TIMBER HARVEST ADJACENCY ECONOMIES, HUNTING, SPECIES PROTECTION, AND OLD GROWTH VALUE: SEEKING THE OPTIMUM

Spatial forest management models recognize that nontimber benefits cat1 be influenced by the status of adjacent land. For instance, contiguous old growth provides habitat, aesthetic value, and environmental services. Conversely, edge areas provide forage and cover habitat for game and non-game wildlife. However, adjacency externalities are not limited to nontimber concerns. Larger harvest areas generate average cost savings as fixed harvesting costs are spread across greater acreage, a problem excluded from most literature on optimal harvesting. Hence, it is typical that economies and diseconomies of adjacency in harvesting occur simultaneously. This complicates the determination of optimal ecosystem management behavior, which recognizes timber, aesthetic, wildlife protection, and hunting values. This paper conceptually portrays economies of adjacency in competing objectives using multiple management strategies.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Evaluating nurses' knowledge and skills in the detection of child abuse in the Emergency Department

This commentary paper highlights the issue of child abuse and the important role that nursing staff working in the Emergency Department (ED) can play in halting the cycle of abuse. Child abuse is a worldwide problem that is occurring with increasing frequency. In fact in Australia over the last 5 years the number of child protection referrals has more than doubled. As well as the immediate physical damage child abuse causes, it can also escalate to result in more serious injury and death. Furthermore, children who are abused in their early years of life are at increased risk of a range of adverse long-term developmental problems. Research has demonstrated that there is a significant lack of detection of suspected cases of child abuse in the ED. In fact the true incidence of children presenting to hospital EDs with abuse is difficult to determine, and many cases remain undetected. Nursing staff are perfectly positioned to detect the signs that a child may be at risk of abuse. However, in order to identify these signs it is essential that ED nurses have the knowledge and skills necessary to do so. Failure to consider the possibility of abuse will mean that the appropriate diagnosis is not made and the child is returned to an abusive environment. Therefore, this paper offers ED nurses recommendations for future directions in research and interventions to improve the detection of child abuse in Western Australia

Timber Harvest Adjacency Economies, Hunting, Species Protection, and Old Growth Value: Seeking the Optimum

WP 2000-10 July 2000Spatial forest management models recognize that nontimber benefits can be influenced by the status of adjacent land. For instance, contiguous old growth provides habitat, aesthetic value, and environmental services. Conversely, edge areas provide forage and cover habitat for game and non-game wildlife. However, adjacency externalities are not limited to nontimber concerns. Larger harvest areas generate average cost savings as fixed harvesting costs are spread across greater acreage, a problem excluded from most literature on optimal harvesting. Hence, it is typical that economies and diseconomies of adjacency in harvesting occur simultaneously. This complicates the determination of optimal ecosystem management behavior, which recognizes timber, aesthetic, wildlife protection, and hunting values. This paper conceptually portrays economies of adjacency in competing objectives using multiple management strategies.Financial support came from a Teresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research grant, Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station Hatch Project 456, and the Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics at Cornell University

Leading Change and Advancing Health by Enhancing Nurses' and Midwives' Knowledge, Ability and Confidence to Conduct Research through a Clinical Scholar Program in Western Australia

This paper reports on an evaluation of a Clinical Scholar Program initiated at a hospital in Western Australia. The aim of the program was to build the capacity of nurses and midwives to conduct research and evidence-based practice within the hospital. The program was based on a previous program and consisted of six teaching days and four hours per month release for proposal preparation. At the end of the program participants were asked to complete a short anonymous questionnaire. The answers were analysed using standard processes of qualitative analysis. Themes emerging from the data included program strengths, individual gains, ability to conduct research, and areas for improvement. The findings highlighted that, while the participants considered that they were more knowledgeable and confident to conduct research, they still required support. The Clinical Scholar Program has provided a way to increase the capacity of clinicians to participate in research activities

“I want to fit in… but I don’t want to change myself fundamentally”:A qualitative exploration of the relationship between masking and mental health for autistic teenagers

Background: Previous research has identified an association between masking and mental health for autistic people. However, the direction of causality and mechanisms involved in this relationship are not well understood. This qualitative study aimed to investigate autistic teenagers’ experiences of masking, mental health and how the two develop and interact. / Methods: Twenty autistic teenagers took part in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. / Results: From the analysis, one theme was identified to conceptualise masking as described by participants. Five more inter-related themes were identified, each involved both in the relationship between masking and mental health and conversely in the relationship between authenticity and mental health. Participants described how masking and mental health both influence each other, and both are influenced by social and environmental factors. / Conclusions: The findings are consistent with previous research indicating that masking is associated with mental health difficulties. Our analysis presents a broader conceptualisation of masking than previously defined in the literature, placing social oppression of autistic people at the heart of the relationship between masking and mental health. The findings have implications for diagnostic services, post-diagnostic support and therapeutic interventions, highlighting the need to challenge deficit-based narratives of autism

Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit

Objective: This paper reports the findings of a descriptive study of a patient populationover a three-month period on an eight bed psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Western Australia. The report provides a quantitative insight into the profile of patients in PICUs. It provides information on patients' diagnoses, presenting signs, symptoms and/or behaviours,legal codes assigned to patients, treatment interventions and management. Method: Data were collected prospectively from August to October 1999. A total of 122 patients were admitted to the PICU during the review period. Data were entered into an Access program then exported to SPSS (Version 9 for Windows) for analysis and frequency distributions were obtained. Results: The results confirmed that the majority of patients admitted to the PICU were assessed as a high level of risk or needed containment. This finding is in line with the admission criteria developed by staff working in the PICU. It also supports the view that staffworking in these units require expertise and confidence to communicate with and manage potentially aggressive and highly aroused patients. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of ongoing evaluations of patient populations in promoting best practice initiatives in psychiatric care

The Role of Authentic Assessment Tasks in Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based Learning (PBL) has long been touted as an effective pedagogical approach in higher education to promote students’ authentic learning. As a learner-centered pedagogy, PBL is characterized by students working collaboratively in small groups to solve messy, ill-structured problems that mirror real-world problems encountered by expert professionals in the field. Students are also expected to engage in self-directed learning. PBL instructors play a pivotal role as facilitators of learning. Authentic assessment is deemed to be a viable method in PBL-oriented courses because of its focus on real-world problems. However, little is known about how instructors in higher education institutions perceive the importance of and their satisfaction in using authentic assessment in PBL-oriented courses. Specifically, what instructional decisions do they make to guide their students to use authentic assessment tasks to promote assessment for learning and assessment as learning? In this paper, we reported on instructors’ perspectives of using authentic assessment tasks to engage first-year student teachers in an assessment course.