Exploring Access to Direct Payments by People with Dementia Living in Rural Communities

Direct payments are cash payments made to individuals eligible for social care services which allow them to manage and pay for their own social care rather than receiving it directly from their Local Authority. Research suggests that direct payments can enable people with dementia to stay in their own home for longer and experience greater choice, flexibility and an improved social life. However uptake of direct payments is currently low, particularly amongst people with dementia. Those living in rural communities may experience additional barriers to direct payments, such as transport issues and difficulty recruiting carers. There is a lack of research to date in this area which addresses the factors of dementia, ageing and rurality in unison. Therefore the objective of this research was to explore the experiences of people with dementia living in rural communities, in relation to their access to and use of direct payments. 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted with people with dementia in receipt of social care services in the community, and their carers and social workers. Focus groups were carried out with two community social work teams, and existing online discussions about direct payments contributed to by social care staff, people with dementia and their carers were examined. It was found that direct payments tended to be seen as a fall back option, for example as the only alternative to residential care, or as a potential solution to problems experienced by existing social care service users. Direct payments appeared to afford particular benefits to people with dementia and to those living in rural communities in terms of flexibility, continuity of care and access to local facilities. It is therefore important that this group are enabled to access direct payments; ensuring direct payments are viewed as a positive option by all stakeholders is key to this.

Ageing well, ageing productively : the essential contribution of Australia's ageing population to the social and economic prosperity of the nation

In Australia we have become preoccupied with the potential adverse impact of our ageing population on our health and social systems. The projected cost of having increasing proportions of our population in the over 70s, retired, chronically ill category of the demographic profile is emerging as a major challenge for governments and private insurers: so much so in fact that the government is now urging older people to stay at work longer. In America, new approaches to the management and self-management of chronic diseases have been invoked to encourage and support older people to improve their quality of life and reduce their recourse to and dependence upon health care technologies, clinical interventions and health care management systems. Unless this is achieved, it is argued, the cost of looking after this emerging ‘bubble’ of elderly people will become increasingly unsustainable as fewer and fewer (proportionately) younger people work to pay the taxes that support ageing, retired, sick and dependent populations. This paper argues that we are at real risk of having our economic wealth and productivity impeded and truncated by the financial burden of looking after high demand and high cost dependants at the aged end of the social demographic. This paper offers an alternative view of our ageing population, as well as highlighting some of the assets we have in our elderly populations, and providing suggestions as to an alternative view of the phenomenon of ageing that incorporates elements such as flexible working arrangements and the application of new, enabling technologies. This approach to our ageing population dilemma is predicated on a concept of lifelong learning and social participation along with better preventive and early intervention systems of health care

Using a social networking site such as Facebook, to enhance the feeling of belonging, within a first year nursing cohort of a large university

Recently I asked a first year student how he was coping with the transition from high school to university. The young fellow looked at me and said, “Man, everything is so different!” I smiled and said “like what?” with which he seriously replied, “Well for one thing, no one tells you that you have to wear a hat at lunch time.” I have to admit I was a little amused and surprised by this student’s response, as so often the focus, is placed on getting first year students to engage academically, when it is obvious at times, that even the mere transition in to university life and the culture itself, can be a hurdle. While teaching, within a large first year unit for over 10 years, it has become apparent that students want more connection with not only the peers that they study with, but also with the University as a whole. Dr Krause pointed out in her keynote paper, On Being Strategic about the First Year (2006), that this “sense of belonging is conducive to enhancing engagement, satisfaction with learning and commitment to study”. It has also become evident, that the way in which students want to be able to communicate has changed, with the advent of capabilities such as Instant Messaging via a network and Short Message Service SMS texting via their hand held mobile phones. To be able to chat and feel connected on social networking sites such as Bebo, Facebook and Twitter is not only a way of the future, it is here now and it is here to stay.

Health Librarianship Workforce and Education : Research to plan the future. Final Report.

In late 2009, Health Libraries Australia (HLA) received a small grant to undertake a national research project to determine the future requirements for health librarians in the workforce in Australia and develop a structured, modular education framework (post-graduate qualification and continuing professional development structure) to meet these requirements. The main objective was to consider the education and professional development framework that would ensure that health librarians have a clearly defined scope of practice and the specific competency based knowledge and skills that enable them to contribute to the design and delivery of high quality health services in this country. The final report presents a detailed discussion of the changing Australian healthcare environment and the resulting impact on the health library sector, as well as an overview of international trends in health libraries and the implications for Australian health librarianship education. The research methodology is outlined, followed by an analysis of the findings from the two surveys with health librarians and health library managers and the semi-structured interviews conducted with employers. The Medical Library Association (MLA) in the United States had developed a policy document detailing the competencies required by health librarians. It was found that the MLA competencies represented an accepted professional framework of skills which could be used objectively in the survey instrument to measure the areas of professional knowledge and responsibilities that were relevant in the current workplace, and to identify how these requirements might change in the next three to five years. The research results underscore the imperative for health librarians to engage in regular, relevant professional development activities that will enable them to stay abreast with the rapid contextual changes impacting on their practice. In order to be accepted as key members of the multi-disciplinary health professional team, it is strongly believed that health librarians should commit to establishing the mechanisms for specialist certification maintained through compulsory CPD in an ongoing three-year cycle of revalidation. This development would align ALIA and health librarians with other health sector professional associations which are responsible for the self regulation of entry to and continuation in their profession.

Vision based control for fixed wing UAVs inspecting locally linear infrastructure using skid-to-turn maneuvers

The following paper proposes a novel application of Skid-to-Turn maneuvers for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) inspecting locally linear infrastructure. Fixed wing UAVs, following the design of manned aircraft, traditionally employ Bank-to-Turn maneuvers to change heading and thus direction of travel. Commonly overlooked is the effect these maneuvers have on downward facing body fixed sensors, which as a result of bank, point away from the feature during turns. By adopting Skid-to-Turn maneuvers, the aircraft is able change heading whilst maintaining wings level flight, thus allowing body fixed sensors to maintain a downward facing orientation. Eliminating roll also helps to improve data quality, as sensors are no longer subjected to the swinging motion induced as they pivot about an axis perpendicular to their line of sight. Traditional tracking controllers that apply an indirect approach of capturing ground based data by flying directly overhead can also see the feature off center due to steady state pitch and roll required to stay on course. An Image Based Visual Servo controller is developed to address this issue, allowing features to be directly tracked within the image plane. Performance of the proposed controller is tested against that of a Bank-to-Turn tracking controller driven by GPS derived cross track error in a simulation environment developed to simulate the field of view of a body fixed camera.

Introduction to the First International Workshop on Empirical Research in Business Process Management (ER-BPM 2009)

Providing effective IT support for business processes has become crucial for enterprises to stay competitive. In response to this need numerous process support paradigms (e.g., workflow management, service flow management, case handling), process specification standards (e.g., WS-BPEL, BPML, BPMN), process tools (e.g., ARIS Toolset, Tibco Staffware, FLOWer), and supporting methods have emerged in recent years. Summarized under the term “Business Process Management” (BPM), these paradigms, standards, tools, and methods have become a success-critical instrument for improving process performance.

Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) Gladstone Pilot Project : Final Report to Rio Tinto Alcan Community Fund

This report describes the Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) pilot project run at Gladstone Central State School from September to December 2010. The report describes the aims, budget, and timeline of the project and its findings in relation to each of the three major objectives of the project, namely (a) build awareness of, interest in, and familiarity with trades as a future vocation and opportunity for advancement; (b) enhance literacy, numeracy and science knowledge and performance; and (c) provide motivation and engagement to stay on at school and build towards a productive future. The clear findings of the GIVE Gladstone Year 4 pilot project are that, for students at risk in terms of school attendance, engagement and learning: (1) awareness of trades, literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, and motivation and engagement all improve and, in most cases, dramatically improve, in the GIVE structure; (2) this improvement involves transfer to situations and concepts not directly addressed in the project; and (3) the crucial factor in the GIVE structure that gives the improvement is the integration of classroom work with trades experiences and not the classroom and trades experiences themselves (although it is better if these are good).

Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) Rockhampton Region Pilot Project : Final Report to The John Villiers Trust

This report describes the Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) pilot project run in the Rockhampton Region at two schools in 2011. The report includes a description of the project, including its aims, budget, and timeline; and the findings in relation to each of the three major objectives of the project, namely (a) build awareness of, interest in, and familiarity with, trades as a future vocation and opportunity for advancement; (b) enhance literacy, numeracy and science knowledge and performance; and (c) provide motivation and engagement to stay on at school and build towards a productive future. The clear findings of the GIVE Rockhampton Region pilot project are that, for students at risk in terms of school attendance, engagement and learning: (1) awareness of trade practices in horticulture, hospitality, retail, and design and engineering, literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, and motivation and engagement all improve and, in most cases, dramatically improve, in the GIVE structure; and (2) the crucial factor in the GIVE structure that gives the improvement is the integration of classroom work with trades experiences and not the classroom and trades experiences themselves (although it is better if these are good).

Older academics : motivation to keep working

This is an interpretive – descriptive analysis of responses to 41 open ended questionnaires returned by cademicsworking beyond normal retirement age. The sample consisted mainly of academics from the United Kingdom,Australia, and New Zealand. The research addressed the question of what motivates some academics to continueworking beyond the ‘usual’ retirement age. The main motivation for continuing was strong interest and commitment,particularly to research and writing. Some also gave social, financial, and other reasons for continuing. Those not infull time employment described barriers, including finance and facilities and the support that they needed to maintaintheir activities. In most countries institutional and government policies made it possible for them to stay involvedacademically even if it meant making a personal effort. Most of them would have liked better support or recognitionfrom their universities. The results suggest that universities should more actively support older academics incontinuing activity.

Satisfaction with fishing and the desire to leave

Predicting who may leave a fishery is an important consideration when designing capacity reduction programs to enhance both ecological and economic sustainability. In this paper, the relationship between satisfaction and the desire to exit a fishery is examined for the Queensland East Coast Trawl fishery. Income from fishing, and changes in income over the last 5 years, were key factors affecting overall satisfaction. Relative income per se was not a significant factor, counter to most satisfaction studies. Continuing a family tradition of fishing and, for one group, pride in being a fisher was found to be significant. Satisfaction with fishing overall and the challenge of fishing were found to be the primary drivers of the desire to stay or leave the fishery. Surprisingly, public perceptions of fishing, trust in management and perceptions of equity in resource allocation did not significantly affect overall satisfaction or the desire to exit the fishery.

Pilottitutkimus apteekkien yksilöllisestä tupakoinninvieroituspalvelusta

Apteekkien yksilöllinen tupakoinninvieroituspalvelu on tupakoinnin lopettamiseen motivoituneille asiakkaille tarkoitettu maksullinen erikoispalvelu, joka sisältää 4–6 tapaamista vieroitusohjaajana toimivan farmaseutin tai proviisorin kanssa. Palvelu sisältää asiakkaalle räätälöityä neuvontaa, henkilökohtaisen vieroitussuunnitelman sekä seurantajakson. Apteekkien yksilöllinen tupakoinninvieroituspalvelu perustuu Isossa-Britanniassa kehitettyyn palvelumalliin, ja sitä on tarjottu suomalaisissa apteekeissa vuodesta 2006. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma käsittelee apteekkien yksilöllisen tupakoinninvieroituspalvelun pilottitutkimusta, joka toteutettiin Suomen Apteekkariliiton ja Helsingin yliopiston farmasian tiedekunnan sosiaalifarmasian osaston yhteistyönä ja se kuului osana Hengitysliitto Heli ry:n koordinoimaa tupakasta vieroituksen hankekokonaisuutta. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tarkastellaan pilottitutkimuksessa saadun asiakasaineiston avulla apteekkien yksilöllisen tupakoinninvieroituspalvelumallin toimivuutta, asiakkaiden kokemuksia palvelusta, asiakkaiden onnistumista tupaakoinnin lopettamisessa sekä asiakkaiden kyvykkyyden tunteen kehittymistä palvelun aikana. Tässä interventiotutkimuksessa oli mukana 14 apteekkia, jotka rekrytoivat yhteensä 36 palveluasiakasta. Ennen asiakkaiden rekrytointia apteekit perehdytettiin palvelun tarjoamiseen. Apteekit tiedottivat pilottitutkimuksesta paikallisen terveydenhuollon lääkäreitä ja muita terveydenhuollon ammattilaisia, jotka voivat ohjata asiakkaita palveluun. Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön pilottitutkimukselle myöntämä rahoitus mahdollisti asiantuntijapalkkion maksamisen apteekeille ja palvelun tarjoamisen asiakkaille ilmaiseksi tai pientä omakustannusosuutta vastaan. Asiakkaiden tupakoimattomana pysymistä sekä kokemuksia tupakoinninvieroituspalvelusta kartoitettiin kyselylomakkeilla, jotka asiakkaat saivat täytettäväkseen palvelun alussa sekä noin 3 kuukauden kohdalla palvelun alkamisesta. Asiakkaiden taustatiedot kerättiin ensimmäisen tapaamisen yhteydessä erillisille taustatietolomakkeille ja palvelun aikana tehtyjä huomioita niille tarkoitetuille kaavakkeille. Ensimmäisen kyselylomakkeen palauttaneista 28 henkilöstä 20 ja toisen kyselylomakkeen palauttaneista 17 henkilöstä 13 oli pysynyt tupakoimattomana (55,6 % ja 36,1 % kaikista asiakkaista). Kaikki tupakoinnin lopettaneet käyttivät jotakin tupakasta vieroituslääkettä. Tupakoinnin lopettaneilla asiakkailla kyvykkyyden tunne oli keskimääräistä parempi sekä palvelun alussa että koko palvelun ajan. Asiakkaat pitivät palvelua tarpeellisena ja apteekin vieroitusohjaajalta saatua tukea tärkeänä. Asiakkaat kokivat myös palvelun saamisen apteekista tärkeäksi. Noin 32 % ensimmäiseen kyselyyn vastanneista ja 41 % toiseen kyselyyn vastanneista oli valmis maksamaan palvelusta. Heidän ilmoittamansa maksuvalmius oli keskimäärin noin 45 euroa (10–100 euroa). Muusta terveydenhuollosta lähetettiin palveluun vain vähän tai ei lainkaan asiakkaita. Tästä syystä apteekit rekrytoivat asiakkaita myös ilman kontaktia muuhun terveydenhuoltoon. Palvelun 36 asiakkaasta noin 36 % oli pysynyt tupakoimattomana 3 kuukauden kohdalla. Verrokkiryhmä jouduttiin jättämään tutkimuksesta pois verrokkihenkilöiden rekrytoinnin epäonnistuttua. Tulos on kuitenkin vertailukelpoinen kansainvälisiin tutkimuksiin, joissa on saatu vastaavanlaisia tuloksia. Apteekkien yksilöllisestä tupakoinninvieroituspalvelusta saattaa olla hyötyä tupakoinnin lopettamisessa siihen motivoituneille henkilöille ja erityisesti henkilöille, jotka käyttävät lisäksi tupakasta vieroituslääkettä. Asiakkaat kokivat palvelun tärkeäksi ja tarpeelliseksi, mutta heikko maksuvalmius asettaa haasteita palvelun tarjoamiselle apteekeissa. Yhteistyömallia muun terveydenhuollon kanssa tulisi kehittää.

A summer monsoon pump to keep the Bay of Bengal salty

The Bay of Bengal receives a large influx of freshwater from precipitation and river discharge. Outflow of excess freshwater and inflow of saltier water is required to prevent the bay from freshening. Relatively fresh water flows out of the bay along its boundaries and inflow of saltier water occurs via the Summer Monsoon Current (SMC), which flows eastward from the Arabian Sea into the bay. This saltier water, however, slides under the lighter surface water of the bay. Maintaining the salt balance of the bay therefore demands upward mixing of this saltier, subsurface water. Here, we show that an efficient mechanism for this mixing is provided by upward pumping of saltier water in several bursts during the summer monsoon along the meandering path of the SMC. Advection by currents can then take this saltier water into the rest of the basin, allowing the bay to stay salty despite a large net freshwater input.

Number of prior episodes and the presence of depressive symptoms are associated with longer length of stay for patients with acute manic episodes

Background: Few studies have analyzed predictors of length of stay (LOS) in patients admitted due to acute bipolar manic episodes. The purpose of the present study was to estimate LOS and to determine the potential sociodemographic and clinical risk factors associated with a longer hospitalization. Such information could be useful to identify those patients at high risk for long LOS and to allocate them to special treatments, with the aim of optimizing their hospital management. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study recruiting adult patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria) who had been hospitalized due to an acute manic episode with a Young Mania Rating Scale total score greater than 20. Bivariate correlational and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of LOS. Results: A total of 235 patients from 44 centers were included in the study. The only factors that were significantly associated to LOS in the regression model were the number of previous episodes and the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score at admission (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with a high number of previous episodes and those with depressive symptoms during mania are more likely to stay longer in hospital. Patients with severe depressive symptoms may have a more severe or treatment-resistant course of the acute bipolar manic episode.

A comparison of two fishery-independent survey programs used to define the population structure of American lobster (Homarus americanus) in the Gulf of Maine

The population structure and abundance of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) stock in the Gulf of Maine are defined by data derived from a fishery-independent trawl survey program conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Few sampling stations in the survey area are located inshore, in particular along coastal Maine. According to statistics, however, more than two thirds of the lobster landings come from inshore waters within three miles off the coast of Maine. In order to include an inshore survey program, complementary to the NMFS survey, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) initialized an inshore survey program in 2000. The survey was modeled on the NMFS survey program, making these two survey programs comparable. Using data from both survey programs, we evaluated the population structure of the American lobster in the Gulf of Maine. Our findings indicate that lobsters in the Gulf of Maine tend to have a size-dependent inshore-off-shore distribution; smaller lobsters are more likely to stay inshore and larger lobsters are more likely to stay offshore. The DMR inshore and NMFS survey programs focused on different areas in the Gulf of Maine and likely targeted different segments of the stock. We suggest that data from both survey programs be used to assess the lobster stock and to describe the dynamics of the stock in the Gulf of Maine.

通过对心理学期刊的几项统计分析看我国十年来儿童发展教育心理学研究状况与动向

In this study, bibliometric method was usded in the investigation of 2274 papers concerning child developmental and educational psychology, which were published during the ten years of 1979-1988, in 14 psychological journals and 97 other scientific journals. According to the quantitative and qualitative analyses, the results are as follows: 1979-1988 saw the rapid development and prosperous period in China's child developmental and educational psychology, During which more papers were published and more fields couched than in the psvious thirty years. The number of literature publications increased and went to the peak in 1983 and 1984, and came down since 1985. The trend was found to result from the decrease in popular science introductions of psychology, which reflected that a heat of psychology had appeared in 1983 and started to cool in 1985. At the mean time, the number of research reports had been holding a steady increase by 1987 and decreased obviously in 1988, especially in the fields of cognitive and social development. There could be several possible explanations of this phenonemon: Piagetian studies are becoming fewer and the eakening of Piaget's influence might predict a period of standstill in the field of developmental psychology in China; As researches become more and more difficult, researchers have turned to be more cautious in lay out their reports; the cutdown of fees and staff could also be one of reasons for less publication in 1988. As the factors mentioned above still exist and their influences last, the number of papers are not expected to increase in the near future. The field of thinking and menory is closely connected with that of artificial intelligence. The downhill situations in these two fileds should be taken seriously. 2. The types of research work are divided on the bases of their problem raising. The trends show that the deepening studies, which represent a comaratively higher level of exploration, are waving fewer, while repeated studies and creative studies are becoming more as the years go along. This fact is worth being further analysed. Big progress could be seen from research methods. The methods currently used are mainly experiment, psychological measurement and assessment, and theoretical reasoning. There is a rapid increase of research by using scales. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Binet Scale and Baley Scale have been revised andstandardized. Chinese researchers have also developed several good scales of their own, some of which are valuable and need to be standardized. In the papers investigated, the amount of citation is significantly lower than the world average level as well as the average citation number of whole China's scientific literature. Among the papers cited, most are of Chinese and English languages, and only a small rate were published in resently five years. The renewal of literature cited seems to stay at a low level in the ten years. Tremendous work could be reflected by the number of subjects used the research work in those ten years: 362665. A lot of studies piled on the period of 4-16 year olds. Compared with the previous thirty years, the age range was much enlarged and there were quite a few studies about preschool, school and adolescent periods. The study of newborn of 0-3 has been a weak point so far and it is a field to which chinese developmental psychologists should pay more attention. The progress in using statistics is one of the most obvious part in the development in the research work of child developmental and educational psychology. The one tendency that should be awared and avoid is to put the cart before the horse: seeking for more sophisticated statistic method while neglecting the meanings of research problems. 3. Citation analysis was used in selecting scholars who had great influence in the field of child developmental and educational psychology. Among the often cited and famous scholars, 31 are Chinese researchers and 12 are Western psychologists. The authoritative journal for child developmental psychology and educational psychology is Acta Psychologica Sinica.