Social Support and Coping of Indonesian Family Caregivers Caring for Persons with Schizophrenia

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social support and coping of family caregivers caring for persons with schizophrenia in West Java Province, Indonesia. Methods: This study used the correlational design. Eighty eight family caregivers who cared for persons with schizophrenia were recruited from the Outpatient Department of West Java Province Mental Hospital, West Java, Indonesia through purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires using the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (PSSQ) and the Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS). Then, data was analyzed by descriptive and Pearson\u27s product-moment correlation statistic.Results: Overall social support was perceived at a moderate level. The most often coping methods used was optimistic optimistic, followed by self-reliant coping, confrontative coping, and supportant coping. There were significant positive correlation between social support and confrontative coping (r = .68, p < .01), optimistic coping (r = .42, p < .01), and supportant coping (r = .46, p < .01). Social support was significantly and negatively correlate with evasive coping (r = -.52, p < .01) and fatalistic coping (r = -.41, p < .05).Conclusion: For nurses, providing social support including emotional, informational, instrumental, and appraisal support were to be important for caregiver to determine effective coping strategies

Relationships Between Triage Knowledge, Training, Working Experiences and Triage Skills Among Emergency Nurses in East Java, Indonesia

Background: Since there are increased numbers of clients with traumatic injuries and non-traumatic cases in the emergency department in Indonesia, triage skill is an essential competency required for the emergency nurses.Purposes: This study aimed to examine the level of perceived triage skills and the relationship between knowledge, training, working experience and perceived triage skills among emergency nurses.Method: Two hundred and sixty six emergency room (ER) nurses working in two secondary and two tertiary public hospitals in East Java Province, Indonesia, were recruited by purposive sampling. Data were collected using a set of questionnaires which included the Demographic Data including training and working experiences, Triage Knowledge Questionnaire (TKQ) and Triage Skill Questionnaire (TSQ). The contents of questionnaires were validated by three experts and tested for reliability. The correlation coefficient for the TKQ was 0.99 and Cronbach\u27s alpha coefficient of the TSQ was 0.93. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including Pearson\u27s product-moment correlation to examine the relationship.Result: The results showed that the majority of subjects were female (71.4%) with aged of 22 – 40 years (79.3%), educated to diploma level (94.4%). All subjects had attended Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ACLS), and about half of them had greater than 5 years working experiences in ED. Overall perceived triage skill was at a moderate level with the mean score of 75.12 (SD = 11.23). There were significantly positive correlations between triage skill and working experience (r = .27, p < .01), training experience (r = .37, p < .01), and triage knowledge (r = .38, p < .01).Conclusion: The findings provide a better understanding of triage skills among ER nurses and suggest that the continuing education and training courses related to triage and advanced management of medical emergencies for ER nurses are required in order to increase and update the triage skills in enhancing the quality of emergency care and patient safety

Professions, Organizations and Institutions: Tenure Systems in Colleges and Universities

A common strategy used by professions to support claims of workplace jurisdiction involves the institutionalization of professionally-endorsed formal structures, yet both theory and research suggest that ensuring the implementation of institutionalized structures after formal adoption can be problematic. This study investigates the influence of organizational characteristics on the implementation of one professionally-created institution in higher education organizations, tenure systems for faculty employment. Our results suggest that implementation of tenure systems is negatively affected by internal resource pressures, but positively affected by countervailing pressures from professionally-linked constituents. The results also suggest self-limiting aspects of the use of tenure systems

The Cost of Debt Capital and Dividend Payouts: Evidence from Thailand

This study aims to investigate the role of dividends in explaining debt pricing decision making. Using data from Thai listed companies spanning the period 2000 through 2016, results from a panel regression analysis indicate that there is no significant association between the cost of debt capital and dividend payouts. The inferences are unchanged even after using alternative measurements for dividends and excluding global financial crisis periods. This study contributes to the stream of research on dividend payout consequences by documenting that dividends do not provide incrementally useful information when there are a few agency conflicts of interests due to a dominant family-run business environment.

Lords of the Harvest: Third-party Influence and Regulatory Approval of Genetically Modified Organisms

Little is known about the factors that influence regulatory-agency decision making. We posit that regulatory agencies are influenced by the firms they regulate, but not exclusively via dyadic exchanges as is traditionally argued in the regulatory capture and business-government literatures. Instead, regulatory decisions are indirectly shaped via third-party actors who shield agencies from legitimacy threats. Focusing empirically on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's approval of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), we find that product assessments by powerful stakeholders and peer agencies influence product approval and that their effects vary under different threats. We also discuss the implications of these findings for business-government relations, nonmarket strategy, and organization theory

The Managerial Ownership and Dividend Payout

Drawing on the corporate governance and managerial entrenchment literature, this study aims to examine whether the managerial ownership level affects the dividend payout ratio.  Using data from Thai listed companies spanning from 2013 – 2017, a positive relationship is reported between managerial ownership and dividend payout (captured by dividend yield), supporting the managerial entrenchment effect assumption. Findings suggest that managerial ownership may be considered as an internal governance mechanism, yet high dividends may be paid to compensate for such stewardship force. This study enriches the literature related to managerial ownership and its effect. Further, the results of this study have an implication for regulators to consider whether a critical insider ownership level should be governed to protect the benefits of non-insider shareholders that is likely to be dispersed in the Thai stock market context

Transport of pesticides in a river of a tropical mountainous watershed in northern Thailand

In the northern region of Thailand, in the upland areas population growth and migration of people from the lowlands have rapidly driven land use changes. The expansion of cultivation to increasingly vulnerable areas such as the slopes of mountainous watersheds has led to increasingly adverse impacts on the environment. In particular, intensive application of pesticides poses a contamination risk for stream water and the aquatic ecosystem. This thesis identified the transport patterns of pesticides with different physico-chemical properties during single runoff events under farmer?s practice conditions on the catchment scale. Moreover, the exposure concentrations of frequently used pesticides in surface water and sediment in the watershed were measured in the frame of long-term monitoring. The data were used to calculate pesticide loads in the Mae Sa watershed (Chiang Mai, Thailand) and to assess the ecological risk of pesticides for the aquatic ecosystems. Prior to start of the monitoring program, methods to extract and analyze pesticides in the surface water and sediment samples were established. The pesticides in water samples were extracted by solid phase extraction with a graphitized carbon black sorbent. The recoveries of pesticides in a simultaneous analysis ranged from 58 % to 117 % for the seven pesticides (dichlorvos, atrazine, dimethoate, chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos, (&#945;, &#946;) endosulfan, cypermethrin) with a high repeatability of the method (Relative Standard Deviation, (RSD)<20 %), except for chlorothalonil (RSD=27 %). For analysis of sediments, the QuEChERS method was adapted. Extraction conditions such as solvent, partitioning of pesticide due to salt effect and clean up step with dispersive solid phase extraction were optimized. Except for dichlorvos in the bed sediment sample and for dimethoate in bed and suspended sediments, recoveries were between 81 % and 116 %. The results show that the QuEChERS method is a valuable method for extracting pesticides from sediment samples. To identify the transport pathways contributing to pesticide losses from soil to the Mae Sa River, automatic gauging stations were installed at the headwater (HW) and outlet (OL) of the watershed to measure discharge and to collect water samples for pesticide analysis. During three runoff events in May, August and September 2008, water samples were collected in a high temporal resolution (1 hour). The potential transport pathways of pesticides were elucidated by time series analysis. Three different input patterns of pesticides were observed: (a) pesticide peaks during the rainfall events as discharge increased, (b) sporadic high concentrations of pesticides during the falling limb of the runoff peak, and (c) low concentrations but more or less continuous values on a baseline level. A chromatographic effect was observed for many pesticides, for example between dimethoate and chlorpyrifos. Highly mobile pesticides such as atrazine and dimethoate were likely to suffer loss at the beginning of the runoff event, while strongly sorbing pesticides such as chlorpyrifos were slightly delayed. This indicates an interaction with the soil matrix, during transport along a sub-surface pathway. The results obtained in the middle of the rainy season in August and September events showed that antecedent rainfall plays an important role in triggering pesticide transport by preferential interflow. In both events the sporadic appearances of strongly sorbing pesticides such as chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos after peak flow suggest this transport type. For ecotoxicological risk assessment, the highly dynamic nature of pesticide input to surface waters must be considered in the design of representative monitoring schemes. Not only the periods during rain event and peak runoff, but also the following recession phase, during which short and pulsed concentration peaks might show up, must be captured by a representative sampling scheme. Therefore, a high temporal resolution is advisable. To study the long-term dynamics of seven selected pesticides in the Mae Sa River and to evaluate their environmental impacts to aquatic organisms, the exposure concentrations of the pesticides in water and sediment samples were monitored at three stations (HW, Mae Sa Noi flume (MSN), and OL) in the watershed over a period of one and half year (from July 2007 to November 2008). Aquatic risk assessment concerning the observed pesticide concentrations was performed by using the risk characterization ratio (RCR). Chlorpyrifos was the most frequently detected pesticide in surface water at the HW and OL. Cypermethrin was the most frequently detected pesticide in bed and suspended sediment samples along the Mae Sa Noi tributary and at the HW. Regarding the change of pesticide use in the area (compared with data recored in 2002), the measurements suggest that the use of endosulfan has been reduced in recent years, while the observed concentrations of chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos were in the same concentration ranges as in 2002. The temporal distribution of pesticides shows that the concentrations are highest during the rainy season. Outstandingly high losses of dichlorvos and atrazine were found at Mae Sa Noi flume. Loads of chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos in stream water were extremely high in the headwater area. Based on interview data of pesticide use in the Mae Sa watershed, in both years the losses of single pesticides to surface water ranged from 0.004 % (chlorothalonil) to 4.7 % (dimethoate) of the applied pesticide mass. The loss of atrazine could not be included because the data did not contain information on the application rate of atrazine. The risk assessment shows that particularly dichlorvos and endosulfan have a high potential to cause adverse effects to the aquatic ecosystem. The RCRs of endosulfan and cypermethrin show that they are the main stressors in the sediment phase. This reveals that aquatic ecosystem of the Mae Sa watershed is facing adverse effects by the contamination of surface water and sediment with pesticides. Hence, measures are urgently needed to reduce the loss of pesticides from soil to surface waters.In den Bergregionen Nordthailands haben Bevölkerungswachstum und die Zuwanderung aus dem Tiefland die Landnutzungssysteme drastisch verändert. Die Expansion der Landwirtschaft in immer empfindlichere Regionen, wie z.B. bergige Wassereinzugsgebiete, hat zunehmend negative Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt. Insbesondere die intensive Nutzung von Pestiziden stellt ein Risiko für aquatische Ökosysteme dar. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht auf Einzugsgebietsebene und unter üblichen landwirtschaftlichen Praxisbedingungen das Transportverhalten von Pestiziden nach Niederschlagsereignissen. Die untersuchten Pestizide weisen dabei sehr verschiedene physikochemische Eigenschaften auf. Darüber hinaus wurden die Expositionskonzentrationen häufig applizierter Pestizide im Rahmen von Langzeitmessungen in Oberflächenwasser und Sedimentproben im Einzugsgebiete gemessen. Die gewonnenen Daten wurden zur Berechnung der Pestizidfrachten im Mae Sa Wassereinzugsgebiet (Chiang Mai, Thailand) und zur Abschätzung des ökologischen Risikos für das aquatische Ökosystem verwendet. Vor Beginn der Untersuchung wurden die Methoden zur Extraktion und Analyse der Pestizide in Oberflächenwasser- und Sedimentproben etabliert. Die Pestizide in den Wasserproben wurden mit Hilfe einer Festphasenextraktion an graphitierter Aktivkohle analysiert. Die Wiederfindungsraten der sieben untersuchten Pestizide (Dichlorvos, Atrazin, Dimethoat, Chlorthalonil, Chlorpyrifos, (&#945;, &#946;) Endosulfan, Cypermethrin) variierten zwischen 58 % und 117 % bei einer generell hohen Reproduzierbarkeit (RSD<20%). Eine Ausnahme bildete Chlorthalonil mit einer RSD von 27 %. Für Sedimentproben wurde eine abgewandelte QuEChERS Methode entwickelt. Die Extraktionsbedingungen wie Lösungsmittel, Partitionierung der Pestizide durch Aussalzen, und Aufreinigung mit dispergiertem SPE wurden optimiert. Mit Ausnahme von Dichlorvos (Flussbettproben) sowie Dimethoat (Suspensions- und Flussbettproben) lag die Wiederfindungsrate zwischen 81 % und 116 %. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die QuEChERS Methode eine sehr gute Alternative für die Extraktion von Pestiziden aus Sedimentproben darstellt. Um die Transportpfade aufzuklären, die zum Transfer von Pestiziden aus dem Boden in den Mae Sa Fluss beitragen, wurden automatische Messstationen im Oberlaufbereich und am Auslass des Einzugsgebietes installiert. An den Stationen wurden Wasserproben für die Pestizidanalytik entnommen und der Abfluss gemessen. Während dreier Abflussereignisse in Mai, August und September 2008 wurden Wasserproben mit einer hohen zeitlichen Auflösung (1 Stunde) genommen. Die potentiellen Transportpfade der Pestizide wurden über eine Zeitreihenanalyse untersucht. Drei unterschiedliche Eintragsmuster wurden beobachtet: (a) maximale Pestizidkonzentrationen während des Anstieges des Abflusses, (b) sporadisch auftretende Konzentrationsspitzen während der Abnahme des Abflusses, und (c) niedrige jedoch annähernd konstante Konzentrationen auf Basisniveau. Bei vielen Pestiziden, z.B. Dimethoat und Chlorpyrifos, wurde ein chromatographischer Effekt beobachtet. Sehr mobile Pestizide wie Atrazin und Dimethoat wurden in der Regel zu Beginn des Niederschlagsereignisses ausgetragen, während stark sorbierende Pestizide wie Chlorpyrifos leicht verzögert ausgetragen wurden. Dieses Verhalten deutet auf eine Interaktion mit der Bodenmatrix während des Transports entlang eines unterirdischen Transportpfads hin. Diese Ergebnisse, die während der Hauptregenzeit im August und September erzielt wurden, zeigen weiterhin, dass die unmittelbare Niederschlagshistorie eine wichtige Rolle bei der Aktivierung des Pestizidtransports über präferentiellen Zwischenabfluss spielt. Das bei Niederschlagsereignissen sporadische Auftreten von stark sorbierenden Pestiziden wie Chlorthalonil und Chlorpyrifos nach dem Scheitelabfluss deuten auf diesen Transportmechanismus hin. In ökotoxikologischen Risikoanalysen muss die hochgradig dynamische Art des Eintrags von Pestiziden in Oberflächengewässer bei dem Design von repräsentativen Beprobungsschemata unbedingt berücksichtigt werden. Nicht nur die Zeit während des Niederschlagsereignisses und der Abflussspitze, sondern auch die anschließende Rezessionsphase, bei der kurze und pulsartige Konzentrationspeaks auftauchen können, müssen in einem repräsentativen Beprobungsschema berücksichtigt werden. Deshalb sind Probenahmeverfahren mit einer hohen zeitlichen Auflösung zweckmäßig. Um die Langzeitdynamik von sieben ausgewählten Pestiziden im Mae Sa Fluss und ihren Umwelteinfluss auf aquatische Organismen zu untersuchen, wurden die Expositionskonzentrationen der Pestizide in Wasser- und Sedimentproben an drei Stationen über den Zeitraum von anderthalb Jahren (von Juli 2007 bis November 2008) bestimmt. Die Risikobewertung der gefundenen Pestizidkonzentrationen wurde mit Hilfe des Risikoquotienten durchgeführt. Chlorpyrifos war das am häufigsten gefundene Pestizid im Oberflächenwasser der Oberlauf- und Auslassstation. Cypermethrin war das am häufigsten detektierte Pestizid in den Flussbett- und Suspensionsproben entlang des Mae Sa Noi Nebenflusses und der Oberlaufstation. Verglichen mit Daten von 2002 wurde in den letzten Jahren die Applikation von Endosulfan verringert, während sich die gefundenen Konzentrationen von Chlorthalonil und Chlorpyrifos in der selben Größenordnung befanden haben wie 2002. In der Regenzeit sind die Pestizidkonzentrationen am höchsten. Außerordentlich hohe Austräge von Dichlorvos und Atrazin wurden am Mae Sa Noi Messgerinne beobachtet. Die Frachten von Chlorthalonil und Chlorpyrifos im Flusswasser waren extrem hoch. Basierend auf Befragungsdaten wurde die eingesetzte Pestizidmenge abgeschätzt. In beiden Jahren lag der geschätzte Austrag für einzelne Pestizide ins Oberflächenwasser zwischen 0.004 % (Chlorthalonil) und 4.7 % (Dimethoat) des Eintrags. Der Austrag von Atrazin konnte nicht ermittelt werden, da hierfür keine Befragungsdaten zur applizierten Menge vorlagen. Die Risikobewertung zeigt, dass insbesondere Dichlorvos und Endosulfan ein hohes Potential besitzen, unerwünschte Auswirkungen auf das aquatische Ökosystem auszulösen. Des Weiteren zeigen die Konzentrationsniveaus von Endosulfan und Cypermethrin, dass diese beiden Pestizide die Hauptstressoren in der Sedimentphase sind. Dies zeigt, dass das aquatische Ökosystem des Mae Sa Einzugsgebietes nachteilige Auswirkungen durch die Kontamination der Oberflächengewässer und des Sediments durch Pestizide erfährt. Daher werden dringend Maßnahmen zur Reduzierung des Austrages von Pestiziden aus dem Boden in Oberflächengewässer benötigt

Freedom of the Press in Thailand

Freedom of the press in Thailand fluctuates greatly, depending upon the government in each period. Newspapers have been suppressed since the monarchy political system was changed to democracy in 1932. Several kinds of suppression were imposed in each period which showed that the country, in reality, was under a military dictatorship. This study is a summary of the government control of the press since 1932. The study was divided into five chapters, including the introduction, background of the press and politics in Thailand, style and characteristics of Thai newspapers, government control from 1932 to 1963, and the conclusions and recommendations for further study

Psychosocial Needs among Indonesian Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

The aim of this study was to examine the importance of psychosocial needs and to identify the extent to which they are unmet among Indonesian women diagnosed with breast cancer. The descriptive with cross sectional study was used. The participants (n=132) were asked to complete the Psychosocial Needs Inventory (PNI), which consists of 7 categories with 48 items. The most important psychosocial needs was in ‘child care’ category, followed by ‘support network’, ‘interaction with health professionals’, ‘information’, ‘practical’, ‘identity’, and ‘emotional and spiritual’, respectively. Moreover, ‘practical needs’ was the most unmet psychosocial needs category, followed by childcare needs, emotional and spiritual needs, interaction with health professional needs, identity needs, support network needs, and information needs, respectively. The most unmet need item was ‘help with financial matters’ (42.4%). The high level of unmet needs across a wide range of psychosocial needs among cancer patients was related to low income in particular of the practical need. The findings provide useful information for nurses and health care providers to improvement the intervention to meet psychosocial needs among breast cancer patients

Development of an automatic tracking system to determine field efficiency of agricultural machines

Field efficiency of machines tells how efficient the farm machines are operating in the field. Measuring of the field efficiency used to be a tedious and laborious work which is not worth to collect for further operational optimization. The objective of this study was to develop an automatic system for monitoring the field activities and then evaluation of the field efficiency of farm machines. The system consisted of a microcontroller to collect working data including position, speed heading, and working status of the machine. The system was installed on a farm tractor with plowing disc to test on two fields with the same size, but in different traveling directions, i.e., lengthwise and crosswise. The results showed lengthwise operation yielded a higher field efficiency due to less number of turning at headlands. The proposed system allowed to collect necessary information for detailed efficiency evaluation of farm machines. This technique enables further utilization of the operational information and benefit to use in the optimization of the farm works