Dynamic visual acuity following high-frequency head vibration

In order to evaluate high-frequency VOR function, the effects of different types of motion on visual acuity were evaluated in asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects. A new testing protocol of evaluating vestibular function was developed in an effort to enhance current treatment protocols

Mainstreaming nature-based solutions: What role do Communities of Practice play in delivering a paradigm shift?

As the urgency to adapt to climate change intensifies, nature-based solutions (NBS) are receiving increasing attention. To mainstream NBS, a fundamental shift in environmental management is required. This study evaluates the role that Communities of Practice (CoP) can play as platforms to foster social learning to drive such a paradigm shift. A Natural Flood Management (NFM) CoP in Yorkshire, UK, was used as a case study. A unique research design combined opportunistic data collected prior to the inception of the CoP and purposive data collected during and after its formation. Opportunistic data captured information from stakeholders regarding NFM engagement and challenges around its instalment and delivery. Purposive data was used to examine the ability of a CoP to foster social learning, overcome the challenges identified prior to its establishment and evaluate the extent to which a CoP contributes to inducing a NBS paradigm shift, using a multi-loop social learning framework. Results demonstrate that the CoP was effective in delivering social learning and improving NFM instalment and delivery. While most evidence of social learning point to incremental rather than transformational changes, it did reveal abundant questioning of the current framing of flood management. Furthermore, the CoP seems to have encouraged some participants to re-think the current governance structures for NFM and the boundaries of current actor networks, raising promise that, if sustained in the longer term, the CoP could induce a paradigm shift. Further research should conduct longitudinal studies to examine the CoP’s development overtime and its potential for overcoming current constraints

Patients experience of the encounter at the emergency department : A literature study

Bakgrund: I dagens samhälle är det många människor som söker sig till akutmottagningen av olika orsaker. På grund av den stora mängden patienter kan arbetsbelastningen bli hög för vårdpersonalen, och de kan därför tvingas prioritera medicinska aspekter före de psykologiska behoven. Patienterna kan därför uppleva mötet på akutmottagningen som okänsligt. Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka patienters upplevelse av bemötande från vårdare på akutmottagning. Metod: Litteraturstudie. Resultat: Resultatet visar på fyra övergripande teman: det första mötet på akutmottagningen, bra bemötande, dåligt eller bristande bemötande och informationens betydelse för patienten. Diskussion: I diskussionen beskrivs bland annat patienters upplevelse av bemötande i förhållande till begreppet livsvärld, men även hur informationen och väntetiden kan påverka patientens vistelse på akutmottagningen. Konklusion: De flesta patienter uttrycker tillfredsställelse över bemötandet och informationen som de får i första mötet på akutmottagningen. Efter det akuta skedet upplever dock många patienter att informationen och bemötandet fallerar och blir sämre.Background: In todays society many people are seeking care at the emergency department for different reasons. The caregivers are because of the pressured workload, forced to prioritize the patient's medical issues over their psychological needs. Therefor in an urgent situation the patients can perceive the care as insensitive. Aim: the aim was to describe patients perception of the interpersonal encounter with caregivers in the emergency department. Method: literature study. Result: The result shows four overall themes: the first encounter at the emergency department, patient perception of good encounter with caregivers, bad or lack of encounter from the caregivers and the informations meaning for the patients. Discussion: In the discussion patients experience of treatment is described in contrast to the concept of life-world. Furthermore the importance of information and how waiting times affect the experience is illustrated. Conclusion: Most patients express satisfaction with the response and the information that they receive in the first meeting at the emergency department. However after the acute stage many patients express that the information and treatment doesn’t maintain the same standard as before.

Självskadebeteende ur skolkuratorers perspektiv : - om bakomliggande orsaker, uppmärksammandet av och arbetet med självskadande ungdomar på gymnasiet

Självskadebeteende bland ungdomar är ett socialt problem världen över men är samtidigt tabubelagt och stigmatiserande. Skolan är en plats där ungdomar spenderar en stor del av sin tid och där det finns en chans för destruktiviteten att uppmärksammas. När det gäller att uppmärksamma självskadande ungdomar har skolkuratorn en viktig roll. Ju tidigare ett självskadebeteende påträffas och behandlas desto större möjligheter finns det för bättre framtidsutsikter. Kunskap behövs dels för att kunna se tidiga tecken och uppmärksamma den självskadande ungdomen och dels för att stötta och hjälpa ungdomen vidare. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka skolkuratorers arbete med självskadande ungdomar och erfarenheter av bakgrunden till destruktiviteten. Studiens tre teoretiska utgångspunkter är socialkonstruktivism, stigma och kunskap som grund för sociala problem. Dessa perspektiv är relevanta när det gäller självskadebeteende som en konsekvens av samhällets konstruktion och bemötandet av det sociala problemet. Studien är kvalitativ och innefattar intervjuer med 10 skolkuratorer från 10 olika svenska gymnasieskolor. Intervjuerna transkriberades och datamaterialet analyserades sedan med hjälp av tematisk analys. Med hjälp av socialkonstruktivism kunde skolkuratorers uppfattning om bakomliggande orsaker samt samhällets påverkan i form av normer undersökas. Resultatet visade att skolkuratorerna hade en gemensam uppfattning om bakomliggande orsaker till ungdomars självskadebeteende, att det användes för att hantera starka känslor. I skolkuratorernas arbete ingår att stötta elever i skolan, skapa en förtroendefull relation till elever och personal, samarbeta med övrig skolpersonal och hänvisa självskadande ungdomar vidare till rätt instans. De hinder som skolkuratorer upplever i arbetet är tids- och resursbrist, att självskadan kan vara dold och att ungdomar kan ha svårt att prata om sitt självskadebeteende och därmed inte söker hjälp. Psykisk ohälsa menar skolkuratorer är dessutom tabubelagt. De möjligheter som föreligger är att informera och utbilda både elever och personal om psykisk ohälsa, självskadebeteende och hur känslor kan hanteras. 

Taking stock of the empirical evidence on the insurance value of ecosystems

Ecosystems can buffer against adverse events and, by so doing, reduce the costs of risk-bearing to society; benefits which have been termed ‘insurance value’. Although the terminology is recent, the concept is older and has its roots in ecological resilience. However, a synthesis of studies through the lens of the insurance value concept is lacking. Here we fill this important knowledge gap by conducting a rapid evidence assessment on how, where and why the insurance value of ecosystems has been measured. The review highlighted the often substantial positive values that were associated with restoration, rehabilitation or avoidance of loss of natural ecosystems. However, many regions, ecosystems and hazards are not widely researched. Most studies focused on forests, agriculture and wetlands, often with an emphasis on habitat restoration to reduce flood risks. Over half the studies provided non-monetary or monetary estimates of value, reporting, for example, improved ecological function, achieved/achievable cost reductions or willingness-to-pay. Nevertheless, the evidence-base remains fragmentary and is characterised by inconsistent reporting of valuation methodologies. This precludes drawing general conclusions. We recommend that future studies of insurance value adopt a common approach to facilitate the development of a more robust evidence-base

Structural investigation of neutron-deficient Pt isotopes: the case of 178Pt

Lifetime measurements with the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique have been performed to determine yrast E2 transition strengths in 178Pt. The experimental data are related to those on neighboring Pt isotopes, especially recent data on 180Pt, and compared to calculations within the interacting boson model and a Hartree-Fock Bogoliubov approach. These models predict prolate deformed ground states in Pt isotopes close to neutron midshell consistent with the experimental findings. Further, evidence was found that the prolate intruder structure observed in neutron-deficient Hg isotopes that is minimum in energy in 182Hg becomes the ground state configuration in 178Pt and neighboring 180Pt with nearly identical transition quadrupole moments. The new data on 178Pt are further discussed in the context of the systematics along the Pt isotopic chain with respect to a possible sharp shape transition towards a weakly deformed or a quasi-vibrational ground state whereas the prolate structure increases in energy in 174,176Pt and becomes an intruder configuration similar to, for example, 180,182Hg

Structural investigation of neutron-deficient Pt isotopes: the case of

Lifetime measurements with the recoil distance Doppler-shift technique have been performed to determine yrast E2 transition strengths in 178Pt. The experimental data are related to those on neighboring Pt isotopes, especially recent data on 180Pt, and compared to calculations within the interacting boson model and a Hartree-Fock Bogoliubov approach. These models predict prolate deformed ground states in Pt isotopes close to neutron midshell consistent with the experimental findings. Further, evidence was found that the prolate intruder structure observed in neutron-deficient Hg isotopes that is minimum in energy in 182Hg becomes the ground state configuration in 178Pt and neighboring 180Pt with nearly identical transition quadrupole moments. The new data on 178Pt are further discussed in the context of the systematics along the Pt isotopic chain with respect to a possible sharp shape transition towards a weakly deformed or a quasi-vibrational ground state whereas the prolate structure increases in energy in 174,176Pt and becomes an intruder configuration similar to, for example, 180,182Hg