However, buried in this goal is an ethical tension: while increasing people’s autonomy, health promotion also imposes a particular, health promotion-sanctioned version of what is good. This tension positions practitioners precariously, where the ethos of empowerment risks increasing health promotion’s paternalistic control over people, rather than people’s control over their own health. Here in we argue that this ethical tension is amplified in Indigenous Australia, where colonial processes of control over Indigenous lands, lives and cultures are indistinguishable from contemporary health promotion ‘interventions’. Moreover, the potential stigmatisation produced in any paternalistic acts ‘done for their own good’ cannot be assumed to have evaporated within the self-proclaimed ‘empowering’ narratives of health promotion. This issue’s guest editor’s call for health promotion to engage ‘with politics and with philosophical ideas about the state and the citizen’ is particularly relevant in an Indigenous Australian context. Indigenous Australians continue to experience health promotion as a moral project of control through intervention, which contradicts health promotion’s central goal of empowerment. Therefore, Indigenous health promotion is an invaluable site for discussion and analysis of health promotion’s broader ethical tensions. Given the persistent and alarming Indigenous health inequalities, this paper calls for systematic ethical reflection in order to redress health promotion’s general failure to reduce health inequalities experienced by Indigenous Australians.

The Influence of Bilayer Composition on the Gel to Liquid Crystalline Transition

We report molecular dynamics simulations of bilayers using a united atom model with explicit solvent molecules. The bilayer consists of the single tail cationic surfactant behenyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (BTMAC) with stearyl alcohol (SA) as the cosurfactant. We study the gel to liquid crystalline transitions in the bilayer by varying the amount of water at fixed BTMAC to SA ratio as well as by varying the BTMAC to SA ratio at fixed water content. The bilayer is found to exist in the tilted, Lβ′ phase at low temperatures, and for the compositions investigated in this study, the Lβ′ to Lα melting transition occurred in the temperature range 330−338 K. For the highest BTMAC to SA composition (2:3 molar ratio), a diffuse headgroup−water interface is observed at lower temperatures, and an increase in the d-spacing occurs prior to the melting transition. This pretransition swelling is accompanied by a sharpening in the water density variation across the headgroup region of the bilayer. Signatures of this swelling effect which can be observed in the alkane density distributions, area per headgroup, and membrane thickness are attributed to the hydrophobic effect. At a fixed bilayer composition, the transition temperature (>338 K) from the Lβ′ to Lα transition obtained for the high water content bilayer (80 wt %) is similar to that obtained with low water content (54.3 wt %), confirming that the melting transition at these water contents is dominated by chain melting.

Focus on opportunities as a boundary condition of the relationship between job control and work engagement: A multi-sample, multi-method study

The concept of focus on opportunities describes how many new goals, options, and possibilities employees believe to have in their personal future at work. In this multi-sample, multi-method study, the authors investigated relationships between focus on opportunities and general and daily work engagement and the moderating role of focus on opportunities on between- and within-person relationships between job control and work engagement. Based on a social cognitive theory framework on the motivating potential of a future temporal focus, it was hypothesized that focus on opportunities is positively related to work engagement. Further, consistent with the notion of compensatory resources, it was expected that job control is not related to work engagement among employees with a high focus on opportunities, whereas job control, as an external resource of the work environment, is positively related to work engagement among employees with a low focus on opportunities. Both a cross-sectional survey study (N=174) and a daily diary study (N=64) supported the hypotheses. The study contributes to research on the job demands-resources model as it emphasizes the role of focus on opportunities as a motivational factor in the relationship between job control and work engagement.

Five tricks retailers will use to make you shop this Christmas

Australian shoppers are predicted to spend nearly A$47 billion this Christmas. But retailers have to work harder and harder to get shoppers to pull out their wallets. Here are five strategies retailers will be using to get us to part with our hard earned coin.

Targeting neuropilin-1 to inhibit prostate cancer invasion and metastasis

Recent reports provide evidence that the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a key role in prostate cancer (PCa) metastasis and therapy resistance. We have recently identified the cell surface receptor, Neuropilin-1 (NRP1) to be increased during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and this study aims to determine whether the inhibition of NRP1 will be a feasible therapeutic strategy for blocking PCa metastasis and therapy resistance.

Transition to parenthood after assisted reproductive treatment: Follow-up study of singleton pregnancies

Infertility treatments are relatively easily available in most Western countries today, but the psychological consequences of these high-tech treatments have scarcely been addressed. The purpose of this controlled longitudinal study was to explore the early environment of the infant born by assisted reproductive treatment (ART). We focused on the parents mental well-being, marital relations and experience of parenting. In addition to this, we assessed parent child interaction and parents mental representations of their child after long-standing infertility and several unsuccessful ART attempts. The subjects were infertile couples who achieved a singleton pregnancy by in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The control group comprised of spontaneously conceiving couples with singleton pregnancies. ART women showed fewer depressive symptoms than controls during pregnancy and after delivery, but the difference vanished by the end of the child s first year. ART men consistently had lower levels of anxiety symptoms, sleeping difficulties, and social dysfunction than control men. Control women experienced a decrease in dyadic consensus during the child s first year, which did not happen among ART women. After the child was born, ART men reported a higher level of sexual affection compared with control men. Psychic symptoms and stressful life events were differently related to marital relations in ART and control groups. The parenting experiences of ART mothers were in general at a higher level, compared with controls, and they changed in a positive direction during the child s first year. Fathering experiences were at the same level in both groups, and they changed positively in both groups by the end of the child s first year. The parenting experiences of ART mothers and fathers were more resilient to certain child-related stressors than those of control group. Both mothers and fathers with long-term infertility showed more sensitive behaviour with their child in toddler-age than in infancy. Correspondingly, children s cooperation increased. Mothers often mentioned a fear of miscarriage and difficulty in creating representations of the child during pregnancy. Descriptions of the infants were mainly rich, vivid and loaded with positive features. In conclusion, ART parents in general seem to adapt well to the transition to parenthood. Former infertility and ART do not seem to constitute a risk for parents mental health, marital relations or experience of parenting. Even longstanding infertility with several unsuccessful treatment attempts did not create a risk as regards parenting behaviour or parents mental representations of their child. In this group, however, women were found to have fear for losing the child and difficulty in creating representations of the child during pregnancy, which in some cases may indicate need for psychosocial support. Even though our results are encouraging, infertility and infertility treatments are generally considered as a stressful experience. It is a challenge for health authorities to recognize those couples who need professional help to overcome the distressing experiences of infertility and ART.

Essays on Managing Knowledge and Work Related Wellbeing

This study explores the relationship between Intellectual Capital and Maintenance of Work Ability. Intellectual Capital is the central framework for analysing the increasing knowledge-intensiveness of business life. It is characteristic of Intellectual Capital that the intersection of human capital, internal structures and external structures is essential. Maintenance of Work Ability, on the other hand, has been the leading paradigm for Finnish occupational health and safety activities since the late 1980s. It is also a holistic approach that emphasises the interdependence of competence, work community, work environment and health as the key to work-related wellbeing. This thesis consists of five essays that scrutinise the focal phenomena both theoretically and empirically. The conceptual model that results from the first research essay provides a general framework for the whole thesis. The case study in the second essay supports a division of intangible assets into generative and commercially exploitable intangibles introduced in the first essay and further into the primary and secondary dimension of generative intangibles. Further scrutiny of the interaction of generative intangible assets in essay three reveals that employees’ wellbeing enhances the readiness to contribute to the knowledge creation process. The fourth essay shows that the MWA framework could benefit knowledge-intensive work but this would require a different approach than has been commonly adopted in Finland. In essay five, deeper analysis of the MWA framework shows that its potential results from comprehensive support of the functioning of an organisation. The general conclusion of this thesis is that organisations must take care of their employees’ wellbeing in order to secure innovativeness that is the key to surviving in today’s competitive business environment.

Correlated Conductance Fluctuations Close to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in Ultrathin NbN Films

We probe the presence of long-range correlations in phase fluctuations by analyzing the higher-order spectrum of resistance fluctuations in ultrathin NbN superconducting films. The non-Gaussian component of resistance fluctuations is found to be sensitive to film thickness close to the transition, which allows us to distinguish between mean field and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) type superconducting transitions. The extent of non-Gaussianity was found to be bounded by the BKT and mean field transition temperatures and depends strongly on the roughness and structural inhomogeneity of the superconducting films. Our experiment outlines a novel fluctuation-based kinetic probe in detecting the nature of superconductivity in disordered low-dimensional materials.

Boundary-layer transition on a slender cone in hypervelocity flow with real gas effects

The laminar to turbulent transition process in boundary layer flows in thermochemical nonequilibrium at high enthalpy is measured and characterized. Experiments are performed in the T5 Hypervelocity Reflected Shock Tunnel at Caltech, using a 1 m length 5-degree half angle axisymmetric cone instrumented with 80 fast-response annular thermocouples, complemented by boundary layer stability computations using the STABL software suite. A new mixing tank is added to the shock tube fill apparatus for premixed freestream gas experiments, and a new cleaning procedure results in more consistent transition measurements. Transition location is nondimensionalized using a scaling with the boundary layer thickness, which is correlated with the acoustic properties of the boundary layer, and compared with parabolized stability equation (PSE) analysis. In these nondimensionalized terms, transition delay with increasing CO₂ concentration is observed: tests in 100% and 50% CO₂, by mass, transition up to 25% and 15% later, respectively, than air experiments. These results are consistent with previous work indicating that CO₂ molecules at elevated temperatures absorb acoustic instabilities in the MHz range, which is the expected frequency of the Mack second-mode instability at these conditions, and also consistent with predictions from PSE analysis. A strong unit Reynolds number effect is observed, which is believed to arise from tunnel noise. N_Tr for air from 5.4 to 13.2 is computed, substantially higher than previously reported for noisy facilities. Time- and spatially-resolved heat transfer traces are used to track the propagation of turbulent spots, and convection rates at 90%, 76%, and 63% of the boundary layer edge velocity, respectively, are observed for the leading edge, centroid, and trailing edge of the spots. A model constructed with these spot propagation parameters is used to infer spot generation rates from measured transition onset to completion distance. Finally, a novel method to control transition location with boundary layer gas injection is investigated. An appropriate porous-metal injector section for the cone is designed and fabricated, and the efficacy of injected CO₂ for delaying transition is gauged at various mass flow rates, and compared with both no injection and chemically inert argon injection cases. While CO₂ injection seems to delay transition, and argon injection seems to promote it, the experimental results are inconclusive and matching computations do not predict a reduction in N factor from any CO₂ injection condition computed.

Capacitação de pessoas com deficiência intelectual para o trabalho: estudo de caso de um curso de capacitação profissional

Este estudo teve como objetivo a análise de um curso de capacitação profissional para alunos com deficiência intelectual numa escola especial. Os objetivos específicos foram: a) analisar o desenvolvimento social e o desempenho dos alunos nas atividades do curso; b) investigar as expectativas dos alunos e seus familiares em relação ao papel da escola especial no contexto da capacitação profissional; c) compartilhar o conhecimento produzido na escola especial e na universidade sobre alternativas pedagógicas para o ensino de alunos com deficiência intelectual. Para atender aos objetivos foi realizado um estudo de caso por meio da metodologia da pesquisa-ação, a qual consistiu de um trabalho colaborativo entre a pesquisadora e a professora da turma. Entre os procedimentos incluem-se observações das atividades do curso; entrevistas com a professora, funcionário da escola, alunos do curso e seus familiares. A análise dos dados destacou como aspectos relevantes: o desenvolvimento de uma proposta diferenciada de formação profissional para este alunado, a investimento pessoal da professora em uma capacitação para aprender a ensinar em um novo contexto, e a inciativa da escola de buscar parcerias para implementação de mudanças no seu escopo de atuação enquanto instituição especializada. A escuta dos alunos, seus familiares e uma profissional da escola colaborou para a proposição de novas ações dentro do contexto investigado. Nos dados obtidos também se evidenciou que as atividades de aula planejadas pela professora do curso foram determinantes para o bom desempenho dos alunos, sobretudo por serem realizadas no contexto real onde tais ações se executam. O trabalho colaborativo da pesquisadora e da professora viabilizando a elaboração de um plano individual de acompanhamento para os alunos no treinamento pode ser apontado como uma alternativa para o planejamento do processo de transição para a vida pós-escola. Entre outros aspectos, as entrevistas com os responsáveis indicaram a necessidade de um trabalho mais pontual da equipe da escola com as famílias sobre a perspectiva de vida pós-escolar dos alunos. De forma mais geral, o estudo de caso demonstrou que a escola especial, tem procurado encontrar caminhos para sua ressignificação por meio da aproximação e parceria com a universidade. Os dados obtidos permitem concluir que a formação continuada dos professores para atuar na capacitação profissional de alunos com deficiência intelectual é um processo que necessita do trabalho colaborativo de diferentes atores, conforme apontado pela própria professora do curso analisado.

Intermittency transport modeling of separated flow transition

An intermittency transport model is proposed for modeling separated-flow transition. The model is based on earlier work on prediction of attached flow bypass transition and is applied for the first time to model transition in a separation bubble at various degrees of free-stream turbulence. The model has been developed so that it takes into account the entrainment of the surrounding fluid. Experimental investigations suggest that it is this phenomena which ultimately determines the extent of the separation bubble. Transition onset is determined via a boundary layer correlation based on momentum thickness at the point of separation. The intermittent flow characteristic of the transition process is modeled via an intermittency transport equation. This accounts for both normal and streamwise variation of intermittency and hence models the entrainment of surrounding flow in a more accurate manner than alternative prescribed intermittency models. The model has been validated against the well established T3L semicircular leading edge flat plate test case for three different degrees of free-stream turbulence characteristic of turbomachinery blade applications.

Bypass transition to sustained thermoacoustic oscillations in a linearly stable rijke tube

In this paper we examine triggering in a simple linearly-stable thermoacoustic system using techniques from flow instability and optimal control. Firstly, for a noiseless system, we find the initial states that have highest energy growth over given times and from given energies. Secondly, by varying the initial energy, we find the lowest energy that just triggers to a stable periodic solution. We show that the corresponding initial state grows first towards an unstable periodic solution and, from there, to the stable periodic solution. This exploits linear transient growth, which arises due to nonnormality in the governing equations and is directly analogous to bypass transition to turbulence. Thirdly, we introduce noise that has similar spectral characteristics to this initial state. We show that, when triggering from low noise levels, the system grows to high amplitude self-sustained oscillations by first growing towards the unstable periodic solution of the noiseless system. This helps to explain the experimental observation that linearly-stable systems can trigger to self-sustained oscillations even with low background noise. © 2010 by University of Cambridge. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

Defending Identity and Ethos: an analysis of teacher perceptions of school collaboration in Northern Ireland

The purpose of this article is to examine the process of collaborative working between teachers located in separate faith-based schools in Northern Ireland. Drawing on theories of intergroup relations, and with reference to in-depth interviews with teachers in post-primary schools, the article shows that despite earlier research which identified a reluctance amongst teachers in the different sectors to work together, most Catholic and Protestant teachers are motivated to collaborate to develop a more broadly based curriculum for pupils. However, it has also been shown that teachers tend to studiously avoid discussing their differences in mixed-faith contexts, and it is argued that this may have the potential to constrain collaborative relations. It is concluded that without strategic direction from policy makers to assist teachers in negotiating and exploring their differences it will be difficult to build the trust which is likely to sustain collaborative relations.