Groups and communities at risk of domestic and family violence: a review and evaluation of domestic and family violence prevention and early intervention services focusing on at-risk groups and communities

A review and evaluation of domestic and family violence prevention and early intervention services focusing on at-risk groups and communities. Summary This report sets out the findings of research into domestic and family violence (DFV) prevention initiatives focused on groups and communities identified as being at greater risk of experiencing DFV and/or having difficulty accessing support services. These groups include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities (CALD), people who identify as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual, Intersex and Queer (GLBTIQ), young women and women in regional, rural and remote (non-urban) communitie

Children affected by domestic and family violence: a review of domestic and family violence prevention, early intervention and response services

This report sets out the findings of research into domestic and family violence prevention, early intervention and response for children aged 0–8 years in New South Wales. Executive summary The report contributes to the development of the knowledge base on DFV prevention, early intervention and response strategies and the needs of children, and supports the implementation of aspects of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children and the NSW Government’s It Stops Here: Standing Together to end Domestic and Family Violence in NSW strategy. The research had two areas of focus: synthesising the literature on the impacts of DFV on children, and on the evidence for primary prevention and early intervention strategies for children aged 0–8 years; and identifying best practice approaches for primary prevention, early intervention and response for children aged 0–8, and identifying the extent to which these needs are met within existing DVF primary prevention, early intervention, and response approaches in Australia

Bridging the Gap Between the Least and the Most Influential Twitter Users

Social networks play an increasingly important role in shaping the behaviour of users of the Web. Conceivably Twitter stands out from the others, not only for the platform's simplicity but also for the great influence that the messages sent over the network can have. The impact of such messages determines the influence of a Twitter user and is what tools such as Klout, PeerIndex or TwitterGrader aim to calculate. Reducing all the factors that make a person influential into a single number is not an easy task, and the effort involved could become useless if the Twitter users do not know how to improve it. In this paper we identify what specific actions should be carried out for a Twitterer to increase their influence in each of above-mentioned tools applying, for this purpose, data mining techniques based on classification and regression algorithms to the information collected from a set of Twitter users.This work has been partially founded by the European Commission Project ”SiSOB: An Observatorium for Science in Society based in Social Models” (http://sisob.lcc.uma.es) (Contract no.: FP7 266588), ”Sistemas Inalámbricos de Gestión de Información Crítica” (with code number TIN2011-23795 and granted by the MEC, Spain) and ”3DTUTOR: Sistema Interoperable de Asistencia y Tutoría Virtual e Inteligente 3D” (with code number IPT-2011-0889- 900000 and granted by the MINECO, Spain

Flow of low viscosity Boger fluids through a microfluidic hyperbolic contraction

In this work we focus on the development of low viscosity Boger fluids and assess their elasticity analyzing the flow through a microfluidic hyperbolic contraction. Rheological tests in shear and extensional flows were carried out in order to evaluate the effect of the addition of a salt (NaCl) to dilute aqueous solutions of polyacrylamide at 400, 250, 125 and 50 ppm (w/w). The rheological data showed that when 1% (w/w) of NaCl was added, a significant decrease of the shear viscosity curve was observed, and a nearly constant shear viscosity was found for a wide range of shear rates, indicating Boger fluid behavior. The relaxation times, measured using a capillary break-up extensional rheometer (CaBER), decreased for lower polymer concentrations, and with the addition of NaCl. Visualizations of these Boger fluids flowing through a planar microfluidic geometry containing a hyperbolic contraction, which promotes a nearly uniform extension rate at the centerline of the geometry, was important to corroborate their degree of elasticity. Additionally, the quantification of the vortex growth upstream of the hyperbolic contraction was used with good accuracy and reproducibility to assess the relaxation time for the less concentrated Boger fluids, for which CaBER measurements are difficult to perform

Maternity Coalition: Australia's national maternity consumer advocacy organization

This chapter tells the story of the Maternity Coalition (MC), an Australian advocacy organization which represents an often ‘forgotten’ strand of the women’s movement — the maternalist feminist emphasis on reclaiming women’s rights in birth and breastfeeding. Having originated in the late 1980s to lobby state government inquiries for improved maternity services in the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, by 2008 the organization was established nationally and was acknowledged as a key stakeholder in the incoming federal government’s agenda for improving maternity care. This chapter first examines how the Maternity Coalition developed, its rationale and mothering discourse, and then considers challenges which the organization faces in the early 21st century. Developing from a state-based to a national organization, MC faces internal sustainability difficulties in terms of communicating and managing a voluntary organization mostly comprised of busy young mothers. The external challenges are also considerable—MC aims to change the entrenched system of maternity services but in a cultural context which values technology and professional expertise and a political economic context in which the medical profession holds significant power. Nonetheless, Australia’s Maternity Coalition has achieved a national profile and credibility, bringing women’s rights to options and optimal care in birth to public attention at a level not achieved in many comparable countries

Nanogel formation of polymer solutions flowing through porous media

A gelation process was seen to occur when Boger fluids made from aqueous solutions of polyacrylamide (PAA) and NaCl flowed through porous media with certain characteristics. As these viscoelastic fluids flow through a porous medium, the pressure drop across the bed varies linearly with the flow rate, as also happens with Newtonian fluids. Above a critical flow rate, elastic effects set in and the pressure drop grows above the low-flow-rate linear regime. Increasing further the flow rate, a more dramatic increase in the slope of the pressure drop curve can be observed as a consequence of nanogel formation. In this work, we discuss the reasons for this gelation process based on our measurements using porous media of different sizes, porosity and chemical composition. Additionally, the rheological properties of the fluids were investigated for shear and extensional flows. The fluids were also tested as they flowed through different microfluidic analogues of the porous media. The results indicate that the nanogel inception occurs with the adsorption of PAA molecules on the surface of the porous media particles that contain silica on their surfaces. Subsequently, if the interparticle space is small enough a jamming process occurs leading to flow-induced gel formation

Factores de riesgos psicosociales y niveles de estrés en trabajadores administrativos de la Universidad de la Costa CUC en el 2014

The present study aimed to characterize the psychosocial risk factors Intra and Extra Labor, and Individual Stress levels of administrative University –“Universidad de la Costa, CUC, based on quantitative research sectional descriptive. The sample consisted of 227 administrative institution of the University. The main purpose of this study was used as assessment instruments battery Psychosocial factors designed by the Ministry of Social Protection. Then the contextualization of the results at the level of each risk factor was performed, showing the findings through graphs of the main results in the medium, high and very high levels in each of the psychosocial factors, then the findings and intervention strategies and promotion of occupational factors and stress reduction are presented. Among the results highlights that the main risks in medium, high and very high levels are found: In the Intralaboral construct: Domain Control of Work, Leadership and Social Relations in the dimensions: Consistency Role, Demands of Work Session , Influence of Work on non- occupational Environment, Training, Participation and change Management, Role Clarity, leadership characteristics, social relations at work and performance feedback. In the non- occupational construct dimensions: Characteristics of the home and its environment, housing Shift work and time out of work. It is concluded that because of the domains and dimensions mentioned irrigation in advance of the administrative Coast University have symptoms related to stress in a risk level of 58%, so it is pertinent to make immediate interventions to promote the welfare of administrative employees.La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo caracterizar los factores de riesgo psicosociales Intra y Extra Laborales, Individuales y niveles de Estrés de los administrativos de la Universidad de la Costa – CUC, fundamentado en la investigación de corte cuantitativa de tipo descriptiva. La muestra estuvo conformada por 227 administrativos de la Institución Universitaria. Para el cumplimiento de los objetivos en el estudio se utilizó como instrumentos la batería de evaluación de factores Psicosociales diseñada por el Ministerio de protección Social, seguidamente se realizó la contextualización de los resultados a nivel de cada factor de riesgo, evidenciando los hallazgos a través de gráficas de los principales resultados en los niveles medios, altos y muy altos en cada uno de los factores psicosociales, seguidamente se presentan las conclusiones y estrategias de intervención y promoción de los factores laborales y disminución del estrés. Dentro de los resultados se destaca que los principales riesgos en niveles medios, altos y muy altos se encuentran: En el constructo Intralaboral: Dominio Control sobre el Trabajo, Liderazgo y Relaciones Sociales en las dimensiones: Consistencia de Rol, Demandas de la Jornada de Trabajo, Influencia del Trabajo Sobre el Entorno Extralaboral, Capacitación, Participación y Manejo del cambio, Claridad del Rol, Características de liderazgo, Relaciones sociales en el Trabajo y Retroalimentación del desempeño. En el Constructo Extralaboral las dimensiones: Características de la vivienda y su entorno, Desplazamiento vivienda trabajo y Tiempo fuera del Trabajo. Se puede concluir que, a causa de los dominios y dimensiones en riego mencionadas con antelación, los administrativos de la Universidad de la Costa presentan sintomatología relacionada con el Estrés en un nivel de riesgo del 58%, por lo cual se hace pertinente realizar intervenciones inmediatas que permitan favorecer el bienestar de los empleados administrativos

Paleopatología del sacro en cazadores recolectores de Patagonia Austral

El sacro es importante para la estabilidad corporal, la fijación de las extremidades inferiores y la protección de los órganos pélvicos. Este hueso puede verse afectado por patologías de índole congénito, degenerativo o multifactorial. El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar lesiones sacrales en una muestra bien preservada de cazadores-recolectores de Patagonia Austral y la posible influencia de los factores temporo-espaciales y el estilo de vida, con especial atención al momento de contacto nativo-europeo. Se analizaron 56 sacros adultos de ambos sexos fechados en un amplio rango cronológico (5.200 años AP - s. XX), siguiendo la metodología propuesta por Campo (2003, 2015). Las patologías analizadas mostraron que los individuos originarios que habitaron espacios misionales presentaron mayores niveles de prevalencia que sujetos pre-contacto y post-contacto fuera de la misión, excepto en el caso de los nódulos de Schmörl. Los efectos de la edad y el sexo mostraron un patrón similar al observado en otras poblaciones. Se apreció una alta prevalencia de espondilolisis, similar a la observada en Inuits. Debido a la carencia de una metodología estandarizada en la clasificación de la Espina Bífida Oculta -SBO-, este trabajo propone el uso de la propuesta por Kumar y Tubbs (2011).Sacrum is important for body stability, lowerlimbs attachment and pelvic organs protection. This bone could be affected bycongenital, degenerative or multifactorial pathologies. The aim of thepresent study is to analyse sacral lesions in a sample well preserved remainsfrom Southern Patagonian hunter-gatherers and the possible influences oftemporal-spatial and lifestyle variables, with special attention to theNative-European contact effect. Pathological signs from 56 adult sacral bonesfrom both sexes and comprising a wide chronology range (5200 years BP- 20thcentury), were analyzed following the methodology proposed by Campo (2003,2015). Pathologies analysed showed that native individualswho lived at missionary places presented higher lesion prevalence thanpre-contact and post-contact out of mission samples, except for Schmörl nodes. Ageand sex effect showed similar patterns with respect to other populations. Highprevalence of spondylolysis was observed, similarly to Inuit samples.Fil: D'angelo del Campo, Manuel Domingo. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Medialdea, Laura. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: García Laborde, Pamela. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Salemme, Monica Cira. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Santiago, Fernando Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Campo Martín, Manuel. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: González Martín, Armando. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Guichón, Ricardo Anibal. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Mesenchymal stem cells secretome : The cornerstone of cell-free regenerative medicine

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the most frequently used stem cells in clinical trials due to their easy isolation from various adult tissues, their ability of homing to injury sites and their potential to differentiate into multiple cell types. However, the realization that the beneficial effect of MSCs relies mainly on their paracrine action, rather than on their engraftment in the recipient tissue and subsequent differentiation, has opened the way to cell-free therapeutic strategies in regenerative medicine. All the soluble factors and vesicles secreted by MSCs are commonly known as secretome. MSCs secretome has a key role in cell-to-cell communication and has been proven to be an active mediator of immune-modulation and regeneration both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the use of secretome has key advantages over cell-based therapies, such as a lower immunogenicity and easy production, handling and storage. Importantly, MSCs can be modulated to alter their secretome composition to better suit specific therapeutic goals, thus, opening a large number of possibilities. Altogether these advantages now place MSCs secretome at the center of an important number of investigations in different clinical contexts, enabling rapid scientific progress in this field.Supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y competitividad, No. RTI2018-097324; Predoctoral program in Biomedicine from the University of Cantabria and the Instituto de Investigación Valdecilla (IDIVAL), No. PREVAL 19/02 and PREVAL 20/01