Case Study: Conservative Stocking on the Fitzroy River Floodplain; Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs, Central Kimberley Western Australia

Keith and Karen Anderson and family run a breeder operation on Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs in the Fitzroy Valley of Western Australia (18°21\u27 S, 125°18\u27 E). These adjacent pastoral leases are in the shire of Derby/West Kimberley. The Andersons have been managing Jubilee Downs station since 1985. Quanbun Downs station was purchased in 2002, and a farm in the northern agricultural region of WA has been recently added for use as a finishing block. The current combined herd for Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs is around 8,000 head. Keith believes in selling close to his branding percentage and that the secret to improving production is selling females. A declining trend in range condition on the high potential black soil country (WA Department of Agriculture 1981) was the catalyst for a producer demonstration trial on Jubilee Downs station that commenced in 1988. The main aspects of the demonstration were using DAFWA recommended stocking rates according to land type and range condition, introduction of Brahman bulls from a predominantly shorthorn herd, pregnancy diagnosis, early weaning and botulism vaccinations (Beurle 1992). The demonstration also included an exclosure on the degraded Gogo land system which yielded positive results. Reducing cattle numbers and improving grazing distribution has maximised the recovery of the country during the run of above average rainfall years from the mid-1990s to 2010. Range Condition Survey data and satellite imagery clearly demonstrate an improvement in range condition and the productive potential. Herd production data show that the benefits of improved productivity to the business outweigh the costs

Experience of mobile nursing workforce from Portugal to the NHS in UK: influence of institutions and actors at the system, organization and individual levels.

In UK, since 2010 shortages of nurses and policy changes led many health service providers to become more active in recruiting nurses from the European Union Member States. This article analyses the experience of Portuguese nurses working in the English NHS considering the individual and organizational factors that affect the quality and duration of nurses' migration experience, future career plans and expectations. Twenty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted at the individual, organizational and policy levels in UK with Portuguese nurses and NHS healthcare staff in 2015-16. The results demonstrate that organizational settings, conditions, actors' attitudes and level of support influence nurses' level of commitment to their employer and their overall mobility experience. Professional achievements, professional and personal sources of support made these nurses evaluate their overall mobility experience as positive, even overcoming personal challenges such as homesickness. The results reveal that migration is accomplished through constant interaction between institutions and individual actors at different levels. Understanding the influencing factors as well as the complex and dynamic nature of a professional's decision-making can design more effective retention responses

Evaluation of older people\u27s knowledge, awareness, motivation and perceptions about falls and falls prevention in residential aged care homes: A tale of two cities

Falls prevention strategies can only be effective in reducing falls amongst older people if they are adopted and enacted in their daily lives. There is limited evidence identifying what older people in residential aged care (RAC) homes understand about falls and falls prevention, or what may limit or enable their adoption of strategies. This study was conducted in two countries and explored older people’s knowledge and awareness of falls and their preferences, opportunities and motivation to undertake falls prevention strategies. A cross-sectional survey was administered to participants (N = 70) aged 65 years and over, living in six RAC homes in Perth, Australia and six RAC homes in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Participants had limited knowledge about intrinsic falls risk factors and strategies to address these and frequently expressed self-blame regarding falling. Almost all (N = 67, 95.7%) participants felt highly motivated to maintain their current functional mobility and independence in everyday tasks. Key preferences for receiving falls prevention messages favoured a positive approach promoting wellness and independence (N = 41, 58.6%) via pictorial posters or brochures (N = 37, 52.9%) and small group discussions preferably with demonstrations (N = 18, 25.7%). Findings from this study may assist organisations and staff to more effectively engage with older people living in RAC about falls prevention and design targeted resources to address the motivations and preferences of this population

Empathy for the Vulnerable? The Fourth Circuit\u27s Internal Struggle to Grapple With the Trump Administration\u27s Immigration Policies: Part II

Part I of this article described and analyzed Portillo-Flores v. Barr, a case in which the Fourth Circuit, over Judge Stephanie Thacker’s dissent, upheld the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of asylum to a Salvadorian asylum seeker who, as a child, was beaten nearly to death by MS-13 because his sister fled the country to avoid becoming a gang leader’s girlfriend. It contends not only that Portillo-Flores is inconsistent with general immigration standards, but also that the Fourth Circuit committed two main legal errors. First, the Fourth Circuit erred in requiring that Portillo-Flores should have reported the persecution to police, even though such a report would have been ineffective or put him in more danger. Second, the Fourth Circuit failed to apply a child-specific standard when evaluating persecution against 14-year-old Portillo-Flores. Part II of this article addresses a different class of vulnerable persons: the “public charge.” Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), “any alien who . . . is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible” to the U.S. “Public charges” cannot receive a visa to travel to the U.S., be granted admission to it, or receive status in it. While vulnerable groups like refugees, asylees, and other individuals admitted to the U.S. on humanitarian grounds are exempt from the public charge rule, 40% of all immigrants that are subject to the rule constitute another, equally vulnerable group: spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens seeking family-sponsored admission. This is the focus of Part II of this article

Empathy for the Vulnerable? The Fourth Circuit\u27s Internal Struggle to Grapple With the Trump Administration\u27s Immigration Policies: Part I

The Trump Administration’s immigration policies consistently targeted immigrants, refugees, children, victims of gang violence, and individuals classified as “public charges.” For example, one of former President Trump’s first Executive Orders increased detention of immigrants at the border, including women and children, and limited access to asylum nationwide by expanding expedited removal. Another Order issued the very same day cut federal funding to “sanctuary cities” —jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws for the sake of protecting immigrant communities. And still another originally suspended the issuance of visas to nationals from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen—the so-called “Muslim Travel Ban”; shut down the U.S. refugee program for 120 days; slashed the number of refugees admissible to the U.S. in FY 2017 in half; and halted the resettlement of Syrian refugees indefinitely. Further, in 2018, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions overruled a 2016 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, stating that judges generally cannot consider domestic and gang violence as grounds for asylum. And in 2020, the ACLU reported that over 600 children have yet to be reunited with their parents after being subject to a policy of separation at the U.S. border. Needless to say, appellate courts have become embroiled in disputes over these contentious policy changes. This two-part series of articles reviews two such disputes. Part I describes and analyzes Portillo-Flores v. Barr, a case in which the Fourth Circuit, over Judge Stephanie Thacker’s dissent, upheld the BIA’s denial of asylum to a Salvadorian asylum seeker who, as a child, was beaten nearly to death by MS-13 because Portillo-Flores’s sister fled the country to avoid becoming a gang leader’s girlfriend. Part II analyzes Casa de Maryland v. Trump, a case that upheld the Trump Administration’s exceedingly broad definition of the statutory term “public charge,” over Judge Robert B. King’s dissent. Both cases showcase the extent to which the Fourth Circuit and other reviewing courts are grappling with the Trump Administration’s disdain for some of the most vulnerable members of the human race—children, refugees, asylum seekers, and the poor

Developing a Web-Based App to Assess Mental Health Difficulties in Secondary School Pupils: Qualitative User-Centered Design Study.

BACKGROUND: Secondary schools are an ideal setting to identify young people experiencing mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression. However, current methods of identification rely on cumbersome paper-based assessments, which are lengthy and time-consuming to complete and resource-intensive for schools to manage. Artemis-A is a prototype web app that uses computerized adaptive testing technology to shorten the length of the assessment and provides schools with a simple and feasible solution for mental health assessment. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are to coproduce the main components of the Artemis-A app with stakeholders to enhance the user interface, to carry out usability testing and finalize the interface design and functionality, and to explore the acceptability and feasibility of using Artemis-A in schools. METHODS: This study involved 2 iterative design feedback cycles-an initial stakeholder consultation to inform the app design and user testing. Using a user-centered design approach, qualitative data were collected through focus groups and interviews with secondary school pupils, parents, school staff, and mental health professionals (N=48). All transcripts were thematically analyzed. RESULTS: Initial stakeholder consultations provided feedback on preferences for the user interface design, school administration of the assessment, and outcome reporting. The findings informed the second iteration of the app design and development. The unmoderated usability assessment indicated that young people found the app easy to use and visually appealing. However, school staff suggested that additional features should be added to the school administration panel, which would provide them with more flexibility for data visualization. The analysis identified four themes relating to the implementation of the Artemis-A in schools, including the anticipated benefits and drawbacks of the app. Actionable suggestions for designing mental health assessment apps are also provided. CONCLUSIONS: Artemis-A is a potentially useful tool for secondary schools to assess the mental health of their pupils that requires minimal staff input and training. Future research will evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of Artemis-A in a range of UK secondary schools.Medical Research Council Confidence in Concept award (MC_PC_18042)

Detection of a close supernova gravitational wave burst in a network of interferometers, neutrino and optical detectors

Trying to detect the gravitational wave (GW) signal emitted by a type II supernova is a main challenge for the GW community. Indeed, the corresponding waveform is not accurately modeled as the supernova physics is very complex; in addition, all the existing numerical simulations agree on the weakness of the GW emission, thus restraining the number of sources potentially detectable. Consequently, triggering the GW signal with a confidence level high enough to conclude directly to a detection is very difficult, even with the use of a network of interferometric detectors. On the other hand, one can hope to take benefit from the neutrino and optical emissions associated to the supernova explosion, in order to discover and study GW radiation in an event already detected independently. This article aims at presenting some realistic scenarios for the search of the supernova GW bursts, based on the present knowledge of the emitted signals and on the results of network data analysis simulations. Both the direct search and the confirmation of the supernova event are considered. In addition, some physical studies following the discovery of a supernova GW emission are also mentioned: from the absolute neutrino mass to the supernova physics or the black hole signature, the potential spectrum of discoveries is wide.Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Detection in coincidence of gravitational wave bursts with a network of interferometric detectors (I): Geometric acceptance and timing

Detecting gravitational wave bursts (characterised by short durations and poorly modelled waveforms) requires to have coincidences between several interferometric detectors in order to reject non-stationary noise events. As the wave amplitude seen in a detector depends on its location with respect to the source direction and as the signal to noise ratio of these bursts are expected to be low, coincidences between antennas may not be so likely. This paper investigates this question from a statistical point of view by using a simple model of a network of detectors; it also estimates the timing precision of a detection in an interferometer which is an important issue for the reconstruction of the source location, based on time delays.Comment: low resolution figure 1 due to file size problem

Prospects for comparing European hospitals in terms of quality and safety

Purpose. Being able to compare hospitals in terms of quality and safety between countries is important for a number of reasons. For example, the 2011 European Union directive on patients’ rights to cross-border health care places a requirement on all member states to provide patients with comparable information on health-care quality, so that they can make an informed choice. Here, we report on the feasibility of using common process and outcome indicators to compare hospitals for quality and safety in five countries (England, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway). Main Challenges Identified. The cross-country comparison identified the following seven challenges with respect to comparing the quality of hospitals across Europe: different indicators are collected in each country; different definitions of the same indicators are used; different mandatory versus voluntary data collection requirements are in place; different types of organizations oversee data collection; different levels of aggregation of data exist (country, region and hospital); different levels of public access to data exist; and finally, hospital accreditation and licensing systems differ in each country. Conclusion. Our findings indicate that if patients and policymakers are to compare the quality and safety of hospitals across Europe, then further work is urgently needed to agree the way forward. Until then, patients will not be able to make informed choices about where they receive their health care in different countries, and some governments will remain in the dark about the quality and safety of care available to their citizens as compared to that available in neighbouring countries