Stakeholder Participation in Watershed Management: An Evaluation of the Jordan Lake Stakeholder Project

The Jordan Lake Stakeholder Project (JLSP) was convened by the NC Department of Water Quality (DWQ) to gather public input in response to high levels of nutrients found in Jordan Lake, a reservoir in the central piedmont of North Carolina. The DWQ is a frequent convener of such time- and resource-intensive projects, yet lacks methods for evaluating their successes and benefits. By assessing public involvement in terms of substantive and procedural factors and practical outcomes, I evaluated the success of the JLSP. This evaluation template can be used by environmental regulators to guide future collaborative processes in watershed management

Education Maintenance Allowance : the first two years : a quantitative evaluation

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has commissioned a longitudinal evaluation of the piloting of Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs). The evaluation is being undertaken by a consortium of research organisations, led by the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) and also includes the National Centre for Social Research, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Institute for Employment Research (IER). This is the second report of the statistical evaluation of EMA. The statistical evaluation design is a longitudinal cohort study involving large random sample surveys of young people (and their parents) in 10 EMA pilot areas and eleven control areas. Two cohorts of young people were selected from Child Benefit records. The first cohort of young people left compulsory schooling in the summer of 1999 and they, and their parents, were interviewed between November 1999 and April 2000. A second interview was carried out with these young people between November 2000 and April 2001. The second cohort left compulsory education the following summer of 2000 and young people, and their parents, were first interviewed between November 2000 and April 2001

BACK TO BASICS: PROBING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF ASTRONOMICAL ANATOMY

There is an enduring problem in astronomy education of students knowing far less than lecturers expect about the nature of astronomical objects. In previous work of ours, using the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire (IAQ), we have looked at students’ knowledge of relative scale of astronomical objects—essentially what is bigger or further away than something else. We have previously identified, for example, that among 922 Norwegian middle school students, 41% believed planets were bigger than stars, and for 211 undergraduate students at the University of New Mexico, 29% of students had the same misconception before commencing an introductory astronomy course. To explore the origins of these misconceptions, we also asked students at the University of New Mexico to provide basic definitions of a planet, star, galaxy, universe and solar system. Responses were coded for categories informed by object definitions as used by astrophysicists, such as knowing that planets orbit stars. In this presentation, I will discuss our coding, analysis and results. For example, only 30% of students identified that planets orbit a star in their definition of planets before taking the course. This research has elucidated that basic knowledge of astronomical anatomy cannot be assumed of students entering the tertiary education sector

Comparing machine learning clustering with latent class analysis on cancer symptoms' data

Symptom Cluster Research is a major topic in Cancer Symptom Science. In spite of the several statistical and clinical approaches in this domain, there is not a consensus on which method performs better. Identifying a generally accepted analytical method is important in order to be able to utilize and process all the available data. In this paper we report a secondary analysis on cancer symptom data, comparing the performance of five Machine Learning (ML) clustering algorithms in doing so. Based on how well they separate specific subsets of symptom measurements we select the best of them and proceed to compare its performance with the Latent Class Analysis (LCA) method. This analysis is a part of an ongoing study for identifying suitable Machine Learning algorithms to analyse and predict cancer symptoms in cancer treatment

Raiders of the Lost Mud : The geology behind drilling incidents within the Balder Formation around the Corona Ridge, West of Shetland

This work forms part of the lead author’s PhD research, which is funded by a University of Aberdeen College of Physical Sciences Scholarship. This study originally formed part of a talk delivered to the 2017 Schlumberger SIS Forum. Well log and drilling data interpretation was performed using Schlumberger Techlog* wellbore software platform. We would like to thank numerous staff at Schlumberger SIS in Aberdeen for useful discussions. DW would also like to thank staff at Chevron’s Aberdeen office for important insights on the Rosebank Field, particularly the presence of image logs. Andrew Hurst is thanked for informative discussions regarding smectite clays and their origins. Finally, DW would like to thank members of the VMRC Consortium for helpful feedback on a presentation related to the study, particularly staff at Siccar Point Energy. Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their detailed reviews which greatly improved the paper.Peer reviewedPostprin

Television news and the symbolic criminalisation of young people

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journalism Studies, 9(1), 75 - 90, 2008, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14616700701768105.This essay combines quantitative and qualitative analysis of six UK television news programmes. It seeks to analyse the representation of young people within broadcast news provision at a time when media representations, political discourse and policy making generally appear to be invoking young people as something of a folk devil or a locus for moral panics. The quantitative analysis examines the frequency with which young people appear as main actors across a range of different subjects and analyses the role of young people as news sources. It finds a strong correlation between young people and violent crime. A qualitative analysis of four “special reports” or backgrounders on channel Five's Five News explores the representation of young people in more detail, paying attention to contradictions and tensions in the reports, the role of statistics in crime reporting, the role of victims of crime and the tensions between conflicting news frames.Arts and Humanities Research Counci

Implementation of the Tobacco Tactics intervention versus usual care in Trinity Health community hospitals

Abstract Background Guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) implementation framework, a National Institutes of Health-sponsored study compared the nurse-administered Tobacco Tactics intervention to usual care. A prior paper describes the effectiveness of the Tobacco Tactics intervention. This subsequent paper provides data describing the remaining constructs of the RE-AIM framework. Methods This pragmatic study used a mixed methods, quasi-experimental design in five Michigan community hospitals of which three received the nurse-administered Tobacco Tactics intervention and two received usual care. Nurses and patients were surveyed pre- and post-intervention. Measures included reach (patient participation rates, characteristics, and receipt of services), adoption (nurse participation rates and characteristics), implementation (pre-to post-training changes in nurses' attitudes, delivery of services, barriers to implementation, opinions about training, documentation of services, and numbers of volunteer follow-up phone calls), and maintenance (continuation of the intervention once the study ended). Results Reach: Patient participation rates were 71.5 %. Compared to no change in the control sites, there were significant pre- to post-intervention increases in self-reported receipt of print materials in the intervention hospitals (n = 1370, p < 0.001). Adoption: In the intervention hospitals, all targeted units and several non-targeted units participated; 76.0 % (n = 1028) of targeted nurses and 317 additional staff participated in the training, and 92.4 % were extremely or somewhat satisfied with the training. Implementation: Nurses in the intervention hospitals reported increases in providing advice to quit, counseling, medications, handouts, and DVD (all p < 0.05) and reported decreased barriers to implementing smoking cessation services (p < 0.001). Qualitative comments were very positive (“user friendly,” “streamlined,” or “saves time”), although problems with showing patients the DVD and charting in the electronic medical record were noted. Maintenance: Nurses continued to provide the intervention after the study ended. Conclusions Given that nurses represent the largest group of front-line providers, this intervention, which meets Joint Commission guidelines for treating inpatient smokers, has the potential to have a wide reach and to decrease smoking, morbidity, and mortality among inpatient smokers. As we move toward more population-based interventions, the RE-AIM framework is a valuable guide for implementation. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT0130921

Adaptation and implementation of a mobile phone–based remote symptom monitoring system for people with cancer in Europe

Background: There has been an international shift in health care, which has seen an increasing focus and development of technological and personalized at-home interventions that aim to improve health outcomes and patient-clinician communication. However, there is a notable lack of empirical evidence describing the preparatory steps of adapting and implementing technology of this kind across multiple countries and clinical settings. Objective: This study aimed to describe the steps undertaken in the preparation of a multinational, multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test a mobile phone–based remote symptom monitoring system, that is, Advanced Symptom Management System (ASyMS), designed to enhance management of chemotherapy toxicities among people with cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy versus standard cancer center care. Methods: There were 13 cancer centers across 5 European countries (Austria, Greece, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom). Multiple steps were undertaken, including a scoping review of empirical literature and clinical guidelines, translation and linguistic validation of study materials, development of standardized international care procedures, and the integration and evaluation of the technology within each cancer center. Results: The ASyMS was successfully implemented and deployed in clinical practices across 5 European countries. The rigorous and simultaneous steps undertaken by the research team highlighted the strengths of the system in clinical practice, as well as the clinical and technical changes required to meet the diverse needs of its intended users within each country, before the commencement of the RCT. Conclusions: Adapting and implementing this multinational, multicenter system required close attention to diverse considerations and unique challenges primarily related to communication and clinical and technical issues. Success was dependent on collaborative and transparent communication among academics, the technology industry, translation partners, patients, and clinicians as well as a simultaneous and rigorous methodological approach within the 5 relevant countries