Facilitating access to voluntary and community services for patients with psychosocial problems: a before-after evaluation

Background: Patients with psychosocial problems may benefit from a variety of community, educational, recreational and voluntary sector resources, but GPs often under-refer to these through lack of knowledge and time. This study evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of graduate primary care mental health workers (GPCMHWs) facilitating access to voluntary and community sector services for patients with psychosocial problems. Methods: Patients with psychosocial problems from 13 general practices in London were referred to a GPCMHW Community Link scheme providing information and support to access voluntary and community resources. Patient satisfaction, mental health and social outcomes, and use of primary care resources, were evaluated. Results: 108 patients consented to take part in the study. At three-month follow-up, 63 (58%) had made contact with a community service identified as suitable for their needs. Most were satisfied with the help provided by the GPCMHW in identifying and supporting access to a suitable service. There was a reduction in the number of patients with a probable mental health problem on the GHQ-12 from 83% to 52% (difference 31% (95% CI, 17% – 44%). Social adjustment improved and frequencies of primary care consultations and of prescription of psychotropic medications were reduced. Conclusion: Graduates with limited training in mental health and no prior knowledge of local community resources can help patients with psychosocial problems access voluntary and community services, and patients value such a scheme. There was some evidence of effectiveness in reducing psychosocial and mental health problems

Case History – Monitored Settlement of 32m Thick Compacted Fill

An abandoned brickyard, about 32 m deep, was filled with soil from numerous excavations in the Metro Toronto area with the ultimate intent of development for residential purposes. Compaction and environmental control of the fill was carried out and drainage wells installed to keep the water table low in order to hasten the rate of settlement. The fill generally was placed at approximately 85 percent saturation. A magnetic settlement system was installed as the fill was placed and the differential settlement recorded during fill placement and about 4 years after completion. The rate of settlement response was rapid but proceeded more slowly as the fill became compressed close to the saturated state

Assessing Students' Skills in Science & Technology

Graham Orpwood is a Professor of Education at York University in Toronto and Director of the York/Seneca Institute for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (YSIMSTE). He has been science coordinator for TIMSS and Director of the assessment of Science & Technology Achievement Project (ASAP) which was designed to support improved assessment practices in the classroom. He has degrees from Oxford and toronto and has taught in the UK, Canada and the USA.This seminar is co-organised by the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE) and The Office of Research, Faculty of Education, HKU. The seminar will describe work in the Canadian province of Ontario to assess students skills in science and technology through a systematically constructed series of performance tasks. In addition, sets of "exemplars" of student performance were developed and are aviable in an on-line multi-media archive that will be shared with participants.published_or_final_versionCentre for Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kon

An evaluation of methods used to measure groundwater flow and transport characteristics in clayey deposits at two sites in Essex County, Ontario.

Dept. of Geology and Geological Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1984 .O768. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1984

Collaboration Between Content Experts and Assessment Specialists: Using a Validity Argument Framework to Develop a College Mathematics Assessment

Developing a new assessment requires the expertise of both content experts and assessment specialists. Using the example of an assessment developed for Ontario’s Colleges Mathematics Assessment Program (CMAP), this article (1) describes the decisions that must be made in developing a new assessment, (2) explores the complementary contributions of content experts and assessment specialists, and (3) illustrates how the use of a validity argument framework can support collaboration in assessment development. The authors conclude that the validity argument framework facilitated effective collaboration between content experts and assessment specialists, and suggest that this approach may help other collaborators pursue transparent and effective assessment development

Enabling Machine Learning Across Heterogeneous Sensor Networks with Graph Autoencoders

Machine Learning (ML) has been applied to enable many life-assisting appli-cations, such as abnormality detection and emdergency request for the soli-tary elderly. However, in most cases machine learning algorithms depend on the layout of the target Internet of Things (IoT) sensor network. Hence, to deploy an application across Heterogeneous Sensor Networks (HSNs), i.e. sensor networks with different sensors type or layouts, it is required to repeat the process of data collection and ML algorithm training. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework leveraging deep learning for graphs to enable using the same activity recognition system across HSNs deployed in differ-ent smart homes. Using our framework, we were able to transfer activity classifiers trained with activity labels on a source HSN to a target HSN, reaching about 75% of the baseline accuracy on the target HSN without us-ing target activity labels. Moreover, our model can quickly adapt to unseen sensor layouts, which makes it highly suitable for the gradual deployment of real-world ML-based applications. In addition, we show that our framework is resilient to suboptimal graph representations of HSNs

Challenging convention: the winter ecology of brown trout (Salmo trutta ) in a productive and stable environment

1. Understanding of the winter ecology of stream salmonids is biased by research conducted in northern temperate and boreal regions dominated by hard rock geology. Such systems are driven by highly dynamic surface-flow regimes and tend to be physically diverse, nutrient poor and influenced by ice. This study investigated how the behaviour of brown trout, Salmo trutta, inhabiting a stable groundwater-fed, productive and comparatively warm southern English chalk stream differs from that described for other systems, and how this is translated to performance, measured as growth. 2. Physical characteristics were mapped, and high-resolution temperature data collected using a spatial array of data loggers installed throughout the study reach during the winter. A combination of passive integrated transponder and radio telemetry was used to monitor distribution, density, and movement of trout. Micro-archival data storage tags inserted in some individuals provided information on temperature regimes experienced. Growth performance was calculated for recaptured fish. 3. Trout density was positively related to depth and there was no evidence that temperature influenced microhabitat selection. Three patterns of movement were observed. Over three-quarters of tracked fish exhibited high site fidelity and tended to remain in a single focal position throughout the study. Fourteen per cent of trout exploited more than one distinct location, while the remainder were detected at multiple locations and showed no preference for any one. 4. Trout exhibited regular daily activity patterns and highly periodic local movements at dusk and dawn and tended to experience positive growth performance during periods that included winter. 5. This study challenges the conventional view of salmonid winter ecology, which is biased towards populations that inhabit hard rock surface-flow dominated rivers that experience the influence of ice. Despite inhabiting a distinctly different winter habitat template than more commonly studied populations, trout occupying a hydrologically stable and productive chalk stream exhibited behaviours similar to those described for elsewhere, yet performed considerably better

Smart homes and their users:a systematic analysis and key challenges

Published research on smart homes and their users is growing exponentially, yet a clear understanding of who these users are and how they might use smart home technologies is missing from a field being overwhelmingly pushed by technology developers. Through a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature on smart homes and their users, this paper takes stock of the dominant research themes and the linkages and disconnects between them. Key findings within each of nine themes are analysed, grouped into three: (1) views of the smart home-functional, instrumental, socio-technical; (2) users and the use of the smart home-prospective users, interactions and decisions, using technologies in the home; and (3) challenges for realising the smart home-hardware and software, design, domestication. These themes are integrated into an organising framework for future research that identifies the presence or absence of cross-cutting relationships between different understandings of smart homes and their users. The usefulness of the organising framework is illustrated in relation to two major concerns-privacy and control-that have been narrowly interpreted to date, precluding deeper insights and potential solutions. Future research on smart homes and their users can benefit by exploring and developing cross-cutting relationships between the research themes identified

Facilitating access to voluntary and community services for patients with psychosocial problems: a before-after evaluation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with psychosocial problems may benefit from a variety of community, educational, recreational and voluntary sector resources, but GPs often under-refer to these through lack of knowledge and time. This study evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of graduate primary care mental health workers (GPCMHWs) facilitating access to voluntary and community sector services for patients with psychosocial problems.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients with psychosocial problems from 13 general practices in London were referred to a GPCMHW Community Link scheme providing information and support to access voluntary and community resources. Patient satisfaction, mental health and social outcomes, and use of primary care resources, were evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>108 patients consented to take part in the study. At three-month follow-up, 63 (58%) had made contact with a community service identified as suitable for their needs. Most were satisfied with the help provided by the GPCMHW in identifying and supporting access to a suitable service. There was a reduction in the number of patients with a probable mental health problem on the GHQ-12 from 83% to 52% (difference 31% (95% CI, 17% – 44%). Social adjustment improved and frequencies of primary care consultations and of prescription of psychotropic medications were reduced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Graduates with limited training in mental health and no prior knowledge of local community resources can help patients with psychosocial problems access voluntary and community services, and patients value such a scheme. There was some evidence of effectiveness in reducing psychosocial and mental health problems.</p