What LFA beef and sheep farmers should do and why they should do it

This paper describes how representative farm business models were employed to identify optimal beef and sheep production systems for Less Favoured Area (LFA) farms in Northern Ireland. The bio-economic models identify the optimal farming system for theses farms under various market and policy assumptions. They are useful, therefore, in helping to develop industry strategy. The models indicate that, under current market and policy conditions, a dairy-based beef system is likely to be the most profitable beef enterprise. However, depending on land quality and livestock housing resources, and the market and policy environment, suckler-based beef systems can also feature in the profit maximising enterprise mix. The results also suggest that the optimal sheep system is consistent with the stratified sheep systems traditionally operated in Northern Ireland. In general, beef production appears to have some advantages over sheep production where, depending on relative prices and resource availabilities, it is often better to replace sheep with cattle and employ the released labour off-farm, than to replace cattle with sheep and invest the released capital off-farm. In some situations, farmers should significantly reduce their capital and labour inputs to the farm business by substantially reducing stocking rates or even abandoning land completelyAgricultural and Food Policy,

Progress and opportunities in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health communications

This article describes elements of effective health communication and highlights strategies that may best be adopted or adapted in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations. Studies have documented the utility of multidimensional approaches to health communication from the macro level of interventions targeting entire populations to the micro level of communication between health care provider and consumer. Although evidence of health disparities in LGBT communities underscores the importance of population-specific interventions, health promotion campaigns rarely target these populations and health communication activities seldom account for the diversity of LGBT communities. Advances in health communication suggest promising direction for LGBT-specific risk prevention and health promotion strategies on community, group, and provider/consumer levels. Opportunities for future health communication efforts include involving LGBT communities in the development of appropriate health communication campaigns and materials, enhancing media literacy among LGBT individuals, supporting LGBT-focused research and evaluation of health communication activities, and ensuring that health care providers possess the knowledge, skills, and competency to communicate effectively with LGBT consumers

"She is Like a Sister to Me." Gender-Affirming Services and Relationships are Key to the Implementation of HIV Care Engagement Interventions with Transgender Women of Color.

We present findings from qualitative interviews (N = 67) with 36 staff and 31 participants of nine distinct individual and/or group level interventions to engage transgender women of color (TWOC) in HIV care in the U.S. We examine the commonalities amongst the intervention services (addressing unmet basic needs, facilitating engagement in HIV care, health system navigation, improving health literacy, emotional support), and the relationships formed during implementation of the interventions (between interventionists and participants, among participants in intervention groups, between participants and peers in the community). Interventionists, often TWOC themselves, who provided these services developed caring relationships, promoted personal empowerment, and became role models for participants and the community. Intervention groups engaged participants to reinforce the importance of health and HIV care and provided mutual support. Gender affirming services and caring relationships may be two key characteristics of interventions that address individual and structural-level barriers to engage TWOC in HIV care

Kevin Keatley: What Forensics Did for Me

The forensic community is filled with alumni who will tout the benefits they received through their participation in intercollegiate speech and debate activities. As directors of forensics programs face battles for budgets and sometimes for their program’s very existence, having a collection of published testimonies about the positive influence of forensics can be a tremendous help. To that end, Speaker & Gavel is setting aside space in each issue for our alumni to talk about how forensics has helped them in their professional life. These are our alumni’s stories

Air quality patterns in Sydney: a characterisation of intra-urban spatial and temporal variability. Including a case study investigation of a potential air pollution ‘hotspot’ in an urban area of Western Sydney

Air quality in Sydney is good compared to many other parts of the world, however poor air quality events occasionally occur in Sydney that exceed national ambient air pollution guidelines. Poor air quality events may be caused by natural or anthropogenic processes. Poor air quality is well known to have adverse impacts on health and is associated with in increased mortality and hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. In this thesis air quality patterns in Sydney were examined, with particular interest in Western Sydney and the potential of urban air pollution hotspots. Historical (10 year) air quality observations of from six fixed sites within the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) air quality monitoring network were analysed to determine an east/west relationship. A temporary monitoring station was established in Auburn, Western Sydney and compared to surrounding monitoring stations to determine the presence (or absence) of an air pollution hotspot in an urban/residential/industrial area. The pollutants used in the analysis included; Nitrogen oxides (NOx) = Nitrogen oxide (NO) + Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Ozone (O3), Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and Particulate matter less than 10 and 2.5 micrometres (PM10 and PM2.5 respectively). Analysis was undertaken using the “Openair” and “stats” packages in R

Measuring Affective Processes In Traumatic Brain Injury

Changes to emotional functioning are difficult to measure after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study examines how TBI impacts emotional functioning using self-report measures of psychological symptoms, affect, and social participation as well as objective measures of affective processes. The first experiment consists of the development of a novel measure of facial affect recognition that is validated in a sample of 78 non-clinical participants. The second experiment is an exploratory study examining group differences between 50 individuals with mild complicated, moderate, or severe TBI and 32 demographically similar controls. Correlations between self-reported psychological symptoms, affect, and social participation and performance on measures of affective processes are reported. Finally, moderation analyses are used to examine if the relationship between self-reported measures and affective processes changes in the presence of TBI. Results indicated that those with TBI showed different patterns of affective processing as compared to controls. Specifically, TBI participants demonstrated a positive bias when interpreting facial expressions and a negative bias when recalling emotion words. Self-reported measures were also associated with overall performance on measures of affective processing. Findings indicated that the effect of valence appears to be domain specific (e.g. faces versus words) and research within one domain (e.g. affective language) may not generalize to other cognitive-affective processes (e.g. facial affect recognition). Further research on affective processing after TBI is warranted with particular attention given to negatively arousing stimuli

Patterns of offending behaviour: a sequence analysis approach

Objectives: The main aim of this paper is to understand the pattern of actions involved in offending behaviours, in general. A particular case will be provided: A sequence analysis to describe the timeline of events between individuals deciding to consume alcohol, and then drive a vehicle. Design: The study used a sequence analysis design, in which a series of actions related to drinking alcohol and driving were presented and individuals’ patterns of behaviours investigated. Method: The method involves taking a series of recorded interviews into driving whilst under the influence of alcohol. The current sample of interviews (N=60) were transcribed and analysed until a mutually exclusive and exhaustive list of behaviours was agreed upon. Frequently occurring behaviours were then analyse for significant transitions. Results: Results showed clear patterns of actions in individuals’ choices to consume alcohol and drive a vehicle. A lag one sequential analysis approach was used (i.e., a-b, b-c, c-d). This analysis involves transitions between only the one preceding behaviour (antecedent), to give a chain of events. Transition maps showing the sequence of events were developed to clearly show the patterns of behaviours that lead to driving under the influence of alcohol. Conclusions: The present research highlights the sequences of actions and choices leading up to driving under the influence. The method has implications, which will be discussed, for policy and policing, as well as other related driving offences (i.e., drugs etc.). Limitations related to analysis are discussed and guidance provided. Relation to other areas of Forensic Psychology (i.e., rape cases, violence) will also be outlined