A Systematic Review of the Evidence for the Sustainability of Household Water Treatment Interventions

This systematic review assesses the quantity and quality of evidence for the sustainability of household water treatment (HWT) since the World Health Organization (WHO) recently endorsed HWT based on growing evidence of HWT's ability to improve microbial water quality, effectiveness at reducing diarrheal disease, cost-effectiveness, and rapid application and acceptance. A large portion of the world population still relies on unsafe sources of drinking water, but whether HWT can support scaling-up efforts and be considered sustainable, it remains to be seen. Ultimately this systematic review found limited evidence of a sustained uptake and usage of HWT interventions, and results from studies that found high levels of confirmed usage after one year must be considered alongside their methodological quality

A simple statistical method for measuring how life events affect happiness

Background Life events—like illness, marriage, or unemployment—have important effects on people. But there is no accepted way to measure the different sizes of these events upon human happiness and psychological health. By using happiness regression equations, economists have recently developed a method. Methods We estimate happiness regressions using large random samples of individuals. The relative coefficients of income and life events on happiness allow us to calculate a monetary ‘compensating amount’ for each kind of life event. Results The paper calculates the impact of different life events upon human well-being. Getting married, for instance, is calculated to bring each year the same amount of happiness, on average, as having an extra £70 000 of income per annum. The psychological costs of losing a job greatly exceed those from the pure drop in income. Health is hugely important to happiness. Widowhood brings a degree of unhappiness that would take, on average, an extra £170 000 per annum to offset. Well-being regressions also allow us to assess one of the oldest conjectures in social science—that well-being depends not just on absolute things but inherently on comparisons with other people. We find evidence for comparison effects. Conclusion We believe that the new statistical method has many applications. In principle, it can be used to value any kind of event in life

Predictors of Engagement in Postpartum Weight Self-management Behaviours in the First 12 Weeks After Birth

Aim To explore factors that influence postpartum weight self-management behaviours. Transitions Theory and the Integrated Theory of Health Behaviour Change guided selection of variables. Transition conditions, level of patient activation and social facilitation were examined for association with postpartum weight self-management behaviours. Background Retention of pregnancy weight increases risk of overweight and obesity later in life. Little is known about what women do to self-manage return to pre-pregnant weight and how providers can influence their behaviours. Design Prospective, longitudinal, correlational. Methods Data collection occurred from March through October, 2013. One hundred and twenty-four women completed surveys during postpartum hospitalization; telephone interviews were completed by 91 women at 6 weeks and 66 women at 12 weeks. Standard and hierarchical multiple regression methods were used for analyses. Results Transition difficulty was negatively associated with patient activation and immediate postbirth patient activation was positively associated with eating behaviours at 6 weeks, eating behaviours at 12 weeks and physical activity at 12 weeks. Social support and social influence were not significant predictors in the regression models. Conclusion Patients experiencing a difficult postpartum transition have lower activation levels; those less activated are less probably to engage in weight self-management behaviours in the 12 weeks following their baby\u27s birth. Patient activation level should be considered in tailoring promotion of healthy postpartum weight management

The curved relationship between subjective well-being and age

This article is concerned with a body of work on happiness and age represented by important papers such as Mroczek and Kolarz (1998) and Mroczek and Spiro (2005). Using a large British data set, the paper presents new longitudinal evidence. It also points out that, perhaps unknown to many psychologists, a parallel literature on this topic exists in economics journals. The paper shows that subjective well-being follows a U-shape through the life course. We argue that eventually the two literatures will have to be made consistent with one another, and suggest that, although it is not easy to live in both worlds, with their different styles and conventions, economists and psychologists still have much to learn from one another.happiness ; ageing ; well-being

The Legal Efficacy of Attempted Methods of Avoiding Probate

Various means have been employed from time to time to avoid the necessity of the probating of estates. Generally speaking, such means have utterly failed to accomplish their purpose. In considering the reasons for such failures it must be borne in mind that there are two classes whose rights are affected. first, the parties themselves, and, secondly, creditors and the state by reason of its right to inheritance tax

Validation of the Registered Nurse Assessment of Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale

Background Statistical models for predicting readmissions have been published for high-risk patient populations but typically focus on patient characteristics; nurse judgment is rarely considered in a formalized way to supplement prediction models. Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine psychometric properties of long and short forms of the Registered Nurse Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RN-RHDS), including reliability, factor structure, and predictive validity. Methods Data were aggregated from two studies conducted at four hospitals in the Midwestern United States. The RN-RHDS was completed within 4 hours before hospital discharge by the discharging nurse. Data on readmissions and emergency department visits within 30 days were extracted from electronic medical records. Results The RN-RHDS, both long and short forms, demonstrate acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s alphas of .90 and .73, respectively). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated less than adequate fit with the same four-factor structure observed in the patient version. Exploratory factor analysis identified three factors, explaining 60.2% of the variance. When nurses rate patients as less ready to go home (\u3c7 out of 10), patients are 6.4–9.3 times more likely to return to the hospital within 30 days, in adjusted models. Discussion The RN-RHDS, long and short forms, can be used to identify medical-surgical patients at risk for potential unplanned return to hospital within 30 days, allowing nurses to use their clinical judgment to implement interventions prior to discharge. Use of the RN-RHDS could enhance current readmission risk prediction models

Economic-Environmental Tradeoffs: Methodologies for Analysis of the Agricultural Production-Rural Environment System

Undesirable environmental impacts of agricultural production are becoming more numerous as agricultural production is increased to meet world food demands. The question of environmental controls on agriculture has many implications on both the level of output from agriculture and upon the quality of the environment. The purposes of this paper are to: (1) define a general structure for the agricultural production-rural environment system, (2) define a general analytical framework for management of the system; and (3) describe an empirical management study of water quality and erosion control. The following paper represents the contributions of a group of experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the collaborative study with IIASA's task, "Environmental Problems of Agriculture." The study, culminating in this paper, met one of the Task's research objectives, which as stated in the Research Plan is, "an evaluation of the trade-offs between the intensification of agricultural production and the possible deterioration in environmental quality." The authors further present, in condensed form, an example demonstrating how a highly complex environmental problem can be analyzed. The methodology used for this analysis is not restricted to the study of agricultural-environmental interactions; rather, it can be applied on a wider basis

Optical Characterisation of MOVPE Grown Vertically Correlated InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots

Structures with self-organised InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix were grown by the low pressure metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (LP-MOVPE) technique. Photoluminescence in combination with photomodulated reflectance spectroscopy were used as the main characterisation methods for the growth optimisation. Results show that photoreflectance spectroscopy is an excellent tool for characterisation of QD structures wetting layers (thickness and composition) and for identification of spacers in vertically stacked QDs structures.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions