Client-centred Case Management: How Much Makes a Difference to Outcomes for Homeless Jobseekers?

Case management has become the predominant model for attempting to improve outcomes for young adults experiencing both homelessness and unemployment. However, there is little evidence-based knowledge about how young adults respond to case management, and how much intervention is needed to be effective. This Australian study utilised quantitative government data to investigate the effects of the amount of case management on key outcomes. With a purposive sample of 224 people aged 18-35, this study compared four different amounts of YP4 case management service received over a three-year period. Participants were categorised into four groupings depending on the number of case management contacts they received: 0-5, 6-20, 21-40, and 41-156. The findings show some significant group variations over the course of the trial in the areas of employment and accommodation. Participants who received 20 or more contacts had significantly better accommodation and employment outcomes than those who received fewer contacts

Promising Practices: Supporting Transition of Youth Served by the Foster Care System

A continuation of the 1997 study funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this collaborative effort with the National Resource Center for Youth Services presents findings of a study of approximately 100 independent living and transitional living programs. It identifies "promising practices" linked with positive outcomes for youth leaving foster care-and presents information drawn from interviews with program staff and participating youth

Glows Co Automated Chemical Etching Machine for Fiber Optic Cable

This report summarizes the conceptualization and development of an automated machine designed for a fiber optic cable stripping process used by Lumentum LLC. This process is currently manually operated by Lumentum’s technicians and involves unavoidable handling of corrosive chemicals. To increase technician safety, the process will be automated to reduce chemical - operator interactions. Improving safety conditions for technicians is the primary motivation for automating this process. Automation will also decrease process variation and increase product quality. GLOWS CO was tasked with creating this automated solution, leading to the design of the Automatic Chemical Etching Machine (or A-CHEM) for the fiber etching process for Lumentum LLC. At the conclusion of this project, the A-CHEM successfully fulfilled all of the requirements set out by Lumentum, namely improving technician safety and making the process more ergonomic

Reduced subjective sleep quality in people rating themselves as electro-hypersensitive: An observational study

BACKGROUND: Disturbed sleep is among the most frequent health complaints of people exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) used in mobile telecommunication, particularly in individuals who consider themselves as EMF hypersensitive (EHS). We aimed at investigating whether the EHS status per se is associated with sleep complaints. Because allelic variants of the gene encoding the L-type, voltage-gated calcium channel Ca$_{v}$1.2 (CACNA1C) were previously associated with sleep complaints reminiscent of those reported by EHS individuals, we also explored whether self-rated EHS status and sleep quality associate with these gene variants. METHODS: A total of 2'040 participants (1'381 females) aged 18-30 years completed online, validated questionnaires on EMF sensitivity, subjective sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, mentation during sleep, and diurnal preference. They also provided a saliva sample for genotyping three functional variants of CACNA1C (rs7304986, rs16929277 and rs2302729). Eligible participants endorsing the question "Are you electro-hypersensitive?" were considered as "EHS" (n = 105), those denying this question yet believing to develop detrimental health symptoms due to prevailing electromagnetic pollution as "attributers" (n = 254), and the remaining participants as "non-EHS" (n = 1'406). We combined the EHS and attributers into one group for binary analyses. In exploratory analyses, we then tested possible associations between EMF sensitivity, subjective sleep variables and CACNA1C variants using linear and logistic regression. We used age, sex, level of education, presence of sleep disorders and habitual mobile phone use as covariates and corrected with Benjamini-Hochberg False Discovery Rate for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: The EHS/attributers consistently reported prolonged sleep latency, reduced sleep quality, higher sleepiness and more nocturnal mentation when compared to non-EHS. Habitual mobile phone use was not associated with self-rated sleep latency and sleep quality scores. While the T-allele of variant rs2302729 of CACNA1C was associated with both, self-reported EMF sensitivity and reduced subjective sleep quality, we found no evidence for the hypothesis that EHS mediates impaired sleep quality via this allelic variant. CONCLUSIONS: Irrespective of reported RF-EMF exposure, self-rated EHS/attributers rated subjective sleep quality worse than non-EHS individuals. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Swiss National Clinical Trials Portal (SNCTP000002285) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03074617)

Evaluation of Rutting Resistance of Superpave and Hveem Mixtures: Volume III - Impact of Gyratory Compaction

This report represents the third in a series of four reports documenting the overall evaluation of rutting resistance of Superpave and Hveem mixtures. Specifically this report documents the evaluation of the impact of the gyratory compaction on the permanent deformation performance of HMA mixtures using the RSCH test

A PC based time domain reflectometer for space station cable fault isolation

Significant problems are faced by astronauts on orbit in the Space Station when trying to locate electrical faults in multi-segment avionics and communication cables. These problems necessitate the development of an automated portable device that will detect and locate cable faults using the pulse-echo technique known as Time Domain Reflectometry. A breadboard time domain reflectometer (TDR) circuit board was designed and developed at the NASA-JSC. The TDR board works in conjunction with a GRiD lap-top computer to automate the fault detection and isolation process. A software program was written to automatically display the nature and location of any possible faults. The breadboard system can isolate open circuit and short circuit faults within two feet in a typical space station cable configuration. Follow-on efforts planned for 1994 will produce a compact, portable prototype Space Station TDR capable of automated switching in multi-conductor cables for high fidelity evaluation. This device has many possible commercial applications, including commercial and military aircraft avionics, cable TV, telephone, communication, information and computer network systems. This paper describes the principle of time domain reflectometry and the methodology for on-orbit avionics utility distribution system repair, utilizing the newly developed device called the Space Station Time Domain Reflectometer (SSTDR)

A new all-metal induction furnace for noble gas extraction

A new all-metal induction furnace for extraction of all noble gases from pyroxenes, olivines, quartz or barites has been developed at CRPG. It differs in design from other induction furnaces in that the totality of the vacuum vessel is metallic and the induction coil, normally located outside the furnace, has been placed inside the vacuum vessel, with a special radio frequency power feedthrough welded onto a flange. The volume of the crucible is ≈ 15 cm^3 and permits fusion of samples with a mass of up to 1 g. Samples are packed into a metal foil, loaded into a carousel, baked out before analysis, and then sequentially dropped into the Ta-crucible. The low weight of the crucible (≈ 120 g) allows for short and efficient degassing cycles. When the furnace is pumped for the first time after samples loading, short cycles between 500 and 1800 °C at fast heating rates (≈ 400 °C·min^(−1)) are sufficient to achieve very low blanks. The durations of these cycles are range from 30 min for He to up to a few hours for Ne, Kr and Xe. Blanks of He, Kr and Xe (10 min heating durations) and Ne (20 min) in static vacuum are (1.6 ± 1.0) × 10^(−15) mol ^4He (T = 1750 °C), (5.8 ± 2.3) × 10^(−17) mol ^(20)Ne (T = 1500 °C), (2.1 ± 0.3) × 10^(−18) mol ^(84)Kr (T = 1700 °C) and (4.4 ± 0.4) × 10^(−18) mol ^(132)Xe (T = 1700 °C). Argon blanks have not yet been measured

Discordant Immune Response with Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-1: A Systematic Review of Clinical Outcomes.

BACKGROUND A discordant immune response (DIR) is a failure to satisfactorily increase CD4 counts on ART despite successful virological control. Literature on the clinical effects of DIR has not been systematically evaluated. We aimed to summarise the risk of mortality, AIDS and serious non-AIDS events associated with DIR with a systematic review. METHODS The protocol is registered with the Centre for Review Dissemination, University of York (registration number CRD42014010821). Included studies investigated the effect of DIR on mortality, AIDS, or serious non-AIDS events in cohort studies or cohorts contained in arms of randomised controlled trials for adults aged 16 years or older. DIR was classified as a suboptimal CD4 count (as defined by the study) despite virological suppression following at least 6 months of ART. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to December 2015. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in cohort studies. Two authors applied inclusion criteria and one author extracted data. Risk ratios were calculated for each clinical outcome reported. RESULTS Of 20 studies that met the inclusion criteria, 14 different definitions of DIR were used. Risk ratios for mortality in patients with and without DIR ranged between 1.00 (95% CI 0.26 to 3.92) and 4.29 (95% CI 1.96 to 9.38) with the majority of studies reporting a 2 to 3 fold increase in risk. CONCLUSIONS DIR is associated with a marked increase in mortality in most studies but definitions vary widely. We propose a standardised definition to aid the development of management options for DIR