Proactive or Reactive? Optimal Management of an Invasive Forest Pest in a Spatial Framework

This paper offers a preliminary investigation into the conditions under which it might be optimal to engage in proactive management of a non-timber forest resource in the presence of an invasive species whose spread is unaffected by management action. Proactive management is defined as treating an uninfected area in order to encourage healthy ecosystem function, given that the arrival of the invasive is inevitable. Inspired by the problem of white pine blister rust in the Rocky Mountain west, the model was solved under varying assumptions concerning the scale of management action, benefit and costs, the discount rate, and uncertainty of spread. Results showed that proactive strategies tended to be optimal when, ceteris paribus, a) more resources are available for treatment; b) the costs of treatment are rapidly increasing in forest health, or conversely, the benefits of healthy and unhealthy stands are relatively similar; and c) the discount rate is low. The introduction of uncertainty did not significantly affect the likelihood of a proactive management strategy being optimal, but did show that the conditional probabilities of infection play important role in the decision of which uninfected stand should be treated if a choice is available to the manager.Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Praxis Mapping: A methodology for evaluating the political impacts of international projects

This report describes the participatory development of a process we have used to consider the political implications of a climate justice project we worked on together from 2010 to 2013, called Strengthening the role of civil society in water sector governance towards climate change adaptation in African cities – Durban, Maputo, Nairobi (see http://ccaa.irisyorku.ca). This project was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) through their Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme.This research was supported by the International Development Research Centr

Wound meets wound in the counselling room

In this exploratory study I ask, 'what impact might a personal history of developmental trauma have on a counsellor’s experience of, and work with, traumatised clients?' The principal aim of the study is to add to the knowledge already available in a way which can assist practice, especially in generic services where trauma is often an underlying, and sometimes unrecognised, issue. The study makes three claims concerning: the importance of recognising diversity of trauma experience; client-informed flexibility in trauma counselling practice; and the advantage of a research strategy which includes elements of bricolage. Such knowledge is presented with a view to informing strategic decision-making, both in the counselling room and in training. To contextualise the study, I begin with a literature review on two underlying phenomenological questions - trauma and the therapeutic relationship - and on the concept of the wounded healer. Epistemological and ontological reflection on these questions leads to a methodology which I call practical (phronetic) interpretive phenomenology. Data is from semi-structured interviews with six counsellor participants who self-identified as having experienced developmental trauma. I present this data as brief ‘ghost-written’ stories followed by reconstructions of the transcripts in the form of imaginary post-interview conversations. I also include an autobiographical reflection in order to make my position in relation to the participants’ data transparent. Analysis of the participants’ stories and reflections reveals them as idiosyncratic, emerging from quite different life experiences. Similarly the ways in which their trauma has impacted on their practice is varied. The methodology focuses on experience-near ‘thick’ description, reflection, and phenomenological analysis, and aims to privilege narrative context over study of selected variables. The findings indicate that a relational approach based on the client’s experiences, and informed by the counsellor’s own reflexivity, can connect with clients in deeper ways than some more detached models of trauma therapy. The implications for counsellor development and practice are discussed, and include encouragement for ongoing processing of earlier trauma by counsellors, self-care, attention to countertransference reactions and to risks of vicarious trauma, and high quality supervision. Appropriate specialist training and continual learning from their own, their clients’ and colleagues’ experience are also recommended. The data suggest that these 'wounded healers' can have insights which may be of benefit to other trauma counsellors and their clients

The Effects of Feedback on Teachers' Verbal Behavior and Attitudes Toward In-Service Education

The problem of this study was to determine the effect of the use of Flanders' system of interaction analysis on the verbal behavior of an elementary school faculty and on their attitudes toward in-service education

Two approaches to longitudinal qualitative analyses in rehabilitation and disability research.

Purpose: Although relatively unknown within the field of rehabilitation, qualitative longitudinal research is ideal for rehabilitation and disability research that aims to understand health-related challenges over time. We describe the strengths and challenges of longitudinal qualitative research using two concrete examples.Materials and methods: Qualitative longitudinal research often involves in-depth interviews of participants on multiple occasions over time. Analytic approaches are complex, summarizing data both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. We present two detailed analytic approaches used in research with people living with HIV in Zambia and Canada.Results: Our experiences provide three recommendations. First, development of the initial analytic coding framework should include both inductive and deductive approaches. Second, given the large quantity of data generated through longitudinal qualitative research, it is important to proactively develop strategies for data analysis and management. Third, as retention of participants is challenging over time, we recommend the use of a consistent interviewer over the duration of the study to promote a trusting relationship.Conclusions: Longitudinal qualitative research has much to offer researchers and can provide clinicians with insights on the challenges of living with chronic and episodic disability. The flexibility in analytic approaches allows for diverse strategies to best address the rehabilitation and disability research questions and allow for insights into living with disability over time

Translating clinical and patient-reported data to tailored shared decision reports with predictive analytics for knee and hip arthritis

INTRODUCTION: New informatics tools can transform evidence-based information to individualized predictive reports to serve shared decisions in clinic. We developed a web-based system to collect patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and medical risk factors and to compare responses to national registry data. The system generates predicted outcomes for individual patients and a report for use in clinic to support decisions. We present the report development, presentation, and early experience implementing this PRO-based, shared decision report for knee and hip arthritis patients seeking orthopedic evaluation. METHODS: Iterative patient and clinician interviews defined report content and visual display. The web-system supports: (a) collection of PROs and risk data at home or in office, (b) automated statistical processing of responses compared to national data, (c) individualized estimates of likely pain relief and functional gain if surgery is elected, and (d) graphical reports to support shared decisions. The system was implemented at 12 sites with 26 surgeons in an ongoing cluster randomized trial. RESULTS: Clinicians and patients recommended that pain and function as well as clinical risk factors (e.g., BMI, smoking) be presented to frame the discussion. Color and graphics support patient understanding. To date, 7891 patients completed the assessment before the visit and 56% consented to study participation. Reports were generated for 98% of patients and 68% of patients recalled reviewing the report with their surgeon. CONCLUSIONS: Informatics solutions can generate timely, tailored office reports including PROs and predictive analytics. Patients successfully complete the pre-visit PRO assessments and clinicians and patients value the report to support shared surgical decisions

Community-University Partnerships: Achieving continuity in the face of change

A challenge that community-university partnerships everywhere will face is how to maintain continuity in the face of change. The problems besetting communities continually shift and the goals of the university partners often fluctuate. This article describes a decade-long strategy one university has successfully used to address this problem. Over the past ten years, a community-university partnership at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has used summer content funding to respond creativity to shifting priorities. Each summer a research-action project is developed that targets a different content issue that has emerged with unexpected urgency. Teams of graduate students and high school students are charged with investigating this issue under the auspices of the partnership. These highly varied topics have included immigrant businesses, youth asset mapping, women owned businesses, the housing crisis, social program cutbacks, sustainability, and economic development and the arts. Despite their obvious differences, these topics share underlying features that further partnership commitment and continuity. Each has an urgency: the information is needed quickly, often because some immediate policy change is under consideration. Each topic has the advantage of drawing on multiple domains: the topics are inherently interdisciplinary and because they do not “belong” to any single field, they lend themselves to disciplines pooling their efforts to achieve greater understanding. Each also has high visibility: their salience has meant that people were often willing to devote scarce resources to the issues and also that media attention could easily be gained to highlight the advantages of students, partners, and the university working together. And the topics themselves are generative: they have the potential to contribute in many different ways to teaching, research, and outreach. This paper ends with a broader consideration of how partnerships can implement this model for establishing continuity in the face of rapidly shifting priorities and needs

Community-University Partnerships: Achieving continuity in the face of change

A challenge most community-university partnerships will face after having established themselves is how to maintain continuity in the face of change. The problems besetting communities continually shift as new issues bubble up. Similarly, the goals of the university partners often fluctuate. And the partners themselves shift: people working in non-government organizations often move in and out of positions and university partners may change with tenure or shifts in university priorities. In light of all of this flux, can stable community-university partnerships be built and, if so, how

Establishment and Propagation of Human Retinoblastoma Tumors in Immune Deficient Mice

Culturing retinoblastoma tumor cells in defined stem cell media gives rise to primary tumorspheres that can be grown and maintained for only a limited time. These cultured tumorspheres may exhibit markedly different cellular phenotypes when compared to the original tumors. Demonstration that cultured cells have the capability of forming new tumors is important to ensure that cultured cells model the biology of the original tumor