Developing the Welfare-to-Work Participation and Employability Appraisal Screening: A Retrospective Study

CalWORKs recipients, unless exempt, are required to participate in welfare-to-work (WTW) program activities as a condition of receiving cash aid. A number of clients, however, may have issues that impede successful engagement in WTW program activities, such as substance abuse, mental health concerns, or domestic violence issues. The Riverside County (California) Department of Mental Health (RCDMH) and the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) sought to develop a structured case management system to help ensure early identification of WTW customers with barriers to employment and, if necessary, to help facilitate quicker engagement in services to address those barriers and move customers into successful employment. A key component of the structured case management system is an actuarial appraisal screening to help identify those customers most in need of support to make a successful transition to self-sufficiency. This report describes the study conducted by Childrenas Research Center (CRC) to develop an appraisal screening that classifies customers by the likelihood of subsequent WTW program participation and employment. Employment counselors can complete the screening assessment soon after WTW assignment to help identify which customers are in greatest need of additional support and engagement to increase the likelihood of successful program participation

Developing an Actuarial Risk Assessment to Inform the Decisions Made by Adult Protective Service Workers

In 2008, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services (BEAS) and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), with funding provided by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), collaborated to construct an actuarial risk assessment to classify BEAS clients by their likelihood of elder maltreatment and/or self-neglect in the future. Studies in adult and juvenile corrections and child welfare have demonstrated that active service intervention with high risk clients can reduce criminal recidivism and the recurrence of child maltreatment (Wagner, Hull, & Luttrell, 1995; Eisenberg & Markley, 1987; Baird, Heinz, & Bemus, 1981). The purpose of this research was to examine a large set of individual and referral characteristics, determine their relationship to subsequent elder self-neglect and/or maltreatment, and develop an actuarial risk assessment for BEAS workers to complete at the end of an investigation to inform their case decisions.BEAS and NCCD pursued development of an actuarial risk assessment with the goal of reducing subsequent maltreatment of elderly and vulnerable adults who have been involved in an incident of self-neglect or maltreatment by another person (i.e., abuse, exploitation, or neglect). The actuarial risk assessment described in this report provides BEAS workers with a method to more accurately identify high risk clients and therefore more effectively target service interventions in an effort to protect their most vulnerable clients

A Stochastic Shell Model of Turbulence: Numerical and Analytical Results

We consider an inviscid shell model of turbulence with the addition of Itô and Stratonovich multiplicative stochastic forcing. Numerical simulations are performed for both models that show dissipation of energy at an algebraic rate. A comparison between the Itô and Stratonovich effects is examined. Positivity of solutions is discussed and demonstrated numerically

Microfeatures of Modern Sea-ice-rafted Sediment and Implications for Paleo-sea-ice Reconstructions

Distinguishing sea-ice-rafted debris (SIRD) from iceberg-rafted debris is crucial to an interpretation of ice-rafting history; however, there are few paleo-sea-ice proxies. This study characterizes quartz grain microfeatures of modern SIRD from the Arctic Ocean, and compares these results with microfeatures from representative glacial deposits to potentially differentiate SIRD from ice-rafted sediments which have been recently subjected to glacial processes. This allows us to evaluate the use of grain microfeatures as a paleo-sea-ice proxy. SIRD grains were largely subrounded, with medium relief, pervasive silica dissolution and a high abundance of breakage blocks and microlayering. The glacial grains were more angular, with lower relief and higher abundances of fractures and striations/gouges. Discriminate analysis shows a distinct difference between SIRD and glacial grains, with ˂7% of the SIRD grains containing typical glacial microtextures, suggesting this method is a useful means of inferring paleo-sea-ice presence in the marine record. We propose that differences in microfeatures of SIRD and glacial ice-rafted debris reflect differences in sediment transport and weathering histories. Sediment transported to a coastal setting and later rafted by sea ice would be subject to increased chemical weathering, whereas glaciers that calve icebergs would bypass the coastal marine environment, thus preserving their glacial signature

Displacement Across a Fracture Gap with Axial Loading of Far Cortical Locking Constructs

Purpose: Far cortical locking has been proposed for reducing stiffness and promoting greater dynamic stability in locked plating constructs. Prior studies have shown reduced stiffness with axial loading of these constructs, leading to a theoretical increase in inter-fragmentary motion and secondary bone healing. The purpose of this study was to examine strain across a fracture gap using far cortical locking constructs in a biomechanical model of distal femoral fractures. Methods: Fourth generation sawbones were cut transversely along the distal diaphysis and plated with distal femoral buttress plates and cortical locking screws. Far cortical locking (FCL) specimens were predrilled in the lateral cortex and control specimens were plated with a standard locked plating construct. The constructs were loaded sequentially with 100, 200, and 400 lbs of force on a mechanical test frame. Displacement across the fracture gap measured in pixels using an optical system. Results: Strain across the fracture gap increased with progressive loading from zero to 400 lbs in both groups. Strain also decreased in a linear fashion from medial to lateral across the fracture gap in both constructs (Figure 1). Standard locking constructs exhibited an average 28% greater strain than the far cortical locking constructs at all loading forces. Control specimens exhibited greater lateral displacement of the distal segment relative to the plate (Figure 2), consistent with higher shear forces compared to FCL specimens. Conclusions: In all specimens, there was considerable strain seen with loading that increased in characteristic fashion from lateral to medial. Overall, FCL constructs exhibited both lower strain, and importantly, lower shear, than measured in controls. This biomechanical model suggests that FCL changes loading across the femoral diaphysis in complex ways, and that assumptions about strain approaching zero on the lateral side of the distal femur with conventional locking or FCL may be incorrect

Are Australians willing to be treated by a Physician Assistant?

BackgroundPhysician assistants (PAs) are deployed to extend the role of the general practitioner and other doctors in Canada, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, the United States and elsewhere.  Because Australians have little experience with this type of provider, we undertook a study to test the willingness of patients to be treated by a PA. Method  A time trade-off preference survey was administered to women naïve about PAs in Northern Queensland in 2009.  Each survey described one of three scenarios of injury and asked the patient to make a decision between waiting four hours for a doctor or one hour for a PA.  ResultsA total of 229 candidate patients unconditionally participated (225 met criteria).  Two-thirds were between the ages of 20 & 35 years.  All but two of the participants (99%) selected to be treated by the PA regardless of the scenario.  When choices of time differences between a doctor and a PA were reduced to 2 hours and 1 hour, respectively, the preferential choice of seeing the PA persisted.  ConclusionAustralian women in Northern Queensland were willing to be treated by a PA as a theoretical construct and without actual experience or knowledge of PAs.  The familiar doctor care was traded for that of a PA when access to care was more available.  Developing PAs in Australian society may be practical and patient attitudes more accepting, than realized.  The concept of willingness to be treated has utility in socioeconomic research

Doorways of Understanding: A Generative Metaphor Analysis

In this paper, we explore the use of a generative metaphor for analyzing qualitative interviews on abortion attitudes. U.S. abortion attitudes are notably complex and multidimensional, thus, requiring subtle, complex, and multidimensional tools of study. We used the generative metaphor of a "doorway" as an analytic tool to enable new understandings of abortion attitudes as expressed across 24 one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews with U.S. adults. The doorway metaphor gave us an understanding of the ways in which participants thought of their abortion attitudes as open to revision or change to some degree while also being closed to revision in other ways. This spectrum of openness and closedness does not come into view when examining abortion attitudes through the dichotomous framings. In this methodological paper, we thoroughly describe how we used the metaphor to explicate the complexities and multi-dimensionalities of a person's abortion attitudes.In diesem Beitrag wird die Verwendung einer generativen Metapher für die Analyse von qualitativen Interviews über die Einstellung zum Schwangerschaftsabbruch untersucht. Die Einstellungen hierzu sind in den USA ausgesprochen komplex und multidimensional und erfordern daher subtile Untersuchungsinstrumente. Wir haben die generative Metapher einer "Tür" als Analyseinstrument verwendet, um neue Erkenntnisse über die Einstellungen zum Schwangerschaftsabbruch zu gewinnen, wie sie in 24 halbstrukturierten qualitativen Einzelinterviews mit erwachsenen US-Bürger*innen zum Ausdruck kamen. Die Tür-Metapher vermittelte uns ein Verständnis für die Art und Weise, in der die Teilnehmer*innen ihre Einstellungen bis zu einem gewissen Grad als offen für eine Revision oder Veränderung ansahen, während sie in anderer Hinsicht für eine Revision verschlossen waren. Dieses Spektrum von Offenheit und Geschlossenheit wird bei der Untersuchung von Abtreibungseinstellungen durch dichotome Rahmungen nicht sichtbar. In unserem Beitrag beschreiben wir ausführlich, wie wir die Metapher verwendet haben, um die Komplexität und Multidimensionalität der Abtreibungseinstellungen unserer Gesprächspartner*innen zu verstehen