The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF- International) – A historical analysis

This Major Paper provides a historical analysis of the formation and development of CARF-International, a prominent private accreditation body in the social and human services sector. Accreditation is a system of evaluation, whereby organizations or programs are reviewed based on an established set of standards, in order to become approved, or 'accredited'. Private accreditation, and specifically CARF accreditation, has become mandated and recognized by numerous government agencies across North America, and often acts as a requirement for human/social service agencies to access government funding. However the history and evolution of accreditation, and specifically accrediting institutions in the social/human services sector is not well research, therefore the purpose of this paper is exploratory. The paper begins with an overview of the literature on accreditation, accrediting institutions, as well as select literature on policy trends in public management, the welfare state, and transnational private regulation. The research is accomplished through a historical case study methodology that draws loosely on research questions utilized in previous research on accrediting institutions. I have identified three broad phases in the evolution of CARF-International: the foundational years (late 1960s to late 80s); building the market (1990s); and growth and expansion (2000s onwards). Through the analysis I have identified seven key themes that relate the literature review to the evolution of CARF-International: the initial purpose of developing standards and accreditation; accreditation as private regulation; governance structure; CARF as a forum for debate; competition between accrediting institutions; the international 'turn'; and program evaluation. One point of interest is the position of CARF in a governance network (or 'infrastructure'/'assemblage') that crosses traditional boundaries of public-private or local-global. A second point is the changing nature of CARF as an institution—specifically in terms of industry involvement in the governance of CARF—as well as the influence of increasing competition and pressure for growth on the practices of CARF as an institution. A third point for further inquiry questions the impact of accreditation on service providers, and service delivery systems. Overall this Major Paper offers an in-depth look at CARF as an accrediting institution as a means to expose and explore trends in accreditation and the broader field of social and human services

A preliminary study exploring the mathematical wellbeing of grade 3 to 8 students in New Zealand

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on student wellbeing in schooling. Despite evidence of disengagement and anxiety related to mathematics, how wellbeing is experienced in individual subjects is vastly under researched. This research paper presents the findings of a study which explores the ‘mathematical wellbeing’ of 1281 grade 3 to 8 New Zealand students participating in their first of a multiyear mathematics teacher learning and development intervention programme. Findings indicate a decline in reported wellbeing as student grade level increases as well as examining both the strengths and weaknesses of students’ mathematical wellbeing. The study highlights the importance of exploring subject-specific wellbeing and provides an eight-dimensional model to measure wellbeing specific to mathematics

An Exploration of Marginal Attachment to the Australian Labour Market

One of the key factors that affects the extent to which changes in labour demand affect other macroeconomic variables, such as wage inflation, is the degree of matching between potential employees and available jobs. The pool of potential employees is usually measured as the pool of unemployed workers. However, this ignores an important group of people who are not officially unemployed, but do represent potential labour supply the marginally attached workforce, which can be broadly defined as the people who are not currently in the labour force, but want to work and are available to take up employment. The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which the labour market behaviour of marginally attached workers is similar to that of the unemployed. We use longitudinal data from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns (SEUP), which provides detailed information on the characteristics of individuals as well as their labour market experiences, to compare dynamic behaviour across labour market groups, for example, the probability of moving into employment. We find that in some respects the dynamic behaviour of the marginally attached is similar to that of the unemployed, but in others it is quite different. Accordingly, the most appropriate measure of labour supply depends on the policy question, and consequently a range of measures should be considered.dynamic behaviour; effective labour supply; marginal attachment; transition probability; unemployment

Why does a good thing become too much? Interactions between foliar nutrients and toxins determine performance of an insect herbivore

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102682/1/fec12163.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102682/2/fec12163-sup-0001-LaySummary.pd

Easy as 4-AT: Improving Delirium Screening in Acute Elderly Admissions with a Targeted Educational Intervention

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

'We don't have any of those people here...'

Most people ageing with HIV in Australia are, and will continue to be, gay men. For those who avoided disclosing their sexuality throughout their lives or who have limited disclosure to a small circle, the prospect of dealing with aged-care services can be daunting. For many older gay men diagnosed with HIV in the eighties or nineties, the concerns around disclosing sexuality are compounded by past experiences of stigma and discrimination due to their sexuality, with additional fears around disclosure of their HIV-positive status. The GRAI research outlined in this article raises important issues that must be addressed in planning for the diversity of the Australian population - planning that needs to acknowledge the issues faced by the Australian cohort of gay men ageing with HIV. (Eds.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Archaeology Using Photogrammetry and LiDAR in Southwestern United States

Researchers can use small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), also known as drones, to make observations of historical sites, help interpret locations, and make new discoveries that may not be visible to the naked eye. A student team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University gathered data for historical site documentation in New Mexico using the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2, DJI Mavic Pro 2, DJI M210 and DJI M600, and senseFly eBee. Utilizing these drones, student analysts were able to take the data gathered and create georectified orthomosaic images and 3D virtual objects. At Tularosa Canyon, at a site known as the Creekside Village, work aimed at imaging an amphitheater like structure (i.e., kiva) that dates back to 600 AD. The team used photogrammetry and LiDAR to determine the location of other manmade structures at the same location. Images were processed with Pix4Dmapper Pro. Team members generated LiDAR point clouds and post processed data in search of undiscovered features and structures

A Virtual Reality Application of the Rubber Hand Illusion Induced by Ultrasonic Mid-Air Haptic Stimulation

Ultrasonic mid-air haptic technologies, which provide haptic feedback through airwaves produced using ultrasound, could be employed to investigate the sense of body ownership and immersion in virtual reality (VR) by inducing the virtual hand illusion (VHI). Ultrasonic mid-air haptic perception has solely been investigated for glabrous (hairless) skin, which has higher tactile sensitivity than hairy skin. In contrast, the VHI paradigm typically targets hairy skin without comparisons to glabrous skin. The aim of this article was to investigate illusory body ownership, the applicability of ultrasonic mid-air haptics, and perceived immersion in VR using the VHI. Fifty participants viewed a virtual hand being stroked by a feather synchronously and asynchronously with the ultrasonic stimulation applied to the glabrous skin on the palmar surface and the hairy skin on the dorsal surface of their hands. Questionnaire responses revealed that synchronous stimulation induced a stronger VHI than asynchronous stimulation. In synchronous conditions, the VHI was stronger for palmar stimulation than dorsal stimulation. The ultrasonic stimulation was also perceived as more intense on the palmar surface compared to the dorsal surface. Perceived immersion was not related to illusory body ownership per se but was enhanced by the provision of synchronous stimulation

Assessing Binocular Interaction in Amblyopia and Its Clinical Feasibility

Purpose To measure binocular interaction in amblyopes using a rapid and patient-friendly computer-based method, and to test the feasibility of the assessment in the clinic. Methods: Binocular interaction was assessed in subjects with strabismic amblyopia (n = 7), anisometropic amblyopia (n = 6), strabismus without amblyopia (n = 15) and normal vision (n = 40). Binocular interaction was measured with a dichoptic phase matching task in which subjects matched the position of a binocular probe to the cyclopean perceived phase of a dichoptic pair of gratings whose contrast ratios were systematically varied. The resulting effective contrast ratio of the weak eye was taken as an indicator of interocular imbalance. Testing was performed in an ophthalmology clinic under 8 mins. We examined the relationships between our binocular interaction measure and standard clinical measures indicating abnormal binocularity such as interocular acuity difference and stereoacuity. The test-retest reliability of the testing method was also evaluated. Results: Compared to normally-sighted controls, amblyopes exhibited significantly reduced effective contrast (∼20%) of the weak eye, suggesting a higher contrast requirement for the amblyopic eye compared to the fellow eye. We found that the effective contrast ratio of the weak eye covaried with standard clincal measures of binocular vision. Our results showed that there was a high correlation between the 1st and 2nd measurements (r = 0.94, p<0.001) but without any significant bias between the two. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that abnormal binocular interaction can be reliably captured by measuring the effective contrast ratio of the weak eye and quantitative assessment of binocular interaction is a quick and simple test that can be performed in the clinic. We believe that reliable and timely assessment of deficits in a binocular interaction may improve detection and treatment of amblyopia