GPs’ and community pharmacists’ opinions on medication management at transitions of care in Ireland

Objective. The aim of this study was to survey GPs and community pharmacists (CPs) in Ireland regarding current practices of medication management, specifically medication reconciliation, communication between health care providers and medication errors as patients transition in care.
Methods. A national cross-sectional survey was distributed electronically to 2364 GPs, 311 GP Registrars and 2382 CPs. Multivariable associations comparing GPs to CPs were generated and content analysis of free text responses was undertaken.
Results. There was an overall response rate of 17.7% (897 respondents—554 GPs/Registrars and 343 CPs). More than 90% of GPs and CPs were positive about the effects of medication reconciliation on medication safety and adherence. Sixty per cent of GPs reported having no formal system of medication reconciliation. Communication between GPs and CPs was identified as good/very good by >90% of GPs and CPs. The majority (>80%) of both groups could clearly recall prescribing errors, following a transition of care, they had witnessed in the previous 6 months. Free text content analysis corroborated the positive relationship between GPs and CPs, a frustration with secondary care communication, with many examples given of prescribing errors.
Conclusions. While there is enthusiasm for the benefits of medication reconciliation there are limited formal structures in primary care to support it. Challenges in relation to systems that support inter-professional communication and reduce medication errors are features of the primary/secondary care transition. There is a need for an improved medication management system. Future research should focus on the identified barriers in implementing medication reconciliation and systems that can improve it.

Territoriality and Migration in a Divided Society: Lay Theories of Citizenship and Place in Northern Ireland

The study of citizenship has increasingly focused on the ways in which spatialized understandings of the concept can be used to marginalise and exclude social groups: exclusive constructions of national boundaries, local neighbourhoods and public spaces can deny marginalised groups their social and political rights. Less attention has been paid to how constructions of place can accommodate different groups’ rights and promote peaceful coexistence. This is particularly important in locations where migration disrupts existing understandings (‘lay theories’) of the relationship between residency, identity and collective rights. The present research examines how spatialized understandings of citizenship shape perceptions of intergroup mixing in previously segregated areas of a post-conflict society. Critical Discursive Social Psychological (CDSP) analysis of 30 interviews with long-term residents and recent migrants to increasingly mixed areas of Belfast shows that, while all pa
rticipants acknowledged Northern Ireland’s territorialisation, different lay theories of citizenship underpin the possibility and desirability of intergroup coexistence. Long-term residents drew upon understandings of the negative citizenry of the outgroup to argue against the possibility of peaceful coexistence within their locale, while recent incomers gave evidence of their own experiences of good citizenship within the shared spaces of neighbourhood to demonstrate that this could and should be achieved. The implications of lay theories of citizenship for the study of residential migration and mixing are discussed

Exploring the influences on classroom-based contact via shared education in Northern Ireland

Initiatives in intercultural education have frequently involved the promotion of contact between members of different groups as a means of improving intergroup relations. Experience from Northern Ireland suggests, however, that such schemes have often been organised and delivered in such a way that opportunities for sustained, high-quality contact are limited. This paper considers processes of contact in one relatively recent initiative, “shared education”, which involves collaboration between separate schools to deliver classes to Catholic and Protestant pupils in mixed groups. Employing qualitative methods of observation and interviewing to capture participants’ experiences of contact, the research explores the influences on the quality and frequency of cross-group interaction in the shared class. With findings highlighting the subject and pedagogy, teacher’s approach and classroom arrangement as key factors, the study offers suggestions for policy and practice to enhance opportunities for contact and relationship-building in mixed classes.

Lawyers & Truth Recovery Mechanisms: South Africa

Focusing on post-apartheid South Africa, the report explores the role of lawyers in truth recovery mechanisms.

The report was prepared by Dr Rachel Killean and draws on a series of interviews conducted in South Africa (with legal academics, ‘struggle’ lawyers, state lawyers, judges and human rights activists) as part of the wider Lawyers, Conflict and Transition project.

Dr Killean begins with an overview of the various roles the legal profession has played in South Africa, both during the apartheid era and post-transition.

The first half of the report then explores the role of lawyers as professional participants – firstly at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and secondly in the Marikana Commission of Inquiry.

The report then considers the notion of lawyers as subjects of truth recovery, looking in particular at the Special Legal Hearing on the legal profession as part of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In the concluding section Killean reflects on the extent to which lawyers influence the procedures and outcomes of truth recovery mechanisms and offers some concrete suggestions as to how the involvement of lawyers in such processes might be more effectively managed.

With regard to lawyers as subjects of truth recovery, she acknowledges the limitations of the South African model but posits that the endeavour must be applauded, not least because it demonstrated that it is possible to scrutinise the role of the legal profession in past conflict, and that it is worth wrestling with the associated challenges.

Complexity of risk: Mixed methods approach to understanding youth risk and insecurity in post-conflict settings

In settings of intergroup conflict, identifying contextually-relevant risk factors for youth development in an important task. In Vukovar, Croatia, a city devastated during the war in former Yugoslavia, ethno-political tensions remain. The current study utilized a mixed method approach to identify two salient community-level risk factors (ethnic tension and general antisocial behavior) and related emotional insecurity responses (ethnic and non-ethnic insecurity) among youth in Vukovar. In Study 1, focus group discussions (N=66) with mother, fathers, and adolescents 11 to 15-years-old were analyzed using the Constant Comparative Method, revealing two types of risk and insecurity responses. In Study 2, youth (N=227, 58% male, M=15.88 SD=1.12 years old) responded to quantitative scales developed from the focus groups; discriminate validity was demonstrated and path analyses established predictive validity between each type of risk and insecurity. First, community ethnic tension (i.e., threats related to war/ethnic identity) significantly predicted ethnic insecurity for all youth (β=.41, p<.001). Second, experience with community antisocial behavior (i.e., general crime found in any context) predicted non-ethnic community insecurity for girls (β=.32, p<.05), but not for boys. These findings are the first to show multiple forms of emotional insecurity at the community level; implications for future research are discussed.

Addressing conflict and tolerance through the curriculum

Political, religious and national divisions in Northern Ireland go back many hundreds of years so it is not surprising that the lack of a common national narrative has made the teaching of history in schools difficult. The fact that schools have largely been organized on a denominational basis has added to the challenge. When political violence broke out in the late 1960s many looked to schools to contribute to the promotion of reconciliation and the way history had been taught received significant critical attention. This chapter will outline the evolving nature of the history curriculum and review evidence on the impact of this curriculum on the historical understanding of students and young people. In addition, the chapter will briefly consider other ways in which students engage with historical issues through the teaching of citizenship, and wider family and community influences. Whereas the teaching of history in the past either was largely absent or often took on a partisan character, the development of a statutory curriculum in the 1990s helped promote a more dispassionate, skills-based approach which emphasized critical engagement with evidence and a multiperspectivity. While this represented a significant improvement on what had gone before, evaluation of the impact of this approach has highlighted the need for a consideration of the emotional impact of historical understanding and the need better to connect the lessons of history to contemporary society.

Algorithmes de construction et correction d'arbres de gènes par la réconciliation

Les gènes, qui servent à encoder les fonctions biologiques des êtres vivants, forment l'unité moléculaire de base de l'hérédité. Afin d'expliquer la diversité des espèces que l'on peut observer aujourd'hui, il est essentiel de comprendre comment les gènes évoluent. Pour ce faire, on doit recréer le passé en inférant leur phylogénie, c'est-à-dire un arbre de gènes qui représente les liens de parenté des régions codantes des vivants. Les méthodes classiques d'inférence phylogénétique ont été élaborées principalement pour construire des arbres d'espèces et ne se basent que sur les séquences d'ADN. Les gènes sont toutefois riches en information, et on commence à peine à voir apparaître des méthodes de reconstruction qui utilisent leurs propriétés spécifiques. Notamment, l'histoire d'une famille de gènes en terme de duplications et de pertes, obtenue par la réconciliation d'un arbre de gènes avec un arbre d'espèces, peut nous permettre de détecter des faiblesses au sein d'un arbre et de l'améliorer. Dans cette thèse, la réconciliation est appliquée à la construction et la correction d'arbres de gènes sous trois angles différents: 1) Nous abordons la problématique de résoudre un arbre de gènes non-binaire. En particulier, nous présentons un algorithme en temps linéaire qui résout une polytomie en se basant sur la réconciliation. 2) Nous proposons une nouvelle approche de correction d'arbres de gènes par les relations d'orthologie et paralogie. Des algorithmes en temps polynomial sont présentés pour les problèmes suivants: corriger un arbre de gènes afin qu'il contienne un ensemble d'orthologues donné, et valider un ensemble de relations partielles d'orthologie et paralogie. 3) Nous montrons comment la réconciliation peut servir à "combiner'' plusieurs arbres de gènes. Plus précisément, nous étudions le problème de choisir un superarbre de gènes selon son coût de réconciliation.

A Casa na Mala do Carro: flexibilidade e mobilidade geográfica como condição de trabalho da equipa de divulgação do Dia da Defesa Nacional

A flexibilidade é o conceito mais apropriado para descrever as práticas de gestão das organizações num contexto extremamente incerto e cambiante como o atual; emerge como um conceito heterogéneo, frequentemente, associado às noções de polivalência, disponibilidade, adaptabilidade, insegurança, mobilidade e instabilidade profissional. Robert Boyer (1986) foi quem denunciou, logo na década de 1980, o lado precário da flexibilidade, falando em “flexibilidade danosa”. Charles Tilly (1976) avançou o conceito de career migration, indagando o facto de os trabalhadores poderem ser deslocados de locais de trabalho para servirem os interesses da organização, subordinando-lhe os seus interesses privados. Este estudo analisou uma equipa de trabalho que está vinculada à organização militar através de um contrato por tempo determinado e que se encontra em constantes deslocações (mobilidade geográfica) no desempenho das suas funções. Trata-se da equipa do Projeto do Dia da Defesa Nacional (PDDN), constituída por 42 oficiais. Tendo em conta esta realidade, perspetivou-se conhecer a especificidade das condições de trabalho deste grupo de profissionais, problematizando especificamente as consequências positivas e negativas deste tipo de funções e a maneira como avaliam a sua situação, procurando conhecer os impactos desta forma de flexibilidade laboral. Questionou-se, em particular, os impactos da mobilidade geográfica permanente a nível da conciliação entre as várias esferas de vida, das estratégias de adaptação a cada equipa, a cada centro, às diferentes realidades militares, às diferentes cidades; questionaram-se os impactos do tipo de vínculo em termos de expetativas e estratégias profissionais, de acesso a formação e outros mecanismos de desenvolvimento profissional, do sentimento de pertença à organização, do ambiente de trabalho e das relações interpessoais, do apoio prestado pela supervisão; e também se procurou compreender as diferenças entre estes oficiais (contratados) e o pessoal do quadro permanente (QP) das Forças Armadas. Através de um inquérito por questionário e da realização de 9 entrevistas em profundidade foi possível conhecer a forma como refletem e avaliam as suas condições de trabalho, os efeitos da precariedade do seu vínculo quer na própria organização militar quer em termos de expetativas e projetos socioprofissionais, explorando-se os impactos da mobilidade geográfica permanente (mensal) nas várias esferas de vida das pessoas da equipa. / Flexibility is the concept most appropriated to describe the management practices in a highly uncertain and changing context like the present; it appears as a heterogeneous concept often associated with concepts of versatility, availability, adaptability, insecurity, professional mobility and instability. Robert Boyer (1986) denounced, then in the 1980s, the poor side of flexibility, talking of "harmful flexibility." Charles Tilly (1976) advanced the concept of “career migration”, questioning the fact that workers can be displaced from the workplace to serve the organization's interests, subordinating their own private interests. This work studied a working team that is tied to the military organization through a fixed-term contract and is in constant movement (geographical mobility) in the performance of their duties. That’s the team of Projeto do Dia da Defesa Nacional (PDDN) consisting of 42 officers. Given this reality, it sought to know the specific working conditions of this group of professionals, specifically questioning the positive and negative consequences of this kind of functions and the way they evaluate their situation, trying to understand the impacts of this form of labor flexibility. It was questioned, in particular, the impact of geographical mobility at the level of permanent reconciliation between the various spheres of life, adaptation strategies, to different cities teams, centers and military realities; questioned the impacts in terms of expectations and professional strategies, access to training and other forms of professional development, the sense of belonging to the organization, the work environment and interpersonal relationships, the support provided by supervision; and also it sought to understand the differences between these officers (hired) and the staff of the permanent (QP) of the Armed Forces. Through a survey and nine in-depth interviews we were able to understand how professionals reflect and evaluate their working conditions, the effects of the precarity either in military organization and also in terms of their expectations and socioprofessional projects, exploring the impacts of geographical mobility (monthly) in the different spheres of life.

Conciliação Trabalho-Família em Três Tipos de Organizações

Este estudo aborda a questão da conciliação entre o trabalho e família, nomeadamente a questão da importância da existência de medidas de conciliação. A pesquisa decorreu em três contextos, numa empresa com medidas de conciliação efectivas, uma empresa sem medidas de conciliação e no setor público, através de questionários Os principais resultados mostram que a existência de medidas de conciliação e de uma cultura organizacional apoiante (para a qual contribui o apoio de colegas e chefias) aumentam a perceção de capacidade de conciliação\ e permitem diminuir o stress sentido pelos trabalhadores. Percebeu-se também que existe uma maior interferência do trabalho na família do que o contrário e que as mulheres continuam a ser quem sente mais dificuldades em relação à conciliação. / This study addresses the issue of balancing work and family, namely the issue of importance of conciliation measures. The research took place in three contexts, a company with actual measures of conciliation, a company without conciliation measures and the public sector, through questionnaires The main results show that the existence of reconciliation measures and a supportive organizational culture (which contributes to the support of colleagues and supervisors) increase the perception of ability to compromise and they reduce the stress felt by workers. We also noticed that there is a greater interference of work in the family than otherwise and that women continue to be who feels more difficulties regarding the conciliation.

WHITE-NAPED CRANE Migratory Bird

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-08

God and War: the Church of England and Armed Conflict in the Twentieth Century

Despite narratives of secularization, it appears that the British public persistently pay attention to clerical opinion and continually resort to popular expressions of religious faith, not least in time of war. From the throngs of men who gathered to hear the Bishop of London preach recruiting sermons during the First World War, to the attention paid to Archbishop Williams' words of conscience on Iraq, clerical rhetoric remains resonant. For the countless numbers who attended National Days of Prayer during the Second World War, and for the many who continue to find the Remembrance Day service a meaningful ritual, civil religious events provide a source of meaningful ceremony and a focus of national unity. War and religion have been linked throughout the twentieth century and this book explores these links: taking the perspective of the 'home front' rather than the battlefield. Exploring the views and accounts of Anglican clerics on the issue of warfare and international conflict across the century, the authors explore the church's stance on the causes, morality and conduct of warfare; issues of pacifism, obliteration bombing, nuclear possession and deterrence, retribution, forgiveness and reconciliation, and the spiritual opportunities presented by conflict. This book offers invaluable insights into how far the Church influenced public appraisal of war whilst illuminating the changing role of the Church across the twentieth century.

U-Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of high-grade rocks from the Upper Allochthonous Terrane of Bragança and Morais Massifs (NE Portugal); geodynamic consequences

Bragança and Morais Massifs are part of the mega-klippen ensemble of NW Iberia, comprising a tectonic pile of four allochthonous units stacked above the Central-Iberian Zone autochthon. On top of this pile, the Upper Allochthonous Terrane (UAT) includes different high-grade metamorphic series whose age and geodynamic meaning are controversial. Mafic granulites provided U–Pb zircon ages at 399±7 Ma, dating the Variscan emplacement of UAT. In contrast,U–Pb zircon ages of ky- and hb-eclogites, felsic/intermediate HP/HT-granulites and orthogneisses (ca. 500–480 Ma) are identical to those of gabbros (488 ± 10 Ma) and Grt-pyroxenites (495 ± 8 Ma) belonging to a mafic/ultramafic igneous suite that records upper mantle melting and mafic magma crustal underplating at these times. Gabbros intrude the high-grade units of UAT and did not underwent the HP metamorphic event experienced by eclogites and granulites. These features and the zircon dates resemblance among different lithologies, suggest that extensive age resetting of older events may have been correlative with the igneous suite emplacement/crystallisation. Accordingly, reconciliation of structural, petrological and geochronological evidence implies that the development and early deformation of UAT high-grade rocks should be ascribed to an orogenic cycle prior to ≈500 Ma. Undisputable dating of this cycle is impossible, but the sporadic vestiges of Cadomian ages cannot be disregarded. The ca. 500–480 Ma time-window harmonises well with the Lower Palaeozoic continental rifting that trace the VariscanWilson Cycle onset and the Rheic Ocean opening. Subsequent preservation of the high heat-flowregime, possibly related to the Palaeotethys back-arc basin development (ca. 450–420 Ma), would explain the 461 ± 10 Ma age yielded by some zircon domains in felsic granulites, conceivably reflecting zircon dissolution/ recrystallisation till Ordovician times, long before the Variscan paroxysm (ca. 400–390 Ma). This geodynamic scenario suggests also that UAT should have been part of Armorica before its emplacement on top of Iberia after Palaeotethys closure.

Imagens das línguas de alunos do 6º ano : um estudo em Aveiro

O presente estudo é o resultado de um projeto investigativo que, embora se relacione com a Sensibilização à Diversidade Linguística, tem como tema principal as Imagens das Línguas. Este estudo, cujo título é “Imagens das línguas de alunos do 6.º ano: um estudo em Aveiro”, tem como objetivos perceber quais as imagens das línguas dos alunos do 6.º ano, verificar qual a língua em que estes alunos se matriculam no ano seguinte e se essa escolha foi baseada em imagens estereotipadas das línguas (e em quais) e averiguar se a imagem que os alunos do 6.º ano têm sobre línguas influencia a sua escolha para aprendizagem posterior. Os dados foram recolhidos através de instrumentos distintos (o desenho e o inquérito por questionário). Primeiramente, os discentes elaboraram quatro desenhos seguindo as instruções “desenha-te a falar a tua língua materna”, “desenha-te a falar uma língua que já aprendeste”, “desenha-te a falar uma língua que gostavas de aprender” e “desenha-te a falar uma língua que não gostavas de aprender”. Seguindo-se o preenchimento do inquérito por questionário, composto por cinco questões, relacionadas com as quatro línguas em estudo (português, francês, espanhol e inglês) e que faziam parte da recolha de dados através do desenho. Relativamente ao tratamento de dados optamos pela utilização de categorias de análise (línguas como objetos afetivos, objetos de ensino-aprendizagem, instrumentos de construção e afirmação de identidades individuais e coletivas, objetos de poder e como instrumentos de construção de relações interpessoais e intergrupais), que permitiram perceber quais as imagens das línguas dos alunos inquiridos. Os resultados permitiram-nos perceber que as imagens que os alunos do 6.º ano têm das línguas portuguesa, francesa, espanhola e inglesa são, de alguma forma, estereotipadas. A maioria dos alunos tem uma imagem das línguas como instrumentos de construção e afirmação de identidades individuais e coletivas, isto é, imagens associadas à relação língua/história de um povo/cultura. Contudo, concluímos que esta imagem cultural das línguas também está associada a uma imagem afetiva, salientando a relação aluno/língua/cultura. Partindo das nossas conclusões, poder-se-ão, no futuro desenvolver sessões de Sensibilização à Diversidade Linguística, com o objetivo de (re)construir as Imagens das Línguas que os alunos têm.

"Vi som sköter oss" : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om främlingsfientlighet och dess orsaker i relation till medierapportering kring invandring och flyktingfrågor

Under flyktingkrisen 2015 hårdnade debatten kring flyktingmigration och de främlingsfientliga rösterna höjdes. Som ett resultat av den mediala uppmärksamheten kring flyktingkrisen anses nu invandrings- och integrationsfrågan vara den överlägset viktigaste samhällsfrågan i Sverige. Forskning kring främlingsfientlighet har i stor utsträckning genomförts ur majoritetsbefolkningens perspektiv, i denna studie ligger fokus istället på personer med utländsk bakgrund och deras erfarenheter av främlingsfientliga attityder. Genom en kvalitativ metod där åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts har denna studie undersökt hur personer med utländsk bakgrund upplever främlingsfientlighet och dess orsaker i relation till medierapportering kring invandring och flyktingfrågor. Resultatet har analyserats med hjälp av Intergroup threat theory, Cultivation theory och stereotypisering och visar att främlingsfientlighet existerar mellan majoritets- och minoritetsgrupper men även inom minoritetsgrupper. De upplevelser som identifieras är huvudsakligen vardagliga händelser och dess orsaker grundar sig på samhälleliga problem, kulturskillnader och stereotyper. Enligt respondenterna framställer media personer med utländsk bakgrund och flyktingar övervägande negativt och påverkar därmed attityder och främlingsfientliga åsikter i det svenska samhället. Ett resultat av detta menar respondenterna är att Sverige har blivit mer främlingsfientligt på grund av den mediala rapporteringen kring flyktingkrisen.