6,981 research outputs found
Close enough? professional closeness and safe caring
In countries around the world, residential child care has been rocked by scandals of abuse of children and young people by the people who were supposed to be caring for them. In the UK, in particular, the reaction to these revelations has been to implement a raft of measures that seek to ensure that nothing of the same nature or scale might happen again. However, there can be tensions between the implementation of such measures and the developmental and emotional needs of children and young people in residential care. In this paper, we outline recent policy and legislative developments and address some of the issues which we see as important in attempting to strike a balance between safe caring and quality caring, between professional closeness and abusive practice
Developing a recovery ethos for psychiatric services in New Zealand
This thesis is about developing a recovery ethos for psychiatric services in New Zealand. The argument of the thesis is that currently a procedural ethos is dominant in psychiatric services in New Zealand, based on eclectic ways of facilitating recovery. Recovery from mental illness, is based on the criteria of symptom reduction and functioning and can be further refined to have a client and professional perspective. Rather than using an eclectic approach to facilitating recovery the thesis argues for a pluralistic approach, where the virtues, the relationship with professionals, client narrative and the psychiatric community become central to decision making, rather than principle based procedures.
The thesis is an argued, applied philosophical thesis in terms of methodology. The scope of the thesis is psychiatric services and the focus is broadly ethical decision making. There are three main divisions to the thesis. Part 1 is concerned with clarification of the main terms used in the thesis. This involves exploring the historical background to the concept of recovery, clarifying the concept of recovery itself and providing an argument for giving greater prominence to the term mental illness over the term mental disorder. Part 2 identifies the main problem of the thesis, namely the procedural ethos, and the problems it is causing clients suffering from mental illness in facilitating their recovery. Part 3 shows what is involved in developing a recovery ethos for psychiatric services in New Zealand
Coping and its relation to gender, anxiety, depression, fatigue, cognitive difficulties and somatic symptoms
Background: The first aim of this study was to analyse the structure of coping and to develop a measuring instrument to be used in future work. A second aim was to examine associations between coping scores and negative outcomes (anxiety, depression, fatigue, cognitive difficulties and somatic symptoms). Finally, gender differences in coping with workplace events were examined, as were the relationships between gender and subjective health outcomes.
Methodology: A survey of a sample of 240 adults from the South Wales area was conducted at one-time point only. The questionnaire included a factor analysed version of the Ways of Coping Checklist (WCCL) as well as scales measuring anxiety, depression, fatigue, cognitive difficulties and somatic symptoms.
Results: Results showed that negative coping styles significantly predicted negative health outcomes, and positive coping styles predicted fewer negative outcomes. No significant differences were found for health outcomes between men and women, but women were significantly more likely to use self-blame and wishful thinking coping.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that coping styles are associated with wellbeing outcomes. Further research should use more independent variables, such as workplace and individual characteristics, to explain more of the variance in health outcomes than just that explained by coping styles alone
Accuracy assessment of Tri-plane B-mode ultrasound for non-invasive 3D kinematic analysis of knee joints
BACKGROUND Currently the clinical standard for measuring the motion of the bones in knee joints with sufficient precision involves implanting tantalum beads into the bones. These beads appear as high intensity features in radiographs and can be used for precise kinematic measurements. This procedure imposes a strong coupling between accuracy and invasiveness. In this paper, a tri-plane B-mode ultrasound (US) based non-invasive approach is proposed for use in kinematic analysis of knee joints in 3D space. METHODS The 3D analysis is performed using image processing procedures on the 2D US slices. The novelty of the proposed procedure and its applicability to the unconstrained 3D kinematic analysis of knee joints is outlined. An error analysis for establishing the method's feasibility is included for different artificial compositions of a knee joint phantom. Some in-vivo and in-vitro scans are presented to demonstrate that US scans reveal enough anatomical details, which further supports the experimental setup used using knee bone phantoms. RESULTS The error between the displacements measured by the registration of the US image slices and the true displacements of the respective slices measured using the precision mechanical stages on the experimental apparatus is evaluated for translation and rotation in two simulated environments. The mean and standard deviation of errors are shown in tabular form. This method provides an average measurement precision of less than 0.1 mm and 0.1 degrees, respectively. CONCLUSION In this paper, we have presented a novel non-invasive approach to measuring the motion of the bones in a knee using tri-plane B-mode ultrasound and image registration. In our study, the image registration method determines the position of bony landmarks relative to a B-mode ultrasound sensor array with sub-pixel accuracy. The advantages of our proposed system over previous techniques are that it is non-invasive, does not require the use of ionizing radiation and can be used conveniently if miniaturized.This work has been supported by School of Engineering & IT, UNSW Canberra, under Research Publication Fellowship
A grounded theory study on work related stress in professionals who provide health & social care for people who exhibit behaviours that challenge
Providing direct health and social care services for people who exhibit behaviours that challenge can be a highly stressful occupation. Existing literature has suggested that there is a need to develop further theoretical understanding of how work related stress can be reduced in professions that consist of providing care for people who exhibit behaviours that challenge. The aim for this study was to use a Classic Grounded Theory approach to develop a theoretical framework to illustrate a common issue that could influence work related stress levels experienced when managing behaviours that challenge in health and social care settings. A series of focus groups and 1:1 semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the articulated experiences of 47 health/social care professionals who provide care for people who exhibit behaviours that challenge. This led to the development of Therapeutic Engagement Stress Theory (TEST), which illustrates that the perceived capacity to therapeutically engage with people who exhibit behaviours that challenge is an issue that can influence the levels of stress experienced by health/social care professionals. TEST provides a framework that could be applied to identify specific factors that inhibit staff to successfully deliver caring interventions for people who exhibit behaviours that challenge, and also inform bespoke support mechanisms to reduce stress in health/social care professionals
The assessment of benchmarks executed on bare-metal and using para-virtualization
A
full
assessment
of
para-Âvirtualization
is
important,
because
without
knowledge
about
the
various
overheads,
users
can
not
understand
whether
using
virtualization
is
a
good
idea
or
not.
In
this
paper
we
are
very
interested
in
assessing
the
overheads
of
running
various
benchmarks
on
bare-Ââmetal,
as
well
as
on
para-Ââvirtualization.
The
idea
is
to
see
what
the
overheads
of
para-Ââ
virtualization
are,
as
well
as
looking
at
the
overheads
of
turning
on
monitoring
and
logging.
The
knowledge
from
assessing
various
benchmarks
on
these
different
systems
will
help
a
range
of
users
understand
the
use
of
virtualization
systems.
In
this
paper
we
assess
the
overheads
of
using
Xen,
VMware,
KVM
and
Citrix,
see
Table
1.
These
different
virtualization
systems
are
used
extensively
by
cloud-Ââusers.
We
are
using
various
Netlib1
benchmarks,
which
have
been
developed
by
the
University
of
Tennessee
at
Knoxville
(UTK),
and
Oak
Ridge
National
Laboratory
(ORNL).
In
order
to
assess
these
virtualization
systems,
we
run
the
benchmarks
on
bare-Ââmetal,
then
on
the
para-Ââvirtualization,
and
finally
we
turn
on
monitoring
and
logging.
The
later
is
important
as
users
are
interested
in
Service
Level
Agreements
(SLAs)
used
by
the
Cloud
providers,
and
the
use
of
logging
is
a
means
of
assessing
the
services
bought
and
used
from
commercial
providers.
In
this
paper
we
assess
the
virtualization
systems
on
three
different
systems.
We
use
the
Thamesblue
supercomputer,
the
Hactar
cluster
and
IBM
JS20
blade
server
(see
Table
2),
which
are
all
servers
available
at
the
University
of
Reading.
A
functional
virtualization
system
is
multi-Ââlayered
and
is
driven
by
the
privileged
components.
Virtualization
systems
can
host
multiple
guest
operating
systems,
which
run
on
its
own
domain,
and
the
system
schedules
virtual
CPUs
and
memory
within
each
Virtual
Machines
(VM)
to
make
the
best
use
of
the
available
resources.
The
guest-Ââoperating
system
schedules
each
application
accordingly.
You
can
deploy
virtualization
as
full
virtualization
or
para-Ââvirtualization.
Full
virtualization
provides
a
total
abstraction
of
the
underlying
physical
system
and
creates
a
new
virtual
system,
where
the
guest
operating
systems
can
run.
No
modifications
are
needed
in
the
guest
OS
or
application,
e.g.
the
guest
OS
or
application
is
not
aware
of
the
virtualized
environment
and
runs
normally.
Para-Ââvirualization
requires
user
modification
of
the
guest
operating
systems,
which
runs
on
the
virtual
machines,
e.g.
these
guest
operating
systems
are
aware
that
they
are
running
on
a
virtual
machine,
and
provide
near-Âânative
performance.
You
can
deploy
both
para-Ââvirtualization
and
full
virtualization
across
various
virtualized
systems.
Para-Ââvirtualization
is
an
OS-Ââassisted
virtualization;
where
some
modifications
are
made
in
the
guest
operating
system
to
enable
better
performance.
In
this
kind
of
virtualization,
the
guest
operating
system
is
aware
of
the
fact
that
it
is
running
on
the
virtualized
hardware
and
not
on
the
bare
hardware.
In
para-Ââvirtualization,
the
device
drivers
in
the
guest
operating
system
coordinate
the
device
drivers
of
host
operating
system
and
reduce
the
performance
overheads.
The
use
of
para-Ââvirtualization
[0]
is
intended
to
avoid
the
bottleneck
associated
with
slow
hardware
interrupts
that
exist
when
full
virtualization
is
employed.
It
has
revealed
[0]
that
para-Ââ
virtualization
does
not
impose
significant
performance
overhead
in
high
performance
computing,
and
this
in
turn
this
has
implications
for
the
use
of
cloud
computing
for
hosting
HPC
applications.
The
âapparentâ
improvement
in
virtualization
has
led
us
to
formulate
the
hypothesis
that
certain
classes
of
HPC
applications
should
be
able
to
execute
in
a
cloud
environment,
with
minimal
performance
degradation.
In
order
to
support
this
hypothesis,
first
it
is
necessary
to
define
exactly
what
is
meant
by
a
âclassâ
of
application,
and
secondly
it
will
be
necessary
to
observe
application
performance,
both
within
a
virtual
machine
and
when
executing
on
bare
hardware.
A
further
potential
complication
is
associated
with
the
need
for
Cloud
service
providers
to
support
Service
Level
Agreements
(SLA),
so
that
system
utilisation
can
be
audited
Predicting the subsurface
Britain is blessed with a magnificent variety of landscapes, much of it the result of the diverse range of rock types that form our small island, and the different ways in which they respond to weathering and erosion. Nowhere is this clearer than when enjoying a walk along many of the paths that snake around our coastline; dramatic colour changes in the cliffs, steep climbs and descents between headlands and bays all reflect changes in the underlying geology.
Sometimes the connection is obvious, such as the contrast between the low, sandy and muddy cliffs that tumble into the sea along the coast of Essex, and the rugged white cliffs on the south coast of England. These natural features, which we take for granted, have a significant impact on how we live and move about our island
Advancing imaging technologies for patients with spinal pain : with a focus on whiplash injury
Background: Radiological observations of soft-tissue changes that may relate to clinical symptoms in patients with traumatic and non-traumatic spinal disorders are highly controversial. Studies are often of poor quality and findings are inconsistent. A plethora of evidence suggests some pathoanatomical findings from traditional imaging applications are common in asymptomatic participants across the life span, which further questions the diagnostic, prognostic, and theranostic value of traditional imaging. Although we do not dispute the limited evidence for the clinical importance of most imaging findings, we contend that the disparate findings across studies may in part be due to limitations in the approaches used in assessment and analysis of imaging findings.
Purpose: This clinical commentary aimed to (1) briefly detail available imaging guidelines, (2) detail research-based evidence around the clinical use of findings from advanced, but available, imaging applications (eg, fat and water magnetic resonance imaging and magnetization transfer imaging), and (3) introduce how evolving imaging technologies may improve our mechanistic understanding of pain and disability, leading to improved treatments and outcomes.
Study Design/Setting: A non-systematic review of the literature is carried out.
Methods: A narrative summary (including studies from the authors' own work in whiplash injuries) of the available literature is provided.
Results: An emerging body of evidence suggests that the combination of existing imaging sequences or the use of developing imaging technologies in tandem with a good clinical assessment of modifiable risk factors may provide important diagnostic information toward the exploration and development of more informed and effective treatment options for some patients with traumatic neck pain.
Conclusions: Advancing imaging technologies may help to explain the seemingly disconnected spectrum of biopsychosocial signs and symptoms of traumatic neck pain
Influence of Ionizing Radiation on the Mechanical Properties of a Wood-Plastic Composite
AbstractThe focus of this study was to examine the potential benefits of irradiating polyethylene (PE)-based wood-plastic composites (WPCs) in order to enhance the mechanical properties of the WPC. The PE-based WPCs were irradiated, post extrusion, at dose levels of 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 kGy with an electron beam (EB). The irradiated WPCs were then evaluated using a third point bending test (ASTM D4761) along with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that ultimate strength and modulus of elasticity (MOE) increased with increasing dose level. Examination of the fracture surfaces of polyethylene revealed a distinct difference in failure between irradiated and non-irradiated surfaces
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