Formal and informal support systems in a rural town and county : report of the research on mental health in Dannevirke Borough and County : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University

The Dannevirke project was designed to provide a view into one rural borough and county in order to discern how that community provided services for those in need of emotional and psychological support. Professional human service providers and a representative sample, of the general population were interviewed to identify the formal and informal supports that were available to the community and to define mental health and mental illness. This project was based on two assumptions: 1) rural and small town life in New Zealand had networks of self-help and support and these networks were different from those found in the urban environment; 2) clinical and professional practitioners adopted unique responses to practice in a rural area. This study demonstrated that a rural community based on the romantic notion of a small homogenous, caring community was simplistic. Intrarural differences in the numerous settlements revealed a more complex fabric. The data did reflect an intricate and caring network of informal supports but it was unclear as to how different (e.g. more supportive) these rural networks were to those in an urban/suburban community. Respondents with low group membership and low visitation from family and friends reported a statistically significant low sense of psychological well-being using the Bradburn Well-Being Scale (1969). The actual roles these networks played in caregiving and prevention needed further inquiry. The pathways to service for people experiencing emotional/psychological problems were traced, including a ten year statistical analysis of inpatient psychiatric care. The general practitioner was identified by the respondents in the community and by other professionals as the primary gatekeeper for services, underlining the medical bias in their definitions of mental illness. Delivery of services by the professionals in the rural area was complicated by distance, minimal interprofessional coordination, shortage of specialist services, and a lack of ongoing professional education in the field of community mental health. Treatment in the community was favoured over sending the clients away for services and the local hospital was a unique resource for short-term respite care. The findings brought forth numerous questions including: What models of practice are effective for mental health care in the rural context? How do geographical distance and isolation affect community mental health practice? Does the urban base of most professional training prepare formal caregivers for life and practice in the rural setting? Specific recommendations for policy development and for further research were discussed

Growth factor involvement in tension-induced skeletal muscle growth

New muscle tissue culture techniques were developed to grow embryonic skeletal myofibers which are able to differentiate into more adultlike myofibers. Studies on mechanical simulation of cultured muscle cell growth will now be more directly applicable to mechanically-induced growth in adult muscle, and lead to better models for understanding muscle tissue atrophy caused by disuse in the microgravity of space

Evidence on a DSGE Business Cycle model subject to Neutral and Investment-Specific Technology Shocks using Bayesian Model Averaging

The empirical support for a DSGE type of real business cycle model with two technology shocks is evaluated using a Bayesian model averaging procedure that makes use of a finite mixture of many models within the class of vector autoregressive (VAR) processes. The linear VAR model is extended to permit equilibrium restrictions and restrictions on long-run responses to technology shocks apart from having a range of lag structures and deterministic processes. These model features are weighted as posterior probabilites and computed using MCMC and analytical methods. Uncertainty exists as to the most appropriate model for our data, with five models receiving significant support. The model set used has substantial implications for the results obtained. We do find support for a number of features implied by the real business cycle model. Business cycle volatility seems more due to investment specific technology shocks than neutral technology shocks and this result is robust to model specification. These techonolgy schocks appear to account for all stochastic trends in our system after 1984. we provide evidence on the uncertainty bands associated with these results.

Model Uncertainty and Bayesian Model Averaging in Vector Autoregressive Processes

Economic forecasts and policy decisions are often informed by empirical analysis based on econometric models. However, inference based upon a single model, when several viable models exist, limits its usefulness. Taking account of model uncertainty, a Bayesian model averaging procedure is presented which allows for unconditional inference within the class of vector autoregressive (VAR) processes. Several features of VAR process are investigated. Measures on manifolds are employed in order to elicit uniform priors on subspaces defined by particular structural features of VARs. The features considered are the number and form of the equilibrium economic relations and deterministic processes. Posterior probabilities of these features are used in a model averaging approach for forecasting and impulse response analysis. The methods are applied to investigate stability of the "Great Ratios" in U.S. consumption, investment and income, and the presence and effects of permanent shocks in these series. The results obtained indicate the feasibility of the proposed method.Posterior probability; Grassman manifold; Orthogonal group; Cointegration; Model averaging; Stochastic trend; Impulse response; Vector autoregressive model.

Comparative Performance of a Powerplus Vane-type Supercharger and an N.A.C.A. Roots-type Supercharger

This report presents the results of tests of a Power plus supercharger and a comparison of its performance with the performance previously obtained with an N.A.C.A. Roots-type supercharger. The Powerplus supercharger is a positive displacement blower of the vane type having mechanically operated vanes, the movement of which is controlled by slots and eccentrics. The supercharger was tested at a range of pressure differences from 0 to 15 inches of mercury and at speeds from 500 to 2,500 r.p.m. The pressure difference across the supercharger was obtained by throttling the intake of a depression tank which was interposed in the air duct between the supercharger and the Durley orifice box used for measuring the air. The results of these tests show that at low pressure differences and at all speeds the power required by the Powerplus supercharger to compress a definite quantity of air per second is considerably higher than that required by the Roots. At pressure differences from 10 to 14 inches of mercury and at speeds over 2,000 r.p.m. the power requirements of the two superchargers are practically the same. At a pressure difference of 15 inches of mercury or greater and at a speed of 2,500 r.p.m. or greater the performance of the Powerplus supercharger is slightly better than that of the Roots. Because the Powerplus supercharger cannot be operated at a speed greater than 3,000 r.p.m. as compared with 7,000 r.p.m. for the Roots, its capacity is approximately one-half that of the Roots for the same bulk. The Powerplus supercharger is more complicated and less reliable than the Roots supercharger