From Entitlement to Contract: Reshaping the Welfare State in Australia

Australia has sought to contain social welfare expenditures through more stringent targeting of benefits, increased scrutiny of applicants, and by requiring more vigorous job search and training activities. The changes implemented since the Labor Party assumed office in 1983 represent the most sweeping restructuring of the Australian welfare state in 50 years. They mark a shift from an individualistic, rights-based view of welfare state entitlements to one stressing reciprocal obligations. This article examines the origin and implications of this reshaping of Australia\u27s welfare state programs. It considers the dilemmas of enforcing workrelated obligations and other compliance measures in an era of persistent, high unemployment

Teenage Pregnancy, Professional Agendas, and Problem Definitions

Many of the adverse consequences associated with adolescent childbearing are due to poverty and inadequate health care. Historically, definitions of the problem have emphasized individual, female culpability. Underlying social and economic factors have received less attention. For many adolescents, the early initiation of sexual activity and the failure to use birth control is associated with their perception of limited life opportunities, as well as sex role socialization inhibiting contraceptive initiative. This paper considers the role of professional groups and service advocates in defining the problem and developing policy alternatives. It examines the processes through which an issue having significant redistributive implications has been defined as one of individual female deviance

Understanding the burden of interstitial lung disease post-COVID-19: the UK Interstitial Lung Disease-Long COVID Study (UKILD-Long COVID)

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 100 million cases worldwide. The UK has had over 4 million cases, 400 000 hospital admissions and 100 000 deaths. Many patients with COVID-19 suffer long-term symptoms, predominantly breathlessness and fatigue whether hospitalised or not. Early data suggest potentially severe long-term consequence of COVID-19 is development of long COVID-19-related interstitial lung disease (LC-ILD). Methods and analysis The UK Interstitial Lung Disease Consortium (UKILD) will undertake longitudinal observational studies of patients with suspected ILD following COVID-19. The primary objective is to determine ILD prevalence at 12 months following infection and whether clinically severe infection correlates with severity of ILD. Secondary objectives will determine the clinical, genetic, epigenetic and biochemical factors that determine the trajectory of recovery or progression of ILD. Data will be obtained through linkage to the Post-Hospitalisation COVID platform study and community studies. Additional substudies will conduct deep phenotyping. The Xenon MRI investigation of Alveolar dysfunction Substudy will conduct longitudinal xenon alveolar gas transfer and proton perfusion MRI. The POST COVID-19 interstitial lung DiseasE substudy will conduct clinically indicated bronchoalveolar lavage with matched whole blood sampling. Assessments include exploratory single cell RNA and lung microbiomics analysis, gene expression and epigenetic assessment. Ethics and dissemination All contributing studies have been granted appropriate ethical approvals. Results from this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals. Conclusion This study will ensure the extent and consequences of LC-ILD are established and enable strategies to mitigate progression of LC-ILD

Melting and melt migration in heterogeneous mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges

Evidence for chemical heterogeneity in the mantle is widespread in oceanic basalts, yet its consequences for basalt petrogenesis are little understood. A significant unknown is the effect that heterogeneity has on the dynamics of magma flow in the mantle. Observations of oceanic crust and the upper mantle suggest that magma migrates to the surface through a network of high porosity channels. In this thesis, I use computational models of coupled magma/mantle dynamics beneath mid-ocean ridges to question whether a physical connection exists between channelized flow and mantle heterogeneity. The models are intialized with simple, hypothetical patterns of heterogeneity that cause the fusiblity of the model mantle to vary. The principal result is that channel- ized melt flow is a consequence of melting in a heterogeneous mantle. Magma from preferentially melted heterogeneities nucleates high porosity, high permeability channels that grow by a feedback between magma flux and dissolution. Using the models in various configurations, I explore the dynamics of channel formation and investigate how the topology of mantle heterogeneity affects melt segregation and focusing beneath ridge axes. Additionally, I use the models to predict the speed and time scale of melt migration. A simple model of equilibrium partitioning is used to cast the results in terms of 230Th disequilibria. Comparisons of the modelled geochemistry against global measurements indicate that the models presented here provide a reasonable, first-order description of the dynamics of magma flow beneath ridges. I also explore a systematic connection between plate kinematics and global patterns of mid-ocean ridge bathymetry with three dimensional models of solid mantle flow beneath transform faults. The results provide new constraints on the scale of melt focusing and melt redistribution at ridge axes, and pose questions for future 3D studies of melt migration beneath ridges. </p

Limits of the comprehensive services model: The case of adolescent pregnancy programs

During the past 15 to 20 years a comprehensive services model, incorporating health, social, and educational components, has been the preferred mechanism for addressing the problems associated with adolescent pregnancy. This paper offers an assessment of the model based on a study of ten communities in four states. The widely recognized service needs of pregnant teenagers give the model a compelling logic, but we find inherent obstacles that seriously constrain its implementation. These constraints are exacerbated in an era of social welfare cutbacks. We conclude that short-term local sewice programs, although better than no services at all, are unlikely to meet their objectives.

A modification of the standard midline posterior approach to the intertransverse area of the lumbar spine

A midline approach to the lumbar region is most frequently used for posterior lumbar spine surgery. The exposure of the deeper layer of muscles, however, is imprecise and can entail substantial tissue damage and blood loss. During 10 years of operative surgical experience, we have developed an improved and less traumatic technique for exposure of the lumbar transverse processes and intertransverse region in which the tendons of multifidus and longissimus muscles are isolated at every level and divided laterally to the facet joints. This method eases identification and accurate cauterisation of the subjacent arteries, thereby reducing tissue damage and blood loss. It takes no more time and clarifies the exposure of the lumbar transverse processes and intertransverse region. Cadaveric dissection confirms the muscular and arterial anatomy of the region. We recommend use of this modified approach to improve standard practice