A right to a risk filled life : understanding and analysis of the risk discourse for consumers in mental health : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Policy at Massey University

This thesis documents the perspective and discourse of risk for eleven people who identify as someone with lived experiences of mental illness and mental health service use. The thesis followed a participatory methodology and involved consumers in both formulating and conducting the research. Following qualitative research methods some key findings included that there was a correlation between increased exposures to risk during increased acute unwellness; increased exposure to risk because of service use; that the people interviewed wished to have some control and self-responsibility in managing risks, that life was full of risk and that this was quite usual; and importantly, that risk was experienced as a stigmatizing phenomena for the participants. The stigma of risk was such that participants had to develop significant coping strategies to manage others perceptions and deal with the experience of having normal behaviours and emotions considered by others as abnormal and risky. The thesis makes recommendations for consumers, services and mental health service staff and for policy makers. Many of the recommendations consider how understandings of risk and approaches to risk management could alter or increase consumer safety and wellbeing. The thesis additionally includes an analysis of the participatory process that was followed with recommendations made encouraging an increased frequency and strengthened quality of consumer participation in research

Getting Time Off: Access to Leave Among Working Parents

"Mommy, I don't feel good." "Honey, it's time to go to the hospital." When working parents, or parents-to-be, hear these phrases, their anxiety levels often increase. Not only because their children are sick or their partners are in labor, but also because they will have to find a way to keep their jobs while tending to their families' needs. Maternity and paternity leave, along with vacation, sick leave, and personal leave, help workers balance their responsibilities at home and at the office. This brief uses new data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to portray which working parents have access to paid and maternity/paternity leave.Although federal law guarantees job-protected, unpaid family leave to many workers, only three in five American workers are eligible to take this leave (Cantor et al. 2001). Moreover, no state or federal legislation requires employers to provide paid leave of any kind. Because access to leave is not universal, some caregivers do not fully realize the benefits of job-protected leave, namely job security and some flexibility to care for children.This analysis examines whether access to leave differs by socioeconomic characteristics. The data suggest that the majority of working parents can take maternity or paternity leave from their jobs. Although access to maternity/paternity leave varies with measures of economic well-being, it is much more equal than access to paid leave. Most poor workers, working welfare recipients, and working recent welfare leavers cannot take paid leave from their jobs. And those who can take paid leave typically have fewer days of paid leave than nonpoor workers or workers with no recent welfare experience. The relatively even distribution of access to maternity and paternity leave, compared with the uneven access to paid leave, could be an effect of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)

Mutual-Excitation of Cryptocurrency Market Returns and Social Media Topics

Cryptocurrencies have recently experienced a new wave of price volatility and interest; activity within social media communities relating to cryptocurrencies has increased significantly. There is currently limited documented knowledge of factors which could indicate future price movements. This paper aims to decipher relationships between cryptocurrency price changes and topic discussion on social media to provide, among other things, an understanding of which topics are indicative of future price movements. To achieve this a well-known dynamic topic modelling approach is applied to social media communication to retrieve information about the temporal occurrence of various topics. A Hawkes model is then applied to find interactions between topics and cryptocurrency prices. The results show particular topics tend to precede certain types of price movements, for example the discussion of 'risk and investment vs trading' being indicative of price falls, the discussion of 'substantial price movements' being indicative of volatility, and the discussion of 'fundamental cryptocurrency value' by technical communities being indicative of price rises. The knowledge of topic relationships gained here could be built into a real-time system, providing trading or alerting signals.Comment: 3rd International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Applications (ICKEA 2018) - Moscow, Russia (June 25-27 2018

Orthotic management of cerebral palsy : recommendations from a consensus conference

An international multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals and researchers participated in a consensus conference on the management of cerebral palsy, convened by the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics. Participants reviewed the evidence and considered contemporary thinking on a range of treatment options including physical and occupational therapy, and medical, surgical and orthotic interventions. The quality of many of the reviewed papers was compromised by inadequate reporting and lack of transparency, in particular regarding the types of patients and the design of the interventions being evaluated. Substantial evidence suggests that ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) that control the foot and ankle in stance and swing phases can improve gait efficiency in ambulant children (GMFCS levels I-III). By contrast, little high quality evidence exists to support the use of orthoses for the hip, spine or upper limb. Where the evidence for orthosis use was not compelling consensus was reached on recommendations for orthotic intervention. Subsequent group discussions identified recommendations for future research. The evidence to support using orthoses is generally limited by the brevity of follow-up periods in research studies; hence the extent to which orthoses may prevent deformities developing over time remains unclear. The full report of the conference can be accessed free of charge at www.ispoint.org

Thermal decomposition of inorganic solids

A brief outline has been given of the present knowledge of the kinetics of the thermal decomposition of inorganic solids. The iso¬ thermal decomposition of potassium metaperiodate crystals, which were 300 u and 40 u in linear dimensions, has ueen studied, together with the effects on the subsequent decomposition, of storage and preirradiation with ultraviolet light

Investigation of Shear Capacity for Light-Frame Wood Walls Constructed with Insulated Oriented Strand Board Panels

Changes in energy codes in recent years have resulted in stricter requirements for energy efficiency for all building types. With respect to light-frame wood construction, these changes have brought about new approaches to construction techniques, one of which uses rigid foam insulation between the framing members and exterior oriented strand board (OSB) sheathing. Placing this insulation layer between the framing members and exterior sheathing reduces the capacity of a wood shear wall to resist lateral loading. The objectives of this research were to identify the behavior of walls constructed using insulated OSB panels; examine fastener properties that influence the lateral capacity of these walls; and increase insulated OSB shear wall capacity by selecting fasteners which optimize the performance of these walls. Fastener connection tests were performed first to identify the effects of lateral loads on different fastener properties. These results were then used to model wood shear wall behavior and predict overall capacity and deflection of insulated OSB shear walls. Full-scale shear wall tests were conducted and the results were compared to the model predictions to see how well the model performed. Changing the geometry and properties of the fasteners used for constructing shear walls with insulated OSB sheathing can help to recover some of the shear capacity lost as a result of having a “gap” between the framing members and exterior sheathing of these walls. Using non-traditional fasteners (i.e. longer fasteners, larger diameter fasteners, screws) and different fastener spacing schedules can yield comparable shear design values for this type of wall system when compared to traditional light-frame wood shear walls

Extremely short duration sprint interval training improves vascular health in older adults

Exercise improves health and physical function in older people, but very few older people participate although the trend is for increasing participation. This study sought to determine whether short duration sprint interval training (SIT) improves health and physical function in older people. Seventeen (9 M and 8 F) older adults (age 66 ± 3 years) were recruited. Participants had blood pressure, physical function and blood lipid profile measured and were then allocated to a control group (CON n = 7) or a SIT group (n = 10). The control group maintained daily activities; the SIT group performed 10 weeks of twice-weekly training sessions of 6-s sprints. By week 10, training sessions lasted 11.6 ± 0.6-min. Ten weeks of SIT resulted in significant changes in pulse pressure (CONpre 59 ± 18 mmHg; CONpost 60 ± 9 mmHg; SITpre 56 ± 14 mmHg; SITpost 49 ± 7 mmHg; p = 0.007), mean blood pressure (CONpre 100 ± 10 mmHg; CONpost 97 ± 11 mmHg; SITpre 102 ± 7 mmHg; SITpost 93 ± 8 mmHg; p = 0.003), timed get up and go (CONpre 6.9 ± 1.1 s; CONpost 6.9 ± 1.0 s; SITpre 7.4 ± 1.2 s; SITpost 6.6 ± 1.0 s; p = 0.005), loaded 50 m walk (CONpre 6.9 ± 1.1 s; CONpost 6.9 ± 1.0 s; SITpre 7.4 ± 1.2 s; SITpost 6.6 ± 1.0 s; p = 0.005),and total cholesterol: HDL cholesterol ratio (CONpre 4.2 ± 0.7; CONpost 4.0 ± 0.7; SITpre 4.4 ± 1.1; SITpost 3.2 ± 0.7; p = 0.01). SIT is an effective way to maintain blood pressure, lipid profile, and physical function during aging and is an effective tool for promoting optimal aging