624,747 research outputs found
Use of genetically improved and alien species for aquaculture and conservation of aquatic biodiversity in Africa
Aquaculture species are being domesticated and improved through genetic enhancement. Despite the benefits of improved fish in terms of increased production, there are risks associated with conservation of biodiversity when the introduced strains/species escape in natural waters. This is especially important in Africa which is one of the worldĂâ s repository of diverse freshwater fish fauna and home to native tilapias. This proceedings is a useful tool in bringing awareness among African institutions, agencies, planners of the issues involved in improving production through introductions of improved strains/alien species while sustaining the biodiversity.Aquaculture, Tilapia, Selective breeding, Brood stocks, Biodiversity, Quarantine regulations, Introduced species, Resource conservation, Africa,
The impact of a pediatric home visit program: A quality assessment analysis
Background: Bringing a newborn home from the hospital can be a time of excitement, but also stress for new parents. This can include financial strain, lack of sleep, and preparations necessary to care for their new arrival. During this transition time, home visit support has demonstrated decreased parental stress and increased confidence in their new parenting roles. In response to these benefits, a pediatric home visit program holds promise for new parents.
Purpose: This quality assessment project evaluated a pediatric officeâs home visit program for parental role and pediatric office satisfaction. Based on the analysis, recommendations for improvement were provided.
Methods: Families were placed into three groups: standard home visits, enhanced home visits (standard visit with a parental protective factor survey), and no home visits. Two telephone surveys were conducted two months apart to assess satisfaction with parental roles, the pediatric office, and the home visits.
Results: There were high baseline satisfaction levels with the pediatric office regardless of group. The enhanced home visit group had slightly higher average parental satisfaction levels. All groups reported increased knowledge of parenting resources over time. All participating home visit families indicated they were pleased with attention provided as part of the home visit program and noticed benefit in terms of stress levels.
Conclusions: These findings support the benefits of continuing the program and expanding to a wider array of families
Modelling the feedback effects of reconfiguring health services
The shift in the balance of health care, bringing services âcloser to homeâ, is a well-established trend, which has been motivated by the desire to improve the provision of services. However, these efforts may be undermined by the improvements in access stimulating demand. Existing analyses of this trend have been limited to isolated parts of the system with calls to control demand with stricter clinical guidelines or to meet demand with capacity increases. By failing to appreciate the underlying feedback mechanisms, these interventions may only have a limited effect. We demonstrate the contribution offered by system dynamics modelling by presenting a study of two cases of the shift in cardiac catheterization services in the UK. We hypothesize the effects of the shifts in services and produce model output that is not inconsistent with real world data. Our model encompasses several mechanisms by which demand is stimulated. We use the model to clarify the roles for stricter clinical guidelines and capacity increases, and to demonstrate the potential benefits of changing the goals that drive activity
The Mascot Model of Human/Companion Animal Interaction: Its Effects on Levels of Loneliness and Depression Among Residents of a Nursing Home
Pet-facilitated therapy has been hailed in recent years as an effective means of bringing about psychosocial benefits for elderly people in institutions. However, empirical investigations are relatively recent and more are needed.
The primary objectives of this dissertation were: 1) to conduct an empirically sound study of the mascot model of pet therapy, focusing specifically on its impact on levels of loneliness and depression among nursing home residents, 2) to identify the relationship between existential well-being and loneliness and depression, and 3) to address the use of pets to meet the social/emotional needs of humans from a framework of biblical theology
Simulation analysis of the consequences of shifting the balance of health care: a system dynamics approach
Objectives: The shift in the balance of health care, bringing services 'closer to home', is a well-established trend. This study sought to provide insight into the consequences of this trend, in particular the stimulation of demand, by exploring the underlying feedback structure.
Methods: We constructed a simulation model using the system dynamics method, which is specifically designed for the analysis of feedback structure. The model was calibrated to two cases of the shift in cardiac catheterization services in the UK. Data sources included archival data, observations and interviews with senior health care professionals. Key model outputs were the basic trends displayed by waiting lists, average waiting times, cumulative patient referrals, cumulative patient activity and cumulative overall costs.
Results: Demand was stimulated in both cases via several different mechanisms. We revealed the roles for clinical guidelines and capacity changes, and the typical responses to imbalances between supply and demand. Our analysis also demonstrated the potential benefits of changing the goals that drive activity by seeking a waiting list goal rather than a waiting time goal.
Conclusions: Appreciating the wider consequences of shifting the balance of care is essential if services are to be improved overall. The underlying feedback mechanisms of both intended and unintended effects need to be understood. Using a systemic approach, more effective policies may be designed through coordinated programmes rather than isolated initiatives, which may have only a limited impact
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Managing biowaste and promoting sustainability - profiling community composting
The voluntary and community waste sector makes an important contribution to waste objectives (Williams et al, 2006). The community composting sector would appear to be leading the development of innovative biowaste collection and processing systems in areas unsuitable for traditional kerbside. Such schemes can contribute to developing local areas by improving local soils and green spaces as well as diverting waste from landfill. However, this is often only part of the story. Well managed community activity has huge potential for providing work and volunteering opportunities, as well as bringing people together and improving skills, knowledge and self-confidence. Considered collectively these factors may contribute to local sustainability more effectively than reliance on meeting particular targets.
Although there is some anecdotal and financial evidence for the growth in, and diversity of, community composting, there is very little comprehensive data that draws together the activity of the sector as a whole. The paper addresses this gap by presenting findings from a national survey profiling community based composting. Results show that a range of activities fall under the umbrella of community composting and these include: collecting / receiving and processing material, running education campaigns, promoting home composting and facilitating others to develop / promote community composting. The survey recorded over 100 groups actively engaged in at least one of these activities with many involved in more than one. Overall 80% of groups are involved in collecting and composting material and 20% are involved in composting related activity other than collecting and composting, such as educational and promotional activities. The sector has a large potential for providing work and volunteering opportunities and results indicate over 1,300 volunteers, trainees and staff involved in community composting.
In addition, most groups (68%) carry out composting alongside other waste and recycling activities or, more commonly, alongside non-waste activities such as community gardens, city farms, local food production, day and residential services and work integration schemes. These activities may bring about positive environmental impacts and social benefits over and above quantities of material diverted from landfill, and these benefits often cut across different policy agendas. Knowing and understanding these impacts and benefits is important in understanding the role of the community composting sector. In addition to results from profiling the sector, this paper will also present findings from participatory research with groups to develop ways to better understand and demonstrate the impacts of their work
Baseline and primary data for the partner-provided HIV self-testing and linkage (PASTAL) adaptive multi-arm multi-stage cluster randomized trial in Blantyre, Malawi
Dataset containing details of 2,349 pregnant women accessing antenatal care in three primary health centres in urban Blantyre, Malawi who gave informed consent to participate in an adaptive multi-arm multi-stage cluster randomized trial. The unit of randomization was the antenatal care (ANC) clinic day. On a given ANC day, women could receive standard of care (SOC) of receiving just an invitation letter to deliver to their male partner who was absent at this ANC visit. Or, the women could receive SOC plus two oral self-test kits alone or in combination with a guaranteed financial incentive of 10 conditional on clinic attendance following self-testing for HIV care or prevention. Two other arms offered a lottery-based incentive with 10% chance of winning $30 to male partners achieving the primary outcome, or a phone call reminder to the male partner immediately following collection of kits by the woman repeated after five days.
The dataset contains variables on baseline data for the women and their male partners as reported by the woman as well as data underlying the trial outcomes by arm. Recruitment and follow-up were completed between 8 August 2016 and 30 June 2017
Bringing Back Subprime? The Hazards of Restructuring the GSEs
There have been a number of proposals for replacing the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with a system under which private financial institutions would issue mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that carry a government guarantee. This paper raises a number of questions about the merits of such a system. It points out that both the gains to low-income families seeking to become homeowners from such a system and interest rate savings are likely to be relatively modest, and that there are few obvious safeguards that would make this new system sounder than the system of privately-issued mortgage-backed securities in the bubble years
Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Opportunities Initiative: Building Capacity for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
Describes an initiative to offer support and resources to youth aging out of foster care, including individual development and debit accounts and access to education, jobs, health care, and housing. Outlines impact, CFGA's role, and lessons learned
RaspiMonitor: a Raspberry Pi based smart home monitoring system
Novel technological infrastructure such as smart homes have undergone major developments during recent years. Owing to the numerous benefits brought about by smart homes, research on the topic has been increasing at an exponential rate, bringing quality properties such as security, usability, reliability, and others. Despite their various advantages, smart homes have not been in a positive spotlight regarding security and reliability. The main reason that people are hesitant towards adopting an implemented intelligent system at their domicile is due to the lack of trust they allocate to the electronics. As such, this paper provides insights on an innovative and low-cost smart home monitoring system named RaspiMonitor. While the central aim of the system is to offer a robust smart home architecture which discreetly caters for the safety and security of its environment, it also helps in reducing energy wastage. The RaspiMonitor was carefully designed using dynamic web-based services in addition to an evaluation which quantified its usability and acceptance through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with 6 constructs. Results in principle portray acceptance of the system with a mean score of 4.47. This indicates that a robust hardware and software architecture such as the RaspiMonitor is useful, convenient, and easy to use
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