Quality in home care: client and provider views

This paper reports on the findings of a small-scale study that investigated the meaning and delivery of quality in home care in four local authorities from the perspective of informal carers, users and providers and explored the views of users about proposed changes in the ethos of home care stipulated in the National Care Standards for Domiciliary Care (2003). We start by outlining the method used and then describe the characteristics of the consulted provider agencies and the characteristics and needs of the service users. Section 5 reports users’ experience of the home care service and section 6 the important aspects of quality from the perspective of users and providers. Finally, the report addresses the implications of our findings on the future development of home care provision

Small Nonprofits Solving Big Problems

There are over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States. Of those, three-quarters (almost 1.2 million) have annual budgets under $1 million, and most are even smaller. These "small" organizations respond to localized needs and are staffed by people with deep knowledge and caring for the communities where they live and work. They are small in budget size only; their impact and community engagement are crucial to building just and vibrant neighborhoods and cities. They provide after-school programs, community centers, creative outlets, job training, food pantries, and much more.As a result of the 2008 recession and the ensuing economic fallout, increasing numbers of Americans have suffered serious financial woes. As unemployment rose, so did the number of people living in poverty and the need for social services. At the same time, credit became harder to obtain, and funding began to decline, especially from government sources. These conditions have persisted and are now particularly challenging for small "safety net" social service organizations that rely on government funding. These organizations, which always run lean, are now stretched even further and in danger of reducing services or even closing their doors.The following report draws on Nonprofit Finance Fund's experience working with 22 nonprofits through the Capital and Capacity for Economic Recovery (CCER) program in Greater Philadelphia, as well as our 30 years of work with small social service organizations nationwide. It highlights these nonprofits' common financial challenges and offers suggestions for how they and their supporters can enact financially stabilizing practices in response. We draw on real-life lessons from nonprofits that used small capacity grants and financial training opportunities to create positive programmatic and infrastructure shifts for the benefit of their clients

Improving Earth Science Data Literacy

The improvement of scientific literacy across the public can take on a myriad of forms and activities. The vast archives of NASAs Earth science data, as one example, reflect the agencys ongoing commitment to producing the highest quality data, services and tools intended for enabling the public to understand the complexity of Earth systems. The focus of this presentation is to explore and reveal the specific strategies the NASA Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project uses to support our very large and diverse user communities access to and understanding of these science data and services. The diversity of our subject matter, spanning the whole Earth science domain, is mirrored by our user communities which are equally as broad in their needs and abilities. ESDIS and the supporting Communication Team leverages an array of internet-based tools and communication strategies to both understand actual user needs and develop optimum pathways for improving our users knowledge and understanding of the data. We will focus our limited time on a few of the high-impact activities including Webinars, or video-based, on-line, interactive discussions and presentations that since their introduction in 2013 have become a staple for user-instructor interaction via the internet. Here we discuss the types of content we produce and many lessons learned on how best to use this medium for improving user literacy on the subject at hand. In addition, we include discussion of our approach to using various social media platforms and tools to bolster the awareness of our users for data and services that are likely of interest. The ESDIS project remains active in various social media campaigns where our particular blend of science, data and tools engages new users curious of how to get their science or application started using NASA-available data. We anticipate that these examples may prove to be novel in their application to improving science literacy and skill development among the public

Call Options and Accruals Quality

We analyze the link between financial reporting choices that affect accruals quality and firms' use of call options. We argue that call options used in compensation arrangements (employee stock options or ESOs) create countervailing incentives for managers to affect accruals quality. On the one hand, poorer accruals quality is associated with greater returns volatility (which leads to an increase in ESO value); on the other hand, better accruals quality is associated with a lower cost of capital (and, therefore, higher share price, which leads to an increase in ESO value). We confirm both effects on accruals quality, and we show that the net effect is for ESOs to worsen accruals quality. We provide additional evidence on this main result by showing that in two settings where the returns volatility incentive to worsen accruals quality is muted or absent (cases where managers hold employer shares and cases where the firm uses call options for financing purposes, such as preferred stock and convertible debt), the overall incentive is for managers to increase accruals quality.Options; Information Quality; Compensation

Reablement research and resources from SCIE

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is dedicated to increasing the knowledge base on what works best in social care and sharing it widely to help improve standards. Last month Jennifer Francis, a research analyst at SCIE, led the discussion session at our reablement workshop on the 23 January at the University of Birmingham. She leads SCIE’s work on reablement, which has been targeted at a range of groups including practitioners, carers and users

Next Generation Online Math I Course Evaluation

An evaluation was conducted on the Next Generation Online Math I course implemented at Philip Barbour High School in Philippi, West Virginia. These online math modules are considered a blended learning environment as they incorporate some level of online learning in a face-to-face environment. Current research in blended learning has not shown consistent results in student achievement. Pre- post-test data, benchmark data, and summative yearly assessment data were collected. Results show that students had significant learning gains but did not typically score mastery on unit post-tests. Students in the blended learning environment, with a non-certified teacher, scored similarly to students in the traditional learning environment, with a non-math certified teacher, on most benchmarks and the summative assessment. Suggested improvements to the Next Generation online math modules include improved capability to load and run videos and applets and an improved design for pre- and post-test

The Market Pricing of Accruals Quality

We investigate whether investors price accruals quality, our proxy for the information risk associated with earnings. Measuring accruals quality (AQ) as the standard deviation of residuals from regressions relating current accruals to cash flows, we find that poorer AQ is associated with larger costs of debt and equity. This result is consistent across several alternative specifications of the AQ metric. We also distinguish between accruals quality driven by economic fundamentals ('innate AQ') versus management choices ('discretionary AQ'). Both components have significant cost of capital effects, but innate AQ effects are significantly larger than discretionary AQ effects.Expected return; Information uncertainty; Accounting quality

Digital learning objects: a local response to the California State University system initiative

The purpose of this paper is to present a virtual library plan created by library directors of the 23 California State University (CSU) system campuses. The information literacy portion of the project offers a repository of high quality interactive digital learning objects (DLOs) in the MERLOT repository. Therefore, DLOs created locally at the Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Library at San José State University (SJSU) focus on topics that supplement the “core” DLO collection

Taking stock of arctic sea ice and climate

Abstract The relationship among the cause-and-effect of the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean is discussed. The increased vulnerability of the Arctic system to anomalous atmospheric forcing can be argued from the perspective that recent ice loss is the result of a long-term preconditioning to thinner ice. Such consequences demonstrate the difficulties inherent in ascertaining how the atmospheric circulation responds to Arctic, and global, climate change. Later-forming sea ice also leads to less protection from the waves of fall storms, affecting coastal communities such as Kivalina and Shishmaref. The coming decades will provide new insights into the complexities of the Arctic climate system and how changes will affect the biological and human communities within and beyond its boundaries

Agricultural Employment Patterns of Immigrant Workers in the United States

Despite of the important role international migration fills in the United States’ labor-intensive agricultural sector, few studies have addressed the individual characteristics and circumstances surrounding entry and exit by farm laborers. With increasing public attention on international migrant labor, policymakers have a need to understand the labor market patterns of these workers if they are to formulate appropriate immigration reforms, including temporary worker programs geared towards agriculture. In this analysis, we model the likelihood of entering agricultural employment by migrants to the United States. Using data from the Mexican Migration Project we find that migrants with higher levels of education and a greater command of English are less likely to work as agricultural laborers. Those that do enter agricultural occupation stay in the United States for shorter periods of time per trip than those who enter non-agricultural occupation. In future analysis we will attempt to model the demand for agricultural farm work as a determinant of the decision by migrants to enter the U.S. market for hired farm labor.Agricultural Employment, Mexican Migration, Occupational Choice, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Production Economics,