An investigation of the-training offered to community-based rehabilitation workers with particular reference to the field of mental handicap in the Western Cape

This study investigates the training offered to community-based rehabilitation workers in the field of mental handicap to ascertain whether the training provided has been perceived as appropriate in assisting with their tasks and functions. Further investigation is done into the underlying theoretical approaches used in training, curricula designs, training objectives, location and training periods, the community-based rehabilitation workers level of participation and involvement in planning of the training programme, and whether creative, pragmatic and participatory training methods, techniques and materials were used. The nature of supervision was also explored. The historical development of community-based rehabilitation, the lack of trained personnel, and the disparity in the provision of services in South Africa and the function of the community-based rehabilitation are discussed. It is against this background that the historical emergence and need for training of community-based rehabilitation workers are highlighted. Different theoretical approaches to the development and presentation of training are discussed due to the considerable influence they have on the value base upon which training programmes are built. This includes an overview of the philosophy of Paulo Freire. The research method used is of a qualitative nature. The researcher employs an exploratory - descriptive design to gain insight into an area which is relatively uninvestigated. By using this design, the researcher hopes to build a foundation of ideas and tentative theories which could later be tested through more complex methods. The first population chosen included the total population of community-based rehabilitation workers employed at the South African Christian Leadership Assembly Health Project, (seven) and Cape Mental Health Society (two). The second population were the trainers associated with these organisations and the specific projects in which the community-based rehabilitation workers are employed. One trainer from each organisation was included. Both organisations chosen are engaged in direct service delivery to the mentally handicapped in socially deprived communities in the Western Cape. The primary source of data collection was acquired in two phases:- Phase one - An interview schedule which included structured & unstructured questions was administered by the researcher to the community - based rehabilitation workers. The information was gathered with the assistance of an interpreter. Phase two - A detailed self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was completed by the trainers. The data in these two phases was presented in a descriptive manner due to the size of the population. The study found that there is no consensus regarding appropriate training models. Courses are often loosely structured with no theoretical base. A comprehensive-generic approach which includes promotive, curative, preventative, and rehabilitative aspects is suggested. In this study, the course focused mainly on curative and rehabilitative aspects to assist with tasks while promotive and preventative skills were neglected. No prescribed training period can be stipulated. Constraints of distance and location would determine the duration of the training while the location of training should be within the confines of the community to prevent isolation and an unnatural environment. More creative and pragmatic methods and techniques should be carefully selected. All components of supervision should be given priority and provided regularly in pragmatic and innovative ways. Furthermore, trainers, trainees and communities need to have equal participation and involvement in all spheres of training

Techniques for the realization of ultrareliable spaceborne computers Interim scientific report

Error-free ultrareliable spaceborne computer

Digital signal processing: the impact of convergence on education, society and design flow

Design and development of real-time, memory and processor hungry digital signal processing systems has for decades been accomplished on general-purpose microprocessors. Increasing needs for high-performance DSP systems made these microprocessors unattractive for such implementations. Various attempts to improve the performance of these systems resulted in the use of dedicated digital signal processing devices like DSP processors and the former heavyweight champion of electronics design – Application Specific Integrated Circuits. The advent of RAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays has changed the DSP design flow. Software algorithmic designers can now take their DSP algorithms right from inception to hardware implementation, thanks to the increasing availability of software/hardware design flow or hardware/software co-design. This has led to a demand in the industry for graduates with good skills in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. This paper evaluates the impact of technology on DSP-based designs, hardware design languages, and how graduate/undergraduate courses have changed to suit this transition

Family formation in times of social and economic change: an analysis of the 1971 East German cohort

The birth cohort 1971 entered transition to adulthood at the onset of societal transformation in East Germany. Their marriage and fertility behavior therefore was expected to be severely affected by the upheavals following unification. And indeed, compared to their predecessors, there is a drastic increase in the age at marriage, age at first birth and a decline in second birth risks. In this paper, we adopt a life course perspective to investigate the factors that have contributed to the postponement of family formation after unification. The empirical analysis suggests that highly educated women in particular are postponing fertility. Women with a relatively low education, by contrast, are accelerating family formation. Contrary to standard views on East German fertility, we do not find evidence for the hypothesis that unemployment generally lead to a postponement of first birth.Germany, fertility

The 1990 progress report and future plans

This document describes the progress and plans of the Artificial Intelligence Research Branch (RIA) at ARC in 1990. Activities span a range from basic scientific research to engineering development and to fielded NASA applications, particularly those applications that are enabled by basic research carried out at RIA. Work is conducted in-house and through collaborative partners in academia and industry. Our major focus is on a limited number of research themes with a dual commitment to technical excellence and proven applicability to NASA short, medium, and long-term problems. RIA acts as the Agency's lead organization for research aspects of artificial intelligence, working closely with a second research laboratory at JPL and AI applications groups at all NASA centers

Namaste Care in nursing care homes with people with advanced dementia: protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.Introduction Many people living with advanced dementia live and die in nursing care homes. The quality of life, care and dying experienced by these people is variable. Namaste Care is a multisensory programme of care developed for people with advanced dementia. While there is emerging evidence that Namaste Care may be beneficial for people with dementia, there is a need to conduct a feasibility study to establish the optimum way of delivering this complex intervention and whether benefits can be demonstrated in end-of-life care, for individuals and service delivery. The aim of the study is to ascertain the feasibility of conducting a full trial of the Namaste Care intervention. Methods and analysis A feasibility study, comprising a parallel, two-arm, multicentre cluster controlled randomised trial with embedded process and economic evaluation. Nursing care homes (total of eight) who deliver care to those with advanced dementia will be randomly allocated to intervention (delivered at nursing care home level) or control. Three participant groups will be recruited: residents with advanced dementia, informal carers of a participating resident and nursing care home staff. Data will be collected for 6 months. Feasibility objectives concern the recruitment and sampling of nursing homes, residents, informal carers and staff; the selection and timing of primary (quality of dying and quality of life) and secondary clinical outcome measures (person centredness, symptom presence, agitation, quality of life, resource use and costs and residents' activity monitored using actigraphy). Acceptability, fidelity and sustainability of the intervention will be assessed using semistructured interviews with staff and informal carers. Ethics and dissemination This protocol has been approved by NHS Wales Research Ethics Committee 5 (ref: 17/WA0378). Dissemination plans include working with a public involvement panel, through a website (http://www.namastetrial.org.uk), social media, academic and practice conferences and via peer reviewed publications. Trial registration number ISRCTN14948133; Pre-results.Peer reviewe

Student learning and teacher intervention in an undergraduate engineering laboratory.

A two-term introductory electrical and electronic engineering laboratory programme at the University of Surrey was studied intensively for two successive academic years. The research reported in this thesis represents the outcome of that effort. Referring to published accounts on laboratory teaching methods, Chapter One argues for investigations of teachers teaching and students studying as these occur naturally in science and engineering laboratories. The suggestion is for a switch in research effort. From inquiries which emphasise what could or should happen in laboratories to the examination of what actually does happen. Methods of inquiry used in educational evaluation and research are reviewed in Chapter Two and the newly emerging anthropological paradigm is identified as most appropriate. A range of theoretical and methodological ideas and concepts used by those pursuing work in this paradigm are adopted and a general research approach suited to the specific setting of an engineering laboratory is proposed. A major concern of this thesis, then, is the ways in which this general stance was able to be translated into practice. Chapter Three addresses several procedural issues that arise and need attending to when collecting field-work data. Details of who was spoken to or observed, when, where, for how long, and how often, are all included in this chapter. In Chapter Four the Surrey lab emerges as a learning environment that channells the actions of its students in certain specific directions. Three local customs of conduct are identified (working quickly, preparatory working, working mechanically). To characterise the different features that make up the lab context the concept of a Laboratory Instructional Script and Laboratory Management Framework is introduced. The student act of working mechanically through experiments is focussed upon in Chapter Five. The way in which this relates to how students learn in the lab and what they learn is subsequently examined. Using twenty years of documentary records, Chapter Six reviews several attempts made to change the Surrey lab programme. The chapter argues that many of the interventions were based on incorrect assumptions about how students respond in the lab and, therefore, resulted in serious unintended as well as intended effects. Chapter Seven briefly re-considers the method of inquiry used in the thesis and the rationale behind its adoption. The main ideas and concepts developed during the work are drawn together and their generalisability status is discussed. Finally an attempt is made to locate the reported work in the wider arena of educational research. Each student in the Surrey laboratory proceeds each week through a separate script of experimental instructions. In Appendix I four of the sixteen scripts used in the programme are included (in full) for the reader's perusal

The Nurse Manager: An Ethnography of Hospital-Based First-Line Nurse Managers Practicing in an Expanded Role

The behaviors, beliefs and values that characterize everyday practice of first-line nurse managers role were analyzed. Ethnographic field research techniques were used including nine months of observation and in-depth interviews with practicing nurse managers. After reviewing historical events that shaped the role of the nurse manager, the role was then placed within the economic, social and health care context of the 1970\u27s and 80\u27s. Research and anecdotal descriptions of the manager role of the past twenty years were also explored. Research was conducted in two voluntary acute care, multi-service hospitals. One manager was observed intensively for two months to develop a semi structured open-ended interview guide. The guide was then used to conduct extensive ethnographic interviews with 16 inpatient managers. In addition, six nurse administrators were interviewed, institutional documents examined and a variety of techniques used to triangulate observations and theories that emerged and to examine issues of validity and reliability. Managers described their role as four processes: (1) social control, establishing, monitoring and maintaining standards; (2) resourcing, the provision of emotional support, goods and services; (3) translating/ interpreting/negotiating among unit-based or related constituencies; and, (4) facilitating change. Administrators concurred with the managers\u27 descriptions emphasizing social control. Managers described themselves as desiring control/power to make beneficial changes; being stimulated by a changing work environment and deriving satisfaction from staff development. They identified essential skills for role enactment as communication/interpersonal expertise, clinical knowledge, flexibility, a strong ego and political savvy. The study then examined how managers analyze the complexity of change, alter their management strategies accordingly and create a working culture that is maximally adaptable to an unstable health care environment. They identified ways to enhance success and avoid or respond to failure, using knowledge acquired primarily through experience. Finally, the study examined the common culture of nursing management within the context of its historical roots, particularly the necessity for a bicultural identity that incorporates beliefs and values of both manager/employee and professional clinician/nurse. Structured mentoring was explored as a bridging strategy to enhance enculturation and skill acquisition