A public ideation of shape-changing applications

The shape-changing concept where objects reconfigure their physical geometry has the potential to transform our interactions with computing devices, displays and everyday artifacts. Their dynamic physicality capitalizes on our inherent tactile sense and facilitates object re-appropriation. Research both within and outside HCI continues to develop a diverse range of technological solutions and materials to enable shape-change. However, as an early-stage enabling technology, the community has yet to identify important applications and use-cases to fully exploit its value. To expose and document a range of applications for shape-change, we employed unstructured brainstorming within a public engagement study. A 74-participant brainstorming exercise with members of the public produced 336 individual ideas that were coded into 11 major themes: entertainment, augmented living, medical, tools & utensils, research, architecture, infrastructure, industry, wearables, and education & training. This work documents the methodology and resultant application ideas along with reflections on the approach for gathering application ideas to enable shape-changing interactive surfaces and objects

Fostering Intercultural Inquiry in Subject‐ Area Curriculum Courses

This study investigates the infusion of intercultural inquiry into subject‐area curricu‐ lum courses in a teacher education program. Drawing from data that include ques‐ tionnaires, student assignments, and interviews, the research focuses on how student teachers responded to critical explorations of diversity within curriculum courses in second language education, early childhood education, and art education. The find‐ ings indicate that most student teachers had limited prior experiences with diversity, leading to anxiety and uncertainty about their preparedness to work in diverse class‐ rooms. Although many were receptive to intercultural inquiry and perceived its value, some resisted efforts to critically challenge social inequality and privilege. Key words: teacher education, diversity, multicultural education, intercultural inquiry Cet article porte sur l’intégration de la recherche interculturelle dans un programme de formation à l’enseignement. Puisant dans des données tirées entre autres de questionnai‐ res, de travaux d’étudiants et d’entrevues, les auteurs cherchent essentiellement à examiner comment des étudiants‐maîtres réagissent aux explorations critiques de la diversité dans des cours en enseignement d’une langue seconde, en éducation préscolaire et en éducation artistique. D’après les résultats obtenus, la plupart des étudiants‐maîtres avaient au départ peu d’expérience de la diversité ; ils se sentaient donc anxieux et peu sûrs d’eux par rap‐ port à la perspective de travailler dans des classes hétérogènes. Si certains voyaient d’un bon œil la recherche interculturelle et étaient conscients de sa valeur, d’autres se mon‐ traient réticents à défier de façon critique des inégalités et des privilèges sociaux. Mots clés : formation à l’enseignement, diversité, éducation multiculturelle, recherche interculturelle

User and provider perspectives on the supply and demand of future climate change information for adaptation decision making: a case study of the wine grape sector in Austra

To manage climate change, primary industry stakeholders require, and hence increasingly request, information about the likely future climate of their region. When providing future climate information, researchers have tended to assume which characteristics of the climate information are most useful to Users in the primary industries in assisting short- and long-term decision-making for climate change adaptation. Further, there is an implicit assumption that more detailed, more complex information is more useful for decision making – despite mounting evidence in the literature that this is not necessarily the case. This has created a disconnect between the supply of, and demand for, particular types of future climate information. This research uses viticulture as a case study of a primary industry sector that is sensitive to climatic variability and climate change to explore this disconnect. It compares Users’ and Providers’ perspectives on Users’ future climate information needs for climate change adaptation decision making, as well as their perspectives on whether those needs are being met. Mixed methods are applied to examine the characteristics of future climate information, including the spatial and temporal scales, which are most useful to Users in viticulture for decision making regarding climate change adaptation. Viticulture User participants from across Australia require different types and complexities of information depending on the application and whether the decision they are making is for the short- or long-term. For long-term decisions (greater than one year in the future), lower resolution (coarser detail) is considered acceptable; Users prefer to receive future climate information presented in the form of homoclimes or climate analogues; and for that information to be averaged over areas the size of growing regions. Climate information is wanted over time periods that are a maximum of five to twenty years into the future. For short-term decisions (less than one year in the future), these Users want higher resolution (finer detail) climate information, averaged over 1-10 km grids, up to one year in the future because of the short-term focus. Users’ and Providers’ perspectives were compared as to whether or not they felt that co-production of information between Providers and Users was occurring in their region and/or sector. This research suggests that the rhetoric of co-production does not yet match the on-ground reality. Concerted effort is required by both Providers and Users to overcome the barriers to better engage and co-produce information by better understanding the challenges each faces. This process could be overseen by boundary organisations which could use “boundary chains” to meet User needs while sharing and therefore minimising the costs amongst multiple organisations. Secure and on-going government funding (which could be channelled through boundary organisations) and, changes to the requirements to receive project funding, would provide necessary support and impetus to this process. This research will help bridge the gap between the future climate information that Users receive from Providers and inform the types and scales of future climate information that Users in the viticulture sector consider useful in supporting effective action to adapt to climate change. The findings of this research are expected to have application beyond the particular case study sector

Are European decision-makers preparing for high-end climate change?

Despite the Paris Agreement target of holding global temperature increases 1.5 to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, high-end climate change (HECC) scenarios going beyond 4 °C are becoming increasingly plausible. HECC may imply increasing climate variability and extremes as well as the triggering of tipping points, posing further difficulties for adaptation. This paper compares the outcomes of four concurrent European case studies (EU, Hungary, Portugal, and Scotland) that explore the individual and institutional conditions, and the information used to underpin adaptation-related decision-making in the context of HECC. The focus is on (i) whether HECC scenarios are used in current adaptation-related decision-making processes; (ii) the role of uncertainty and how climate and non-climate information is used (or not) in these processes; and (iii) the information types (including socio-economic drivers) commonly used and their limitations in relation to HECC scenarios. Decision-makers perceive HECC as having a low probability or distant occurrence and do not routinely account for HECC scenarios within existing climate actions. Decision-makers also perceive non-climate drivers as at least as important, in many cases more important, than climate change alone. Whilst more information about the implications of particular sectoral and cross-sectoral impacts is needed, climate change uncertainty is not a significant barrier to decision-making. Further understanding of individual and institutional challenges brought about by the ‘squeeze’ between adapting to HECC scenarios or to lower levels of temperature change (as those agreed in Paris) is essential to better contextualise the use of climate change information.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The complex relationship between household income of family caregivers, access to palliative care services and place of death : A national household population survey

BACKGROUND: Previous work shows that more affluent patients with cancer are more likely to die at home, whereas those dying from non-cancer conditions are more likely to die in hospital. Family caregivers are an important factor in determining place of death. AIM: To investigate associations between family caregivers' household income, patients' access to specialist palliative care and place of patients' death, by level of personal end-of-life care. DESIGN: A cross-sectional community household population survey. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Respondents to the Household Survey for England. RESULTS: One-third of 1265 bereaved respondents had provided personal end-of-life care (caregivers) (30%). Just over half (55%) of decedents accessed palliative care services and 15% died in a hospice. Place of death and access to palliative care were strongly related ( p < 0.001). Palliative care services reduced the proportion of deaths in hospital ( p < 0.001), and decedents accessing palliative care were more likely to die at home than those who did not ( p < 0.001). Respondents' income was not associated with palliative care access ( p = 0.233). Overall, respondents' income and home death were not related ( p = 0.106), but decedents with caregivers in the highest income group were least likely to die at home ( p = 0.069). CONCLUSION: For people who had someone close to them die, decedents' access to palliative care services was associated with fewer deaths in hospital and more home deaths. Respondents' income was unrelated to care recipients' place of death when adjusted for palliative care access. When only caregivers were considered, decedents with caregivers from higher income quartiles were the least likely to die at home. Family caregivers from higher income brackets are likely to be powerful patient advocates. Caregiver information needs must be addressed especially with regard to stage of disease, aim of care and appropriate interventions at the end of life

The cost of providing care by family and friends (informal care) in the last year of life: A population observational study

Introduction: Little is known about replacement costs of care provided by informal carers during the last year of life for people dying of cancer and non-cancer diseases. Aim: To estimate informal caregiving costs and explore the relationship with carer and decedent characteristics. Design: National observational study of bereaved carers. Questions included informal end-of-life caregiving into the 2017 Health Survey for England including estimated recalled frequency, duration and intensity of care provision. We estimated replacement costs for a decedent’s last year of life valuing time at the price of a substitutable activity. Spearman rank correlations and multivariable linear regression were used to explore relationships with last year of life costs. Setting/participants: Adult national survey respondents – England. Results: A total of 7997 adults were interviewed from 5767/9612 (60%) of invited households. Estimated replacement costs of personal care and other help were £27,072 and £13,697 per carer and a national cost of £13.2 billion and £15.5 billion respectively. Longer care duration and intensity, older age, death at home (lived together), non-cancer cause of death and greater deprivation were associated with increased costs. Female sex, and not accessing ‘other care services’ were related to higher costs for other help only. Conclusion: We provide a first adult general population estimate for replacement informal care costs in the last year of life of £41,000 per carer per decedent and highlight characteristics associated with greater costs. This presents a major challenge for future universal care coverage as the pool of people providing informal care diminish with an ageing population

What life course theoretical models best explain the relationship between exposure to childhood adversity and psychopathology symptoms: Recency, accumulation, or sensitive periods?

Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018Â. Background Although childhood adversity is a potent determinant of psychopathology, relatively little is known about how the characteristics of adversity exposure, including its developmental timing or duration, influence subsequent mental health outcomes. This study compared three models from life course theory (recency, accumulation, sensitive period) to determine which one(s) best explained this relationship.Methods Prospective data came from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n = 7476). Four adversities commonly linked to psychopathology (caregiver physical/emotional abuse; sexual/physical abuse; financial stress; parent legal problems) were measured repeatedly from birth to age 8. Using a statistical modeling approach grounded in least angle regression, we determined the theoretical model(s) explaining the most variability (r2) in psychopathology symptoms measured at age 8 using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and evaluated the magnitude of each association.Results Recency was the best fitting theoretical model for the effect of physical/sexual abuse (girls r2 = 2.35%; boys r2 = 1.68%). Both recency (girls r2 = 1.55%) and accumulation (boys r2 = 1.71%) were the best fitting models for caregiver physical/emotional abuse. Sensitive period models were chosen alone (parent legal problems in boys r2 = 0.29%) and with accumulation (financial stress in girls r2 = 3.08%) more rarely. Substantial effect sizes were observed (standardized mean differences = 0.22-1.18).Conclusions Child psychopathology symptoms are primarily explained by recency and accumulation models. Evidence for sensitive periods did not emerge strongly in these data. These findings underscore the need to measure the characteristics of adversity, which can aid in understanding disease mechanisms and determining how best to reduce the consequences of exposure to adversity

Implementing the battery-operated hand-held fan as an evidence-based, non-pharmacological intervention for chronic breathlessness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a qualitative study of the views of specialist respiratory clinicians

INTRODUCTION: The battery-operated hand-held fan ('fan') is an inexpensive and portable non-pharmacological intervention for chronic breathlessness. Evidence from randomised controlled trials suggests the fan reduces breathlessness intensity and improves physical activity in patients with a range of advanced chronic conditions. Qualitative data from these trials suggests the fan may also reduce anxiety and improve daily functioning for many patients. This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to the fan's implementation in specialist respiratory care as a non-pharmacological intervention for chronic breathlessness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: A qualitative approach was taken, using focus groups. Participants were clinicians from any discipline working in specialist respiratory care at two hospitals. Questions asked about current fan-related practice and perceptions regarding benefits, harms and mechanisms, and factors influencing its implementation. Analysis used a mixed inductive/deductive approach. RESULTS: Forty-nine participants from nursing (n = 30), medical (n = 13) and allied health (n = 6) disciplines participated across 9 focus groups. The most influential facilitator was a belief that the fan's benefits outweighed disadvantages. Clinicians' beliefs about the fan's mechanisms determined which patient sub-groups they targeted, for example anxious or palliative/end-stage patients. Barriers to implementation included a lack of clarity about whose role it was to implement the fan, what advice to provide patients, and limited access to fans in hospitals. Few clinicians implemented the fan for acute-on-chronic breathlessness or in combination with other interventions. CONCLUSION: Implementation of the fan in specialist respiratory care may require service- and clinician-level interventions to ensure it is routinely recommended as a first-line intervention for chronic breathlessness in patients for whom this symptom is of concern, regardless of COPD stage

TLC Year in Review

With contributions by Matthew Schehl, Shona Dunn, Ali Rodgers, Betsy Wallace, Miriam Bergue Alves, Michael Guerrero, Aileen B. Houston, Cheryldee Huddleston, Leo Blanken and Cecilia Panella, and a forward by Scott Bischoff, Dennis Lester, and Tom Rosko