Vietnamese Women and Children Refugees in Hong Kong: An Argument against Arbitrary Detention

Anteckningar från Sundre, Gotland sydligaste socken. Onsdag 11 april 2012 Rivet, en smal udde av grus. Stark vind, öppen horisont. Vatten på nära nog alla håll. Här, längst ut, drabbades jag av fasa när havet ville döda mig, sluka min kropp. Letade efter gravarna men fann inget. Gick upp till Arendt i fyren. --- Mitt examensprojekt är min promenad tillsammans med historia, tempo, minne, tröghet, förflyttningar och förändringar, ruiner, myter samt högst personliga reflektioner. Det finns platser man verkligen tycker om, som man älskar. Jag vet flera platser som jag älskar att vara på, det här är en av dem. Få stannar till här, det är ett ställe man passerar. Jag vill vara ensam här. Vid mina besök, som på senare tid under projektets gång har varit mycket riktade, blir jag extremt fokuserad på platsen och bara platsen. Också som att kliva ur tjockan.Notes from the parish of Sundre, at the very south of Gotland. Wednesday April 11, 2012 Rivet, a small cpe of gravel. Strong wind, open horizon. Water in almost all directions. Here, at the nab, fright hit me when the sea wanted to liquidate me, swallow my body. Searched for the tombs but found nothing. Visited Arendt in the lighthouse. --- My degree project is my promenade together with history, tempo, memory, inertia, movements, ruins, myths and my very personal reflections. There are places you really like, that you love. There are several places that I love to be at, this is one of them. Few people halt here, this is a place you pass. I want to be alone here. At my visits, that during the project became more and more addressed, I become extremely focused at the place and the place only. Like stepping out of the mist

Perceptions of quality assurance in a private rehabilitation organization.

In this age of financial restraint and increasing demands on behalf of consumers, quality is becoming an essential component of any product or service. While this study focuses on aspects of quality within the private rehabilitation segment of the health care industry, there are lessons that may be applied to the field of education. As expectations change and teachers become increasingly accountable for their students\u27 education, issues of quality and cost effectiveness will come to light. Ideally, quality assurance represents a belief that a product or service can exist that satisfies the needs and expectations of both the consumer and producer or the service provider. Traditionally, quality assurance programs in the health care industry focused either on cost containment or risk management. The practitioners\u27 perspective regarding quality is often overlooked. This study identifies benchmarks of quality based on the health care practitioner\u27s perspective. Through the administration of a survey, the researcher identified four categories of benchmarks that were common to physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists. These professional groups identified benchmarks that focused on education, communication, attitude, and the success of the therapeutic intervention. This study has potential for the field of education. Like the health care industry, the field of education is also evolving. As people become increasingly concerned about the quality of their children\u27s education and how best their educational dollars are spent, the demands for quality assurance within education will increase

What about lay counselors' experiences of task-shifting mental health interventions? Example from a family-based intervention in Kenya.

Background:A key focus of health systems strengthening in low- and middle-income countries is increasing reach and access through task-shifting. As such models become more common, it is critical to understand the experiences of lay providers because they are on the forefront for delivering care services. A greater understanding would improve lay provider support and help them provide high-quality care. This is especially the case for those providing mental health services, as providing psychological care may pose unique stressors. We sought to understand experiences of lay counselors, focusing on identity, motivation, self-efficacy, stress, and burnout. The goal was to understand how taking on a new provider role influences their lives beyond simply assuming a new task, which would in turn help identify actionable steps to improve interventions with task-shifting components. Methods:Semi-structured interviews (n = 20) and focus group discussions (n = 3) were conducted with three lay counselor groups with varying levels of experience delivering a community-based family therapy intervention in Eldoret, Kenya. Thematic analysis was conducted, including intercoder reliability checks. A Stress Map was created to visualize stress profiles using free-listing and pile-sorting data collected during interviews and focus group discussions. Results:Counselors described high intrinsic motivation to become counselors and high self-efficacy after training. They reported positive experiences in the counselor role, with new skills improving their counseling and personal lives. As challenges arose, including client engagement difficulties and balancing many responsibilities, stress and burnout increased, dampening motivation and self-efficacy. In response, counselors described coping strategies, including seeking peer and supervisor support, that restored their motivation to persevere. At case completion, they again experienced high self-efficacy and a desire to continue. Conclusions:Findings informed suggestions for ways to incorporate support for lay providers into task-shifting interventions at initiation, during training, and throughout implementation. These include acknowledging and preparing counselors for challenges during training, increasing explicit attention to counselor stress in supervision, fostering peer support among lay providers, and ensuring a fair balance between workload and compensation. Improving and building an evidence base around practices for supporting lay providers will improve the effectiveness and sustainability of lay provider-delivered interventions

Materials and methods for the alteration of enzyme and acetyl CoA levels in plants

The present invention provides nucleic acid and amino acid sequences of acetyl CoA synthetase (ACS), plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase (pPDH), ATP citrate lyase (ACL),Arabidopsis pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC), and Arabidopsis aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), specifically ALDH-2 and ALDH-4. The present invention also provides a recombinant vector comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding one of the aforementioned enzymes, an antisense sequence thereto or a ribozyme therefor, a cell transformed with such a vector, antibodies to the enzymes, a plant cell, a plant tissue, a plant organ or a plant in which the level of an enzyme has been altered, and a method of producing such a plant cell, plant tissue, plant organ or plant. Desirably, alteration of the level of enzyme results in an alteration of the level of acetyl CoA in the plant cell, plant tissue, plant organ or plant. In addition, the present invention provides a recombinant vector comprising an antisense sequence of a nucleic acid sequence encoding pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC), the E1α subunit of pPDH, the E1β subunit of pPDH, the E2 subunit of pPDH, mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase (mtPDH) or aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) or a ribozyme that can cleave an RNA molecule encoding PDC, E1α pPDH, E1β pPDH, E2 pPDH, mtPDH or ALDH

The Role of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase and Acetyl-Coenzyme A Synthetase in Fatty Acid Synthesis in Developing Arabidopsis Seeds

Acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) formed within the plastid is the precursor for the biosynthesis of fatty acids and, through them, a range of important biomolecules. The source of acetyl-CoA in the plastid is not known, but two enzymes are thought to be involved: acetyl-CoA synthetase and plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase. To determine the importance of these two enzymes in synthesizing acetyl-CoA during lipid accumulation in developing Arabidopsis seeds, we isolated cDNA clones for acetyl-CoA synthetase and for the ptE1α- and ptE1β-subunits of plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase. To our knowledge, this is the first reported acetyl-CoA synthetase sequence from a plant source. The Arabidopsis acetyl-CoA synthetase preprotein has a calculated mass of 76,678 D, an apparent plastid targeting sequence, and the mature protein is a monomer of 70 to 72 kD. During silique development, the spatial and temporal patterns of the ptE1β mRNA level are very similar to those of the mRNAs for the plastidic heteromeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase subunits. The pattern of ptE1β mRNA accumulation strongly correlates with the formation of lipid within the developing embryo. In contrast, the level of mRNA for acetyl-CoA synthetase does not correlate in time and space with lipid accumulation. The highest level of accumulation of the mRNA for acetyl-CoA synthetase during silique development is within the funiculus. These mRNA data suggest a predominant role for plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase in acetyl-CoA formation during lipid synthesis in seeds

A Theory of Mind investigation into the appreciation of visual jokes in schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that groups of people with schizophrenia have deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) capabilities. Previous studies have found these to be linked to psychotic symptoms (or psychotic symptom severity) particularly the presence of delusions and hallucinations. METHODS: A visual joke ToM paradigm was employed where subjects were asked to describe two types of cartoon images, those of a purely Physical nature and those requiring inferences of mental states for interpretation, and to grade them for humour and difficulty. Twenty individuals with a DSM-lV diagnosis of schizophrenia and 20 healthy matched controls were studied. Severity of current psychopathology was measured using the Krawiecka standardized scale of psychotic symptoms. IQ was estimated using the Ammons and Ammons quick test. RESULTS: Individuals with schizophrenia performed significantly worse than controls in both conditions, this difference being most marked in the ToM condition. No relationship was found for poor ToM performance and psychotic positive symptomatology, specifically delusions and hallucinations. CONCLUSION: There was evidence for a compromised ToM capability in the schizophrenia group on this visual joke task. In this instance this could not be linked to particular symptomatology

Factors explaining variation in recommended care pathways following hospital-presenting self-harm:a multilevel national registry study

BACKGROUND People who present to hospital following self-harm are at high risk of suicide. Despite this, there are considerable variations in the management of this group across hospitals and the factors influencing such variations are not well understood. AIMS The aim of this study was to identify the specific hospital and individual factors associated with care pathways following hospital-presenting self-harm. METHOD Data on presentations to hospitals by those aged 18 years and over were obtained from the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland for 2017 and 2018. Factors associated with four common outcomes following self-harm (self-discharge, medical and psychiatric admission and psychosocial assessment before discharge) were examined using multilevel Poisson regression models. RESULTS Care pathways following self-harm varied across hospitals and were influenced by both hospital and individual factors. Individual factors were primarily associated with self-discharge (including male gender, younger age and alcohol involvement), medical admission (older age, drug overdose as a sole method and ambulance presentations) and psychiatric admission (male gender, methods associated with greater lethality and older age). The hospital admission rate for self-harm was the only factor associated with all outcomes examined. The availability of psychiatric in-patient facilities and specialist mental health staff contributed to variation in psychiatric admissions and psychosocial assessments prior to discharge. Hospital factors explained the majority of observed variation in the provision of psychosocial assessments. CONCLUSIONS Characteristics of the presenting hospital and hospital admission rates influence the recommended care pathways following self-harm. Provision of onsite mental health facilities and specialist mental health staff has a strong impact on psychiatric care of these patients

A Network-Aware Distributed Membership Protocol for Collaborative Defense

To counteract current trends in network malware, distributed solutions have been developed that harness the power of collaborative end-host sensors. While these systems greatly increase the ability to defend against attack, this comes at the cost of complexity due to the coordination of distributed hosts across the dynamic network. Many previous solutions for distributed membership maintenance are agnostic to network conditions and have high overhead, making them less than ideal in the dynamic enterprise environment. In this work, we propose a network-aware, distributed membership protocol, CLUSTER, which improves the performance of the overlay system by biasing neighbor selection towards beneficial nodes based on multiple system metrics and network social patterns (of devices and their users). We provide an extensible method for aggregating and comparing multiple, possibly unrelated metrics. We demonstrate the effectiveness and utility of our protocol through simulation using real-world data and topologies. As part of our results, we highlight our analysis of node churn statistics, offering a new distribution to accurately model enterprise churn