Aboriginal children and family connections to primary health care whilst homeless and in high housing mobility: observations from a Nurse Practitioner-led service

Aim: This article documents the impact of a Nurse Practitioner-led primary health service for disadvantaged children living in housing instability or homelessness. It identifies that First Nations children miss out on essential primary care, particularly immunisation, but have less severe health conditions than non-First Nations children living in housing insecurity. Background: Health services for homeless populations focus on the 11% of rough sleepers, little is done for the 22% of children in Australia living in housing instability; many of whom are from First Nations families. Little is known of the health status of these children or their connections to appropriate primary health care. Methods: This research implemented an innovative model of extended health care delivery, embedding a Nurse Practitioner in a homeless service to work with families providing health assessments and referrals, using clinically validated assessment tools. This article reports on proof of concept findings on the service that measured immunisation rates, developmental, medical, dental and mental health needs of children, particularly First Nations children, using a three-point severity level scale with Level 3 being the most severe and in need of immediate referral to a specialist medical service. Findings: Forty-three children were referred by the service to the Nurse Practitioner over a 6-month period, with nine identifying as First Nations children. Differences in severity levels between First Nations/non-First Nations children were Level 1, First Nations/non-First Nations 0/15%; Level 2, 10/17%; and Level 3, 45/29%. Forty-five percent of First Nations children had no health problems, as compared to 29% on non-First Nations children. Immunisation rates were low for both cohorts. No First Nations child was immunised and only 9% of the non-First Nations children. While numbers for both cohorts are too low for valid statistical analysis, the lower levels of severity for First Nations children suggest stronger extended family support and the positive impact of cultural norms of reciprocity

Prissetting av opplevelsesprodukter : en studie av prissettingen hos et utvalg små opplevelsesbedrifter

Mastergradsoppgave i bedriftsøkonomi - Høgskolen i Bodø, 2009I denne masteroppgaven var følgende problemstilling grunnlaget for vår forskning; ”Hvordan fastsetter et utvalg små opplevelsesbedrifter i Nordland pris på produktene sine?” I tillegg til problemstillingen satt vi opp noen underpunkter for å avgrense forskningen ytterligere. For å løse problemstillingen presenterte vi første teori om prissettingsmetoder som små opplevelsesbedrifter kan benytte seg av. Deretter så vi om det er samsvar mellom de presenterte prissettingsmetodene og måten de utvalgte bedriftene fastsetter pris på. Det gjorde vi for å ha et grunnlag for å kartlegge hvordan bedriftene fastsetter pris. Til slutt sammenlignet vi hvordan de utvalgte bedriftene fastsetter pris på for å se om det var noen likheter og ulikheter i deres prissetting. Vi valgte å intervjue seks bedrifter lokalisert i Nordland for å innhente empiri til oppgaven. Alle intervjusubjektene var personer med stillinger i bedriften som var relatert til prissetting. Vi benyttet oss av halvstrukturerte intervjuer slik at intervjuene fikk en god flyt. På den måten sikret vi at vi fikk tilgang til mest mulig informasjon fra intervjusubjektene våre og at datakvaliteten ble tilsvarende høy. Analysen baserte vi på informasjonen vi innehentet fra våre intervjusubjekter, generell informasjon om bedriften, samt den teorien vi presenterte om prissettingsmetoder små opplevelsesbedrifter kan benytte seg av. Analysen vår viste at de involverte bedriftene hadde lite eller ingen kompetanse knyttet spesielt til prissetting. Bedriftene så på prissetting som et svært viktig område, men hvor stort fokus de hadde på prissetting varierte fra bedrift til bedrift. Alle bedriftene benyttet seg i stor grad av kostnadsorientert prising, og sammenlignet seg til en viss grad med konkurrentene og den prisen de fastsetter. Det var lite fokus på kundeorientert prising, og de færreste benyttet seg av noen grad av etterspørselsorientert prising. Prissettingsmetodene til de involverte bedriftene var stort sett like, selv om bedriftene varierte i antall ansatte, fokuset på prissetting, kompetanse og når bedriftene ble etablert. Den eneste tydelige forskjellen mellom bedriftene var på bedriftenes ønske om å lære nye prissettingsmetoder. Der så alle bedriftene, bortsett fra de to største og eldste, et klart forbedringspotensial i sine prissettingsmetoder

Trajectories and stability of self-reported short sleep duration from adolescence to adulthood

The trajectories and stability of self-reported sleep duration recorded at ages 13, 15, and 23 years on reported sleep duration at age 30 years among 1105 students (55% male) who participated in the Norwegian Longitudinal Health and Behaviour Study were examined. Questionnaire data were used to obtain demographic and sleep variables. Dichotomised short sleep duration was based on normative values and set as ≤8.5 h (age 13 years), ≤8 h (age 15 years) and ≤7 h (ages 23 and 30 years). Results indicated a significant overall reduction in total sleep duration (h per night) across age groups. Sleep duration (continuous) at age 15 and 23 years (whole group) was moderately but positively correlated with sleep duration at age 30 years (P < 0.01). When split by sex, at age 15 years, this association was present among females only (P < 0.01); however, at age 23 years, this association was present in both male and females (both P < 0.001). Categorical short sleep at age 23 years (whole group) was associated with short sleep at age 30 years (unadjusted odds ratio = 3.67, 95% confidence interval 2.36-5.69). Following sex stratification, this effect was significant for both males (unadjusted odds ratio = 3.77, 95% confidence interval: 2.22-6.42) and females (unadjusted odds ratio = 2.71, 95% confidence interval: 1.46-5.04). No associations were noted for categorical short sleep at ages 13 or 15 years, and subsequent short sleep at 30 years. Habitual short sleep duration during middle adulthood is not sustained from the time of early adolescence. Rather, these trends appear to be formed during early adulthood

Hepatic and renal concentrations of copper and other trace elements in hippopotami (Hippopotamus amphibius L.) living in and adjacent to the Kafue and Luangwa Rivers in Zambia

Hepatic and renal concentrations of the elements arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium and zinc were studied in samples collected from hippopotami from the Kafue River in the Kafue National Park and the Luangwa River in the Southern Luangwa National Park in Zambia. There were no significant differences between trace element concentrations in the tissues of the hippopotami taken in the Kafue River and the Luangwa River. The concentrations of copper and other essential elements were similar to those reported in normal domestic and wild ruminants. Judging by the results obtained in this study, pollution from the mining activity around the Kafue River drainage area in the Copperbelt region has not led to any accumulation of elements in tissues of the hippopotami in the Kafue National Park. The trace element concentrations observed may serve as reference for similar future studies on hippopotami.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.9 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.NUFU (Norwegian Council for Higher Education's program for development research and education).mn201

A linear model of gravity wave drag for hydrostatic sheared flow over elliptical mountains

An analytical model of orographic gravity wave drag due to sheared flow past elliptical mountains is developed. The model extends the domain of applicability of the well-known Phillips model to wind profiles that vary relatively slowly in the vertical, so that they may be treated using a WKB approximation. The model illustrates how linear processes associated with wind profile shear and curvature affect the drag force exerted by the airflow on mountains, and how it is crucial to extend the WKB approximation to second order in the small perturbation parameter for these effects to be taken into account. For the simplest wind profiles, the normalized drag depends only on the Richardson number, Ri, of the flow at the surface and on the aspect ratio, γ, of the mountain. For a linear wind profile, the drag decreases as Ri decreases, and this variation is faster when the wind is across the mountain than when it is along the mountain. For a wind that rotates with height maintaining its magnitude, the drag generally increases as Ri decreases, by an amount depending on γ and on the incidence angle. The results from WKB theory are compared with exact linear results and also with results from a non-hydrostatic nonlinear numerical model, showing in general encouraging agreement, down to values of Ri of order one