Developing community based rehabilitation for cancer survivors: organizing for coordination and coherence in practice

Abstract Background Increasing incidences of cancer combined with prolonged survival have raised the need for developing community based rehabilitation. The objectives of the analysis were to describe and interpret the key issues related to coordination and coherence of community-based cancer rehabilitation in Denmark and to provide insights relevant for other contexts. Methods Twenty-seven rehabilitation managers across 15 municipalities in Denmark comprised the sample. The study was designed with a combination of data collection methods including questionnaires, individual interviews, and focus groups. A Grounded Theory approach was used to analyze the data. Results A lack of shared cultures among health care providers and systems of delivery was a primary barrier to collaboration which was essential for establishing coordination of care. Formal multidisciplinary steering committees, team-based organization, and informal relationships were fundamental for developing coordination and coherence. Conclusions Coordination and coherence in community-based rehabilitation relies on increased collaboration, which may best be optimized by use of shared frameworks within and across systems. Results highlight the challenges faced in practical implementation of community rehabilitation and point to possible strategies for its enhancement

Raising Algorithm Bias Awareness Among Computer Science Students Through Library and Computer Science Instruction

We are a computer science professor and two librarians who work closely with computer science students. In this paper, we outline the development of an introductory algorithm bias instruction session. As part of our lesson development, we analyzed the results of a survey we conducted of computer science students at three universities on their perceptions about search-engine and big-data algorithms. We examined whether an information literacy component focused on algorithmic bias was beneficial to offer to students in the computational sciences and designed an instructional prototype. We studied qualitative data, including feedback from students and colleagues on our initial instruction module to create the next two modules. We found that students’ reception to the subject of algorithm bias can range from defensive and unaccepting to open and accepting of the existence of such bias. Since the topic ultimately deals with issues of racial, gender-based, and other discrimination, a multidisciplinary approach is needed when teaching about algorithm bias. Our assertion is that librarians have a role in partnering with computer science instructors to ensure that students who major in computer science, who will be the primary creators of algorithms as they enter the workforce, can develop an early awareness and understanding of bias in information systems. Further, when the students receive such training, the automated systems they generate will produce more fair outcomes. Our pedagogy incorporates insights from computer science, library science, medical ethics, and critical theory. The aim of our algorithm bias instruction is to help computer science students recognize and mitigate the systematic marginalization of groups within the current technological environment

The need for the “new health geography” in epidemiologic studies of environment and health

Growth during the past decade in what can be broadly referred to as social and environmental epidemiologic research has been an important contributor to an emerging understanding of environment and health relationships. While the incorporation of geographic information systems as well as concepts such as "neighborhoods" might be viewed as evidence of social epidemiology moving closer to health geography, I argue that the two fields are not well aligned. Health geography has much more to contribute to studies of environment and health, and attention by social epidemiologists to those potential contributions could help rectify this misalignment. This paper suggests a number of geographic perspectives on health and environment that could create useful connections between geography and public health, via social epidemiology. To illustrate this potential, I use an ongoing study of a Texas community exposed to a large petrochemical complex-an inquiry constructed in the mode of social epidemiology - as a case in point. I apply several perspectives and concepts from geography to the case study. Cultural ecology, discourse materialized, political ecology, and territoriality are used to assess the Texas City situation and suggest important types of understandings that can enhance the social epidemiology approach to environment and health. I conclude with a discussion of the prospects for a social epidemiology infused with this type of geographic thought and analysis

Seasonal Variability of Near-Surface Hydrography and Frontal Features in the Northern Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound

The meridional structure and seasonal cycles of near-surface hydrography and frontal features in the northern Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound are described from high-resolution measurements of near-surface temperature and salinity acquired by a vessel-mounted thermosalinograph. Near-surface temperature exhibits a well-defined seasonal cycle with little variation between basin and shelf waters. Near-surface salinity exhibits a well-defined seasonal cycle that is confined largely to the shelf waters reflecting the influence of coastal freshwater inputs. Prominent near-surface fronts at the shelf break, at the entrance to Prince William Sound, and in northern Prince William Sound intensify and weaken following the seasonal cycles of freshwater discharges into the northern Gulf of Alaska. These respective fronts are maintained by freshwater from the Alaska Coastal Current, the Copper River, and the snowfields and glaciers of northern Prince William Sound

Low frequency variations in the sea level and currents over the Oregon continental shelf

Sea level and current observations made over the Oregon continental shelf exhibit wavelike characteristics in a frequency band from approximately 0.15 to 0.45 cpd. In a narrow band around 0.22 cpd the current-sea level relationship is consistent with the predicted values for the first mode of Robinson's continental shelf waves. In addition, an interesting relationship exists between the form of the sea level-current coherency spectra and the arrangement of the maximum frequencies for the first three shelf wave modes. The currents were measured in 100 m of water about seven nautical miles off Depoe Bay, Oregon. Current meters were placed at 25, 50 and 75 m depth. The duration of the experiment was from 18 April 1968 until 11 September 1968. Due to some instrument failures a complete current data set for this period was not obtained. Simultaneous and continuous measurements of surface elevation and atmospheric pressure were also obtained at Newport, Oregon, a nearby coastal station. Shelf wave dispersion curves and eigenfunctions for the Oregon coastal profile are computed using a new numerical technique. These are compared with a low frequency (about 0.03 cpd to 0.75 cpd) spectral analysis of the current, sea level and atmospheric pressure records. The relative vertical uniformity of the currents, as a function of frequency, is examined. The longshore component of the current appears to be substantially more barotropic than the onshore-offshore component

Some model experiments on continental shelf waves

This paper describes some model experiments that verify the theoretical form of continental shelf waves. Both the dispersion relationship and the positions of the orbital gyres are confirmed. The existence of a maximum frequency for each mode, with a corresponding zero group velocity, may be of significance for field observations

How to Win Elections and Influence Parties: Party and Electoral System Development and Manipulation in the Republic of China

This work asserts that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been able to retain power in Taiwan’s apparently competitive democratic system through manipulation of the political party and electoral systems. These systems have a close relationship in which the electoral system is a result of the party system. During Taiwan’s transition to democracy the KMT was able to use their one party dominant position to establish an electoral system which favored them in elections. This electoral system in turn shaped the emerging political party system to the benefit of the KMT. Over time, as political conditions in Taiwan shifted, the KMT was able to alter the electoral and party systems to adapt to their changing needs

Spectral longwave emission in the tropics - FTIR measurement at the sea-surface and comparison with fast radiation codes

Longwave emission by the tropical western Pacific atmosphere has been measured at the ocean surface by a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroradiometer deployed aboard the research vessel John Vickers as part of the Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment. The instrument operated throughout a Pacific Ocean crossing, beginning on 7 March 1993 in Honiara, Solomon Islands, and ending on 29 March 1993 in Los Angeles, and recorded longwave emission spectra under atmospheres associated with sea surface temperatures ranging from 291.0 to 302.8 K. Precipitable water vapor abundances ranged from 1.9 to 5.5 column centimeters. Measured emission spectra (downwelling zenith radiance) covered the middle infrared (5-20 mu m) with one inverse centimeter spectral resolution. FTIR measurements made under an entirely clear field of view are compared with spectra generated by LOWTRAN 7 and MODTRAN 2, as well as downwelling flux calculated by the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM-2) radiation code, using radiosonde profiles as input data for these calculations. In the spectral interval 800-1000 cm(-1), these comparisons show a discrepancy between FTIR data and MODTRAN 2 having an overall variability of 6-7 mW m(-2) sr(-1) cm and a concave shape that may be related to the representation of water vapor continuum emission in MODTRAN 2. Another discrepancy appears in the spectral interval 1200-1300 cm(-1), where MODTRAN 2 appears to overestimate zenith radiance by 5 mW m(-2) sr(-1) cm. These discrepancies appear consistently; however, they become only slightly larger at the highest water vapor abundances. Because these radiance discrepancies correspond to broadband (500-2000 cm(-1)) flux uncertainties of around 3 W m(-2), there appear to be no serious inadequacies with the performance of MODTRAN 2 or LOWTRAN 7 at high atmospheric temperatures and water vapor abundances. On average, CCM-2 flux calculations agree to within 1 W m(-2) with downwelling flux estimates from the FTIR data over all sea surface temperatures, although this result has a scatter of +/-12 W m(-2) at high sea surface temperatures

The Possibilities for Activity Scale (PActS): Development, validity, and reliability: LaPossibilities for Activity Scale(PActS) : développement, validité et fiabilité

Laliberte-Rudman (2005) proposed the concept of occupational possibilities to represent what older adults feel they “should be” and “could be” doing