Paediatric hospital visiting policies in Cameroon : the experiences of nurses and parents : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Nursing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This study explored the experiences of parents and nurses caring for hospitalised children with the parents either living-in or having only visiting rights. The participants were parents with children hospitalised for a minimum of three days and nurses working in the paediatric ward for a minimum of six months. A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews and participant observation was used to collect the data and Burnard's (1991) thematic content analysis to analyse the data. Six themes were identified of which two (one from the nurses and one from the parents) are main themes. The main theme from the nurses relates the nurses' aim of meeting the children's need and getting them ready for discharge home. The main theme from the parents relates the parents' satisfaction with the care they receive and the difficulties they have as parents not always being able to be with their child at will. The roles of parents and the nurses with regards the cares of children are relatively distinct in the hospital. The parents' role seemed quite limited due to the poor information received from the nurses although they (nurses) had a better understanding of what these roles could be. It could be noted that attitudes and opinions of nurses and parents about the way children are cared for in hospitals are different. For some parents, living-in and carrying out basic cares such as bathing, changing, feeding and comforting the child is just normal. Others felt it is the nurses' responsibilities, hence were reluctant to do it. Nurses also had divided views with regards to providing this basic care for the children added to their nursing/medical cares. As well there were few nurses to provide the care. Despite the differences, the nurses and parents have a common goal of getting the child ready for discharge home. On the whole the nurses are happy to have parents live-in and parents are happy to stay, although some parents feel living-in is an obligation not a choice. Unlike the parents of the older children that are happy to live-in, the neonatal parents are not given that privilege to live-in and that is distressing to them. The different concepts of care in paediatric wards are examined and not all of the concepts can be applicable in the Cameroon context. The study suggests a possible concept of care to be used in the hospital after a review by the authorities. This study provides a base for future research in this domain

Twins Among the Low Mass Spectroscopic Binaries

We report an analysis of twins of spectral types F or later in the 9th Catalog of Spectroscopic Binaries (SB9). Twins, the components of binaries with mass ratio within 2% of 1.0, are found among the binaries with primaries of F and G spectral type. They are most prominent among the binaries with periods less than 43 days, a cutoff first identified by Lucy. Within the subsample of binaries with P<43 days, the twins do not differ from the other binaries in their distributions of periods (median P~7d), masses, or orbital eccentricities. Combining the mass ratio distribution in the SB9 in the mass range 0.6 to 0.85 Msun with that measured by Mazeh et al. for binaries in the Carney-Latham high proper motion survey, we estimate that the frequency of twins in a large sample of spectroscopic binaries is about 3%. Current theoretical understanding indicates that accretion of high specific angular momentum material by a protobinary tends to equalize its masses. We speculate that the excess of twins is produced in those star forming regions where the accretion processes were able to proceed to completion for a minority of protobinaries. This predicts that the components of a young twin may appear to differ in age and that, in a sample of spectroscopic binaries in a star formation region, the twins are, on average, older than the binaries with mass ratios much smaller than 1.Comment: Accepted by the Astronomical Journa

The Retention of Chicago's Arts Students in Comparative Perspective

Highlights:* 58 percent of Chicago arts-school alumni took up residence in the city within 5 years of the date of their last attendance. Of the regions compared in this report, only New York City has a greater portion of its arts-school alumni taking up residence in the city within 5 years, at 66 percent.* 51 percent of Chicago arts-school alumni were out-of-state applicants who came to Chicago and were still living in the city within five years of their last date of attendance. This is the second highest portion of out-of-state applicants taking up residence in the city of their alma mater. New York City's rate was highest at 54 percent.* Of arts-school alumni who searched for work, 38 percent of those attending school in Chicago obtained work prior to leaving their institution; 85 percent obtained work within a year. Alumni from other regions had similar experiences.*50 percent of Chicago's alumni reported that their first job or work experience was "closely related" to their arts-school training. However, alumni from institutions in Los Angeles County, Cleveland/Columbus and New York City reported higher rates of their first work experience being closely related to their arts training

Public Funding for Art: Chicago Compared with 12 Peer Regions

Supported in part by Arts Alliance Illinois, and with the cooperation of several local arts agencies, including Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special events, and of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.This study compares the direct public dollars received by organizations and artists in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), San Diego, and San Francisco from 2002-2012.Often, studies of public funding for the arts look at appropriations made on the national and state levels and estimates of local expenditures, but this report delves more deeply using grant-level data to examine the dollars received by organizations and artists resident in each city or region.Key findings:In 2012, Chicago arts organizations received $7.3 million in public dollars via competitive grants from local, state, and national public arts agencies combined. Only three of the 13 regions studied received more total dollars in 2012.Though Chicago arts organizations receive among the greatest amounts of public funding in total, a relatively small portion comes from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Of the competitive arts grants dollars received in Chicago in 2012, 59$1.2 million in grants, which is $0.44 per capita. Of the 13 local agencies analyzed, only Phoenix, Boston, and Baltimore spent less in total dollar or per capita terms in 2012.Over the past decade, DCASE annually awarded among the highest total number of grants compared with other regions' local agencies. In 2012, DCASE awarded 520 grants in total -- 305 to organizations and 215 to individuals. In 2012, it awarded competitive grants to approximately 31% of the arts and cultural organizations in the city.Aside from competitive grants, five of the 13 cities/metro regions included in this study provide support to select arts and cultural organizations through line-items, which serve as significant sources of general operating funds

Usage of Academic Libraries: The Role of Service Quality, Resources, and User Characteristics

published or submitted for publicatio

The Brown dwarf Atmosphere Monitoring (BAM) Project I: The largest near-IR monitoring survey of L- & T-dwarfs

Using SofI on the 3.5m New Technology Telescope, we have conducted an extensive near-infrared monitoring survey of an unbiased sample of 69 brown dwarfs spanning the L0 and T8 spectral range, with at least one example of each spectral type. Each target was observed for a 2-4 hour period in the Js-band, and the median photometric precision of the data is ~0.7%. A total of 14 brown dwarfs were identified as variables with min-to-max amplitudes ranging from 1.7% to 10.8% over the observed duration. All variables satisfy a statistical significance threshold with a p-value <5% based on comparison with the median reference star light curve. Approximately half of the variables show sinusoidal amplitude variations similar to 2M2139, and the remainder shows short timescale evolving light curves similar to SIMP0136. The L/T transition has been suggested to be a region of a higher degree of variability if patchy clouds are present and this survey was designed to test the patchy cloud model with photometric monitoring of both the L/T transition and non-transition brown dwarfs. Considering the targets identified as variable with the same statistical threshold, the measured variability frequency of 13^{+10}_{-4}% for the L7 -- T4 transition region is indistinguishable from that of the earlier spectral types (32^{+11}_{-8}%), the later spectral types (13^{+10}_{-4}%), or the combination of all non-transition region brown dwarfs (21^{+7}_{-5}%). The variables are not concentrated at the transition, in a specific colour, or with binaries. We note that of the systems previously monitored for variability only ~60% maintained the state of variability (variable or constant), with the remaining switching states. The 14 variables include nine newly identified variables that will provide important systems for follow-up multi-wavelength monitoring to further investigate brown dwarf atmosphere physics.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomy & Astrophysics. 15 pages, 13 figure

Global estimates and projections of mortality by cause, 1970-2015

The authors report estimates and projections of deaths by cause for major world regions, based on data from country reports to the World Health Organization and regression models. They report mortality rates for seven major causes: infectious and parasitic diseases, neoplasms, circulatory system diseases, complications of pregnancy, certain perinatal conditions, injury and poisoning, and other causes. Some more specific causes are reported on. They give estimates for six age groups by sex for four years (1970, 1985, 2000, and 2015) and six country groups: industrial market economies, industrial nonmarket economies, Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. Among their findings: The population over 45 in developing countries is projected to more than double between 1985 and 2015, rising from 17 to 24 percent of the population. Causes of death, which are closely related to age at death, must change accordingly. Infant mortality in developing countries is projected to fall from 78 per thousand in 1985 to 43 per thousand in 2015 and life expectancy at birth in developing countries is projected to rise by five years. The leading causes of death for the world as a whole for both 1970 and 1985 were infectious and parasitic diseases and circulatory system diseases - with the first more important in developing countries, and the second more important in developed countries. Certain perinatal conditions were also more important for developing countries, but accounted for only a fourth or a fifth as many deaths in 1985. Neoplasms were more important in developed than in developing countries. Deaths from infectious diseases are expected to decline as a percentage of deaths; proportionate deaths from diseases of the circulatory system are expected to rise. The greatest number of deaths will continue to be in Asia, where almost half of all deaths in the world take place. This proportion is not projected to change. Better data on causes of death are essential. The World Health Organization is working with countries to strengthen their cause-of-death information systems as an essential support for health monitoring.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Indicators,Early Child and Children's Health,Adolescent Health,Demographics