Caring for the carer: home design and modification for carers of young people with disability

This HMinfo Occasional Research Paper focuses on carers, that is those who deliver informal (unpaid) care to young people with disability, and particularly those carers who share their home with the person they are caring for, as well as the housing design considerations that may support carers in their caring role. In this report, paid carers are referred to as support workers, and their role is clearly differentiated from that of carers, who are unpaid. It should also be noted that many people with disability are themselves the carer for a partner or family member. Both carers, who are usually family members or partners, and support workers, who are paid to provide care to a person with disability, need supportive and safe environments in which to care for people with disability. The definition of a carer is: “A person of any age who provides any informal assistance, in terms of help or supervision, to persons with disabilities or long-term conditions, or older persons (i.e. aged 60 years and over). This assistance has to be ongoing, or likely to be ongoing, for at least six months.”. This research adopts a definition of disability that understands it as the product of interaction between an individual and their environment. Whether or not a particular physical condition is experienced as disabling depends on the natural and built environment, social, political and cultural structures, and interpersonal processes of the individual concerned. In addition, Eley et al highlight that both people with intellectual disability and their carers are ageing, and the concurrent ageing of these groups poses specific challenges in providing suitable housing. For the purpose of this research, the concept of ‘care’ is defined as the provision of assistance to a person with disability or chronic health condition or frail older person, to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing. Care is generally triaged into: • formal care delivered by waged staff or trained volunteers • informal care delivered by unpaid carers, usually family members; or • self-care, a newly evolving conceptual category that will be referenced in this report insofar as it impacts on the degree of care provided by carers. The ABS describes self-care as the capacity to undertake tasks associated with: showering or bathing; dressing; eating; toileting; and bladder or bowel control. This HMinfo Occasional Research Paper will focus on the unpaid (informal) carers of young people with disability (<65 years) only, and from the following perspectives: 1. What tensions, if any, may exist between a carer’s needs and the needs of the person with disability in home design? 2. What design features of the physical home environment would enable carers t

Enzyme selection for optical mapping is hard

Includes bibliographical references.2015 Summer.The process of assembling a genome, without access to a reference genome, is prone to a type of error called a misassembly error. These errors are difficult to detect and can mimic true, biological variation. Optical mapping data has been shown to have the potential to reduce misassembly errors in draft genomes. Optical mapping data is generated using digestion enzymes on a genome. In this paper, we formulate the problem of selecting optimal digestion enzymes to create the most informative optical map. We show this process in NP-hard and W[1]-hard. We also propose and evaluate a machine learning method using a support vector machine and feature reduction to estimate the optimal enzymes. Using this method, we were able to predict two optimal enzymes exactly and estimate three more within reasonable similarity

A Case of Co-Secreting TSH and Growth Hormone Pituitary Adenoma Presenting with a Thyroid Nodule

Co-secreting TSH and growth hormone pituitary adenomas are rare. We present a case of a 55-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of neck fullness. Ultrasound revealed multiple thyroid nodules and examination revealed several clinical features of acromegaly. She was found to have a co-secreting TSH and growth hormone pituitary macroadenoma. She underwent surgical resection followed by gamma knife radiation, which resulted in complete remission of her TSH and GH-secreting adenoma

The areas of child care in which eight parents find difficulty in meeting the needs of their retarded children.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Orangutan Vision, Looking Preferences, and Passive Looking-Time Versus Active Touchscreen Paradigms

Key aspects of orangutan picture preference, looking paradigms, and vision were assessed in three manuscripts. These studies have important contributions to research on comparative vision and animal picture perception, as well as practical applications for orangutan research. The first manuscript assessed visual preferences for pictures of primates. Orangutan looking-time was coded as they watched simultaneous slideshows on two laptop computers. Orangutans preferred photographs of unfamiliar orangutans over unfamiliar humans, and familiar orangutans over unfamiliar orangutans. When comparing familiar orangutans, they preferred adults over infants, and males over females. These preferences were then compared to preferences reported across primates which show variable results, likely due to complex social factors and context. A second manuscript assessed passive looking-time and active touchscreen paradigms. Passive and active paradigms can produce discrepant results, and the validity of these paradigms had not been empirically assessed in animals. Three methods were compared: looking-time at slideshows on two laptops, a touchscreen that displayed pictures when touched, and simply holding up pairs of printed images. All three methods detected the expected preference for pictures of animals over non-animals. This can be considered evidence of the reliability of these paradigms, equivalence of passive and active methods, and support for continued use of looking-time and touchscreens in orangutan research. The final manuscript assessed the contrast sensitivity function (CSF). Orangutans were trained to select vertical or horizontal lines, and then the CSF threshold was estimated by increasing the spatial frequency and decreasing the contrast of the stimuli. Orangutan CSF was similar in shape and position on the frequency scale to those of humans and macaques, but overall sensitivity was lower. We propose that this was due to testing conditions and low motivation. Across these three manuscripts orangutans demonstrated overall vision and looking behaviour that was similar to humans, however with high variability likely due to competing interests, low motivation, and individual differences

Using Wenger\u27s social theory of learning to examine university teachers\u27 understanding of how instructional technology affects their experience in practice

The purpose of this study was to take an exploratory look at how university teachers come to understand their experience in educational practice and their professional role as teachers who integrate instructional technology into their coursework using the framework provided by Wenger\u27s Social Theory of Learning. University faculty who teach in a college of education that integrate instructional technology into their courses were important to inform this study.;Qualitative research methods were used to gather data that was collected from (1) university teachers\u27 engagement in an annual instructional technology professional development activity and (2) eight participants who teach in a college of education. Data collected from the teachers\u27 engagement in a professional development activity included a week long observation, binders that chronologically described the history of the professional development activity, the college\u27s current technology support structures, and shared resources that help teachers within the college integrate instructional technology. Data collected from the eight teacher participants to inform case studies included interviews, observations, and the review of the participants\u27 courses from one academic semester that displayed instructional technology integration. The data from the teachers\u27 engagement in the professional development activity and the eight teacher participants was analyzed and coded by the framework provided by Wenger\u27s Social Theory of Learning to identify emergent themes and patterns that informed the teachers\u27 understanding and experience of their role responsible to integrate instructional technology.;Findings of this research revealed the importance for teachers to collectively discuss their experiences teaching with instructional technology, the importance for teachers to engage in professional development opportunities that focus on pedagogical practices using instructional technology, the importance for teachers to observe and view other colleagues\u27 instructional choices with the use of instructional technology, and the opportunity for teachers to become more familiar with synchronous audio-video communication technology to enable for more authentic teaching experiences with their students.;Keywords: Social Theory of Learning, identity, practice, meaning, community, instructional technology, teacher professional development

Kansas nature in the twentieth century Kansas novel

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Kansas, English, 1931

Privileging the Privileged? Child Well-Being as a Justification for State Support of Marriage

State support of marriage should rest on more than the transformative power of marriage. This article responds to Professor Wilson by questioning whether marriage best promotes child well-being and whether child well-being alone is a sufficient justification to rest state support of marriage. Children of marital households are usually whiter, wealthier, and better educated. Thus, state support of marriage maximizes the welfare of already privileged children at the detriment of less privileged children. Without state support of marriage, social welfare policy can be redirected toward the direct support of children. While Wilson advocates the connection between supporting marriage and supporting children, this author concludes that state support of marriage should require more than the claim of some children?s well-being

Motion adaptation and attention: A critical review and meta-analysis

The motion aftereffect (MAE) provides a behavioural probe into the mechanisms underlying motion perception, and has been used to study the effects of attention on motion processing. Visual attention can enhance detection and discrimination of selected visual signals. However, the relationship between attention and motion processing remains contentious: not all studies find that attention increases MAEs. Our meta-analysis reveals several factors that explain superficially discrepant findings. Across studies (37 independent samples, 76 effects) motion adaptation was significantly and substantially enhanced by attention (Cohen's d = 1.12, p < .0001). The effect more than doubled when adapting to translating (vs. expanding or rotating) motion. Other factors affecting the attention-MAE relationship included stimulus size, eccentricity and speed. By considering these behavioural analyses alongside neurophysiological work, we conclude that feature-based (rather than spatial, or object-based) attention is the biggest driver of sensory adaptation. Comparisons between naïve and non-naïve observers, different response paradigms, and assessment of 'file-drawer effects' indicate that neither response bias nor publication bias are likely to have significantly inflated the estimated effect of attention

Consumers\u27 use of nutrition labels on dairy foods

This research was conducted in order to better understand and identify the demographic, socioeconomic, shopping habits, sources of nutrition information, and nutrition attitude characteristics which influence consumers\u27 use of nutrition labels on dairy food products. The data used in this study was gathered from a mail survey of households throughout the state of Tennessee. The effects of demographic, socioeconomic, shopping habits, sources of nutrition information, and nutrition attitude characteristics on the probability of the head of a household being a nutrition label reader. The probit model was used to examine these effects statistically. The results showed that certain characteristics do affect an individuals\u27 probability of reading nutrition labels. Female gender had a positive effect on the probability of being a label reader. Receiving nutrition information from newspapers, books, magazines, and health professionals positively impacted the probability of label readership. An individual not working outside of the home and having children under 18 years of age present in the home were found significant and positively affected the probability of reading labels. Nutrition and flavor are very important food characteristics in food purchase decisions and positively influence the probability of label readership. Furthermore, living in an urban area has a positive impact on the probability of label readership. These results have important implications for the dairy industry, health professionals, and policy makers for the targeting of label information and nutrition advertising. Consumer segments may be identified from these results for nutrition label users and nonusers