Personal effectiveness training for unemployed people: where to now?

Unemployment remains a major social problem in Australia. Successive governments have attempted to address the problem, in part, by funding occupational skills based training programs for the unemployed. This paper reviews the general area of occupational skills/personal effectiveness training for unemployed people, and reports on outcomes for individuals attending 'typical' courses in Australia. Also reported, are outcomes for unemployed people who attended specially devised training, based on the cognitive behavioural (e.g., Beck, 1976) and learned optimism (Seligman, 1990) intervention approaches, that was aimed at improving well-being, confidence and coping abilities. Variables assessed include individual well-being (e.g., psychological distress), confidence (e.g., self-efficacy), attitude-to-work (e.g., work-commitment); training climate; and labour market outcomes such as return-to-work. More positive outcomes were identified for unemployed people attending the specially devised programs. The authors argue that training targeted at unemployed people must be based on sound theoretical principles to produce measurable long-term benefits. Future applications of personal development programs are discussed in relation to occupational skills based training and as stand-alone programs

Sea breeze: Induced mesoscale systems and severe weather

Sea-breeze-deep convective interactions over the Florida peninsula were investigated using a cloud/mesoscale numerical model. The objective was to gain a better understanding of sea-breeze and deep convective interactions over the Florida peninsula using a high resolution convectively explicit model and to use these results to evaluate convective parameterization schemes. A 3-D numerical investigation of Florida convection was completed. The Kuo and Fritsch-Chappell parameterization schemes are summarized and evaluated

Morphological and molecular characterisation of a mixed Cryptosporidium muris/Cryptosporidium felis infection in a cat

To date Cryptosporidium muris has been identified by microscopy and genotyping in cats in two studies. We report morphological and genetic evidence of a mixed C. muris and C. felis infection in a cat and provide the first histological, immunohistochemical, in situ hybridisation and genetic confirmation of a C. muris infection in the stomach of a cat. The cat suffered persistent diarrhoea after the initial consultation, which remained unresolved, despite several medical interventions. Further studies are required to determine the range, prevalence and clinical impact of Cryptosporidium species infecting cats

Implications of non-linearities between cumulative CO2 emissions and CO2-induced warming for assessing the remaining carbon budget

To determine the remaining carbon budget, a new framework was introduced in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR1.5). We refer to this as a 'segmented' framework because it considers the various components of the carbon budget derivation independently from one another. Whilst implementing this segmented framework, in SR1.5 the assumption was that there is a strictly linear relationship between cumulative CO2 emissions and CO2-induced warming i.e. the TCRE is constant and can be applied to a range of emissions scenarios. Here we test whether such an approach is able to replicate results from model simulations that take the climate system's internal feedbacks and non-linearities into account. Within our modelling framework, following the SR1.5's choices leads to smaller carbon budgets than using simulations with interacting climate components. For 1.5 °C and 2 °C warming targets, the differences are 50 GtCO2 (or 10%) and 260 GtCO2 (or 17%), respectively. However, by relaxing the assumption of strict linearity, we find that this difference can be reduced to around 0 GtCO2 for 1.5 °C of warming and 80 GtCO2 (or 5%) for 2.0 °C of warming (for middle of the range estimates of the carbon cycle and warming response to anthropogenic emissions). We propose an updated implementation of the segmented framework that allows for the consideration of non-linearities between cumulative CO2 emissions and CO2-induced warming

Consent on the labour ward: a qualitative study of the views and experiences of healthcare professionals

Objective: Consent on the labour ward is a complex and controversial topic which is poorly understood. Consenting labouring women is recognised as challenging and problematic, and thus, it is uncertain that pregnant women experience true informed consent during labour. This project aims to explore healthcare professionals’ views and experiences of consent practice on the labour ward. / Design: Qualitative research performed in a tertiary hospital labour ward in Central London with 5,500 patients annually. Eleven obstetricians and seven midwives participated. In-depth one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data were analysed by thematic analysis. / Results: Three themes were identified: 1) The value of women’s choice: healthcare professionals framed consent as an agreement process rather than an exercise of choice. Implicit paternalism was evident with some healthcare professionals imposing their own recommendations upon patients. 2) Communicating risk: many participants viewed full risk communication, including extremely rare risk disclosure as their duty to ensure the validity of obstetric consent despite the risk of overwhelming women. 3) Law and professional practice: many healthcare professionals lacked knowledge of the implications to practice of current law. / Conclusion: Healthcare professionals’ experiences of consent on the labour ward reflect uncertainties and ambiguities in consent practice such that it sometimes falls short of legal and professional requirements. Difficulties in discussing risk with women in an appropriate way at an appropriate time threatens the lawfulness of consent. If consent is to remain as the legal standard of autonomy, we recommend the provision of specialist training to assist professionals in providing timely consultation dialogues which endorse women’s right to choose

Modelling of microstructural evolution in multi-layered overlay coatings

Functionally graded, multi-layered coatings are designed to provide corrosion protection over a range of operating conditions typically found in industrial gas turbines. A model incorporating diffusion, equilibrium thermodynamics and oxidation has been developed to simulate the microstructural evolution within a multi-layered coating system. The phase and concentration profiles predicted by the model have been compared with an experimental multi-layered system containing an Al-rich outer layer, a Cr-enriched middle layer and an MCrAlY-type inner layer deposited on a superalloy substrate. The concentration distribution and many microstructural features observed experimentally can be predicted by the model. The model is expected to be useful for assessing the microstructural evolution of multilayer coated systems which can be potentially used on industrial gas turbine aerofoils