Urban Fathers Asset Building – Final Report

The Urban Fathers Asset Building (UFAB) project demonstrated the potential benefits, as well as limitations, of an innovative nexus between the child support system, fatherhood programs, and the Assets for Independence (AFI) grant-funded services. UFAB was a collaborative initiative of the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG), Baylor College of Medicine’s Teen Health Clinic, Covenant Community Capital Corporation (the local AFI grantee), and RAISE Texas, the statewide association of AFI grantees. This Final Report summarizes UFAB’s operational features and outcomes; depicts the demonstration’s challenges and innovative responses; reviews the accomplishments of the ancillary projects supported by BAFF funds; and assesses the prospects for sustaining demonstration practices in the Houston area, as well as extending promising practices to other areas of the state.Texas Office of the Attorney GeneralRay Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resource

Harmonic Generation in a Terawatt X-Ray Free-Electron Laser

Terawatt x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) require high current densities with strong transverse focusing. The implications on harmonic generation are discussed using the MINERVA simulation code which self-consistently includes harmonic generation. We consider helical and planar undulators where the fundamental is at 1.5 Angstrom and study the associated harmonic generation. While tapered undulators are needed to reach TW powers at the fundamental, the taper does not enhance the harmonics because the taper must start before saturation of the fundamental, with the harmonics saturating earlier. Nevertheless, the harmonics reach substantial powers and enable enhanced applications.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Urban Fathers Asset Building Initiative: Evaluation Plan

Urban Fathers Asset Building Initiative: Evaluation PlanThe Urban Fathers Asset Building (UFAB) project is demonstrating an innovative nexus between the child support system, fatherhood programs and Assets for Independence (AFI) grant-funded services. UFAB is a collaborative initiative of the Texas Office of the Attorney General, Baylor College of Medicine’s Teen Health Clinic, and Covenant Community Capital Corporation, the local AFI grantee in Houston. UFAB targets low-income, young fathers—a population notably under-served by financial education services regularly provided under AFI—prior to their need for enforcement of child support orders. UFAB intends to recruit and enroll up to 200 new or expectant young fathers who reside in the urban core of Houston, Texas, near the time of the births of their children in order to encourage financial literacy and asset building to become more economically self-sufficient. Simultaneously, the demonstration presents the opportunity to provide information about child support laws and enforcement to the young fathers at this early stage of family formation, as well as to personnel of collaborating entities at the community level. The grant also authorizes OAG to build awareness and support for this and other efforts of OAG’s Child Support Division throughout the state, including Child Support for College and the Bring it Back to Texas program. UFAB involves collaboration at the statewide level between the OAG and RAISE Texas, the statewide association of AFI grantees, for the purpose of disseminating child support information, including family stability initiatives to the grantees and their local partners. The Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin has been contracted by OAG as the project evaluator to conduct process and outcomes analyses of UFAB.US Dept of Heath and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Texas Office of the Attorney General, RAISE Texas, Harris County Precinct One, Baylor College of Medicine's Young Fathers/Bootstrap Project, Covenant Community CapitalRay Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resource

The prediction and management of aquatic nitrogen pollution across Europe: an introduction to the Integrated Nitrogen in European Catchments project (INCA)

International audienceExcess nitrogen in soils, fresh water, estuarine and marine systems contributes to nutrient enrichment in key ecosystems throughout Europe, often leading to detrimental environmental impacts, such as soil acidification or the eutrophication of water bodies. The Integrated Nitrogenmodel for European Catchments (INCA) project aims to develop a generic version of the Integrated Nitrogen in Catchments (INCA) model to simulate the retention and transport of nitrogen within river systems, thereby providing a tool to aid the understanding of nitrogen dynamics and for river-basin management/policy-making. To facilitate the development of the model, 10 partners have tested the INCA model with data collected in study sites located in eight European countries as part of the INCA project. This paper summarises the key nitrogen issues within Europe, describes the main aims and methodology of the INCA project, and sets the project in the context of the current major research initiatives at a European level. Keywords: Europe, European Union, nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, river basin management, modelling, water chemistry, acidification, eutrophication, Water Framework Directive, INCA

Evaluation of NSW Community-based Mental Health Programs: Community Living Supports and Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative. CLS-HASI Evaluation Report

The Community Living Supports (CLS) and Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI) are community-based programs that support people with severe mental illness to live and participate in the community, the way that they want to. The programs offer psychosocial support, tenancy support and, where appropriate, clinical mental health services. Many consumers are also supported to access secure housing. CLS-HASI are statewide programs funded by the NSW Ministry of Health (Ministry) and delivered locally through partnerships between local health district (LHD) mental health services and specialist mental health Community Managed Organisations (CMOs). The programs also have a strong partnership with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and community housing providers for social housing. The Ministry commissioned the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) to evaluate the CLS-HASI programs. The evaluation involved two rounds of qualitative interviews and focus groups, as well as the analysis of quantitative program data and statewide outcomes data about consumers. It ran from November 2017 to January 2020. CLS-HASI supported 5,533 consumers in the study period from 2015 to 2019. Most consumers were in the programs for only part of this period. The average time in CLS-HASI was 10.7 months. Overall, the evaluation shows that CLS-HASI is generally working well, achieving its goals and is cost effective. At a broad summary level: • Consumers liked the programs, and most experienced positive outcomes – overall the programs improved wellbeing, helped people better manage their mental health, enhanced aspects of consumers’ physical health and increased opportunities for social inclusion. • Consumer contact with community mental health services decreased by 10% in the first year in CLS-HASI and was 63.7% less if they remained in the programs for more than one year. • Hospital admissions due to mental health decreased by 74% following program entry, and the average length of stay decreased by 74.8% over two years. This improvement was sustained after consumers exited the programs. • Consumers with a new charge in the criminal justice system and with community corrections orders dropped to almost zero in the year after program entry

Orotracheal intubation in infants performed with a stylet versus without a stylet

Background: Neonatal endotracheal intubation is a common and potentially life-saving intervention. It is a mandatory skill for neonatal trainees, but one that is difficult to master and maintain. Intubation opportunities for trainees are decreasing and success rates are subsequently falling. Use of a stylet may aid intubation and improve success. However, the potential for associated harm must be considered. Objectives To compare the benefits and harms of neonatal orotracheal intubation with a stylet versus neonatal orotracheal intubation without a stylet. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library; MEDLINE; Embase; the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and previous reviews. We also searched cross-references, contacted expert informants, handsearched journals, and looked at conference proceedings. We searched clinical trials registries for current and recently completed trials. We conducted our most recent search in April 2017. Selection criteria All randomised, quasi–randomised, and cluster-randomised controlled trials comparing use versus non-use of a stylet in neonatal orotracheal intubation. Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed results of searches against predetermined criteria for inclusion, assessed risk of bias, and extracted data. We used the standard methods of the Cochrane Collaboration, as documented in the Cochrane Handbook for Systemic Reviews of Interventions, and of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group. Main results: We included a single-centre non-blinded randomised controlled trial that reported a total of 302 intubation attempts in 232 infants. The median gestational age of enrolled infants was 29 weeks. Paediatric residents and fellows performed the intubations. We judged the study to be at low risk of bias overall. Investigators compared success rates of first-attempt intubation with and without use of a stylet and reported success rates as similar between stylet and no-stylet groups (57% and 53%) (P = 0.47). Success rates did not differ between groups in subgroup analyses by provider level of training and infant weight. Results showed no differences in secondary review outcomes, including duration of intubation, number of attempts, participant instability during the procedure, and local airway trauma. Only 25% of all intubations took less than 30 seconds to perform. Study authors did not report neonatal morbidity nor mortality. We considered the quality of evidence as low on GRADE analysis, given that we identified only one unblinded study. Authors' conclusions: Current available evidence suggests that use of a stylet during neonatal orotracheal intubation does not significantly improve the success rate among paediatric trainees. However, only one brand of stylet and one brand of endotracheal tube have been tested, and researchers performed all intubations on infants in a hospital setting. Therefore, our results cannot be generalised beyond these limitations

Social Participation of People with Chronic Mental Health Needs: Building Horizontal and Vertical Forms of Social Capital

Social participation is positively related to mental health recovery and wellbeing, yet people with mental health problems are often socially isolated. This article investigates how social participation was incorporated into an Australian-integrated program that aimed to improve the wellbeing of people with chronic mental health needs. The data are from a longitudinal evaluation of the integrated program, including data linkage (5533 participants) and interviews (111). The paper uses concepts from the network perspective of social capital (bonding, bridging, linking, horizontal, and vertical) as lenses to re-examine the evaluation's findings about the consumers' social participation in life areas (social, leisure, and productive) facilitated by the program. This social capital perspective offers a lens to examine the breadth and intensity of participation experienced by the consumers taking part in the support program. The article adds to the literature about how service providers can improve social participation and therefore consumers' opportunities for recovery and wellbeing. The analyses found that the support increased people's social interaction and their capacity in the community. Their social interaction was mostly with other people in the service. Often their interactions in the community were only transactional. Few consumers participated in activities in productive life areas, and few of the activities promoted vertical social capital in social networks outside the service. The implications are that service providers need greater attention on facilitating a variety of social participation activities that can extend mental health consumers' horizontal and vertical social capital and so further contribute to their current and future recovery and wellbeing