Attracting psychologists to learning disability services: starting with assistants

Assistants employed in a split support worker/psychology assistant post rated the experience of working with people with a learning disability positively and as an opportunity to increase knowledge of clinical psychology theory and its direct application to practice. Drawbacks included role ambiguity

Able and gifted: judging by appearances?

In this article I reflect upon an aspect of my research involving Year 6 pupils identified by their teachers as ‘able’ or ‘gifted’ in mathematics, using ‘able’ to refer to high achievers and ‘gifted’ to exceptionally high achievers. I discuss the differences I observed between the able and gifted when solving mathematical tasks, and consider what these differences may mean for professionals involved in identifying gifted pupils. I speculate that teachers’ judgements are highly influenced by those aspects of achievement that are readily visible, such as answering questions quickly, and discuss the potential problems associated with judging by appearances

Testing the impact of diagenesis on the delta O-18 and delta C-13 of benthic foraminiferal calcite from a sediment burial depth transect in the equatorial Pacific

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope (δ18O and δ13C) values measured in foraminiferal calcite are one of the primary tools used in paleoceanography. Diagenetic recrystallisation of foraminiferal calcite can act to reset primary isotopic values but its effects are typically poorly quantified. Here we test the impact of early stage diagenesis on stable isotope records generated from a suite of drill sites in the equatorial Pacific Ocean recovered during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 199 and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 320. Our selected sites form paleowater- and burial-depth transects, with excellent stratigraphic control allowing us to confidently correlate our records. We observe large inter-site differences in the preservation state of benthic foraminiferal calcite, implying very different recrystallisation histories, but negligible inter-site offsets in benthic δ18O and δ13C values. We infer that diagenetic alteration of benthic foraminiferal calcite (in sedimentary oozes) must predominantly occur at shallow burial depths (<100 m) where offsets in both the temperature and isotopic composition of waters in which the foraminifera calcified and pore-waters in which diagenesis occurs are small. Our results suggest that even extensive recrystallisation of benthic foraminiferal calcite results in minimal shifts from primary δ18O and δ13C values. This finding supports the long-held suspicion that diagenetic alteration of foraminiferal calcite is less problematic in benthic than in planktic foraminifera and that in deep–sea sediments routinely employed for palaeoceanographic studies benthic foraminifera are robust recorders of stable isotope values in the fossil record

Exploring the influence of emotional labour, emotional intelligence, emotional regulation, and emotional valence on employee job satisfaction and burnout

This thesis investigated the measures of emotional labour surface acting and deep acting, emotional intelligence, emotional regulation and positive and negative affect as influences on employee wellbeing outcomes of job satisfaction and burnout. A questionnaire was administered to over 2,000 client-facing employees in the USA and Canada. Results from the data analysis found that employees subjected to high levels of emotional labour in client facing roles experienced higher levels of negative affect or outlook. Those scoring higher on the emotional labour surface acting subscale scored significantly higher for negative effect. Additionally, higher scores in deep acting emotional labour were also correlated with higher positive outlook, however, counter to prediction, those scoring lower in emotional labour did not report higher levels of positive outlook. The measures of emotional intelligence were found to better predict job satisfaction while measures of emotional regulation, better predicted employee burnout, however, affect plays a complex and important role in influencing the correlation sizes to these wellbeing outcomes. Further work will need to be done to explore the potential mediating role of affect. Research examining positive and negative affects influence on job satisfaction and burnout without other confounding factors may assist in confirming these results. This pattern of results suggests that a combination of both emotional regulation and emotional intelligence measures may be optimal in assessing and improving employee suitability and wellbein

Quantifying uncertainty in pest risk maps and assessments : adopting a risk-averse decision maker’s perspective

Pest risk maps are important decision support tools when devising strategies to minimize introductions of invasive organisms and mitigate their impacts. When possible management responses to an invader include costly or socially sensitive activities, decision-makers tend to follow a more certain (i.e., risk-averse) course of action. We presented a new mapping technique that assesses pest invasion risk from the perspective of a risk-averse decision maker. We demonstrated the method by evaluating the likelihood that an invasive forest pest will be transported to one of the U.S. states or Canadian provinces in infested firewood by visitors to U.S. federal campgrounds. We tested the impact of the risk aversion assumption using distributions of plausible pest arrival scenarios generated with a geographically explicit model developed from data documenting camper travel across the study area. Next, we prioritized regions of high and low pest arrival risk via application of two stochastic ordering techniques that employed, respectively, first- and second-degree stochastic dominance rules, the latter of which incorporated the notion of risk aversion. We then identified regions in the study area where the pest risk value changed considerably after incorporating risk aversion. While both methods identified similar areas of highest and lowest risk, they differed in how they demarcated moderate-risk areas. In general, the second-order stochastic dominance method assigned lower risk rankings to moderate-risk areas. Overall, this new method offers a better strategy to deal with the uncertainty typically associated with risk assessments and provides a tractable way to incorporate decisionmaking preferences into final risk estimates, and thus helps to better align these estimates with particular decision-making scenarios about a pest organism of concern. Incorporation of risk aversion also helps prioritize the set of locations to target for inspections and outreach activities, which can be costly. Our results are especially important and useful given the huge number of camping trips that occur each year in the United States and Canada

Modelling the airway epithelium in vitro as a tool for understanding pulmonary innate defence mechanisms.

The airway epithelium forms a continuous barrier from the nose to the alveoli and serves a variety of functions. Multiple functionally distinct cell types are involved in these processes. The innate defence functions require a patent airway epithelium, with infections often associated with epithelial defects and phenotypic alterations that are themselves associated with multiple lung diseases. Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are frequently identified in the airways in a range of respiratory diseases These pathogens often trigger exacerbations and worsening symptoms that often result in hospitalisation. This is particularly true in paediatric populations. Although mortality for NTHi and RSV infections alone are themselves low it remains unclear what role these infections play in mortality rates in complex chronic respiratory infections. These studies aimed to establish NTHi and RSV infections within airway epithelium models, and use them as tools to study pulmonary innate defence mechanisms in order to understand the role of these infections in respiratory disease. In vitro airway models were established using lung derived cell lines, undifferentiated primary human bronchial epithelial (uHBE) cells and air-liquid interface (ALI) differentiated uHBE cell cultures. Following establishment of differentiation we validated ALI cultures using a number of markers, including for the putative innate defence PLUNC family proteins, gel-forming mucins and tubulin. These markers are representative of different epithelial cell types within the cultures. Cultures were infected with NTHi or RSV for periods of time ranging from 1 hour to 7 days with a view to establishing chronic infections and allowing biofilm formation. Monolayer cultures showed an enhanced susceptibility to both infections. Cytokine array profiling showed enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles in response to NTHi and RSV infections in ALI cells resulting in an ability to manage infections compared to monolayer cultures. Expression analysis indicated that both infections altered the transcription of a number of pro-inflammatory genes. Neutrophil products and trypsin were shown to degrade PLUNC proteins in ALI cell secretions. NTHi also appeared to cause degradation of PLUNC proteins suggesting that infection may impair the innate defence shield of the airway epithelium. Our data showed that differential ALI cultures of human airway cells are a useful model for the study of respiratory pathogens

A novel computerized test for detecting and monitoring visual attentional deficits and delirium in the ICU

Objectives: Delirium in the ICU is associated with poor outcomes but is under-detected. Here we evaluated performance of a novel, graded test for objectively detecting inattention in delirium, implemented on a custom-built computerized device (Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU). Design: A pilot study was conducted, followed by a prospective case-control study. Setting: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh General ICU. Patients: A pilot study was conducted in an opportunistic sample of 20 patients. This was followed by a validation study in 30 selected patients with and without delirium (median age, 63 yr; range, 23–84) who were assessed with the Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU on up to 5 separate days. Presence of delirium was assessed using the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU. Measurements and Main Results: The Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU involves a behavioral assessment and a computerized test of attention, requiring patients to count slowly presented lights. Thirty patients were assessed a total of 79 times (n = 31, 23, 15, 8, and 2 for subsequent assessments; 38% delirious). Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU scores (range, 0–11) were lower for patients with delirium than those without at the first (median, 0 vs 9.5), second (median, 3.5 vs 9), and third (median, 0 vs 10.5) assessments (all p &lt; 0.001). An Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU score less than or equal to 5 was 100% sensitive and 92% specific to delirium across assessments. Longitudinally, participants’ Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU performance was associated with delirium status. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU has diagnostic utility in detecting ICU delirium in patients with Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale Score greater than –3. The Edinburgh Delirium Test Box–ICU has potential additional value in longitudinally tracking attentional deficits because it provides a range of scores and is sensitive to change

Quantifying uncertainty in pest risk maps and assessments : adopting a risk-averse decision maker’s perspective

Pest risk maps are important decision support tools when devising strategies to minimize introductions of invasive organisms and mitigate their impacts. When possible management responses to an invader include costly or socially sensitive activities, decision-makers tend to follow a more certain (i.e., risk-averse) course of action. We presented a new mapping technique that assesses pest invasion risk from the perspective of a risk-averse decision maker. We demonstrated the method by evaluating the likelihood that an invasive forest pest will be transported to one of the U.S. states or Canadian provinces in infested firewood by visitors to U.S. federal campgrounds. We tested the impact of the risk aversion assumption using distributions of plausible pest arrival scenarios generated with a geographically explicit model developed from data documenting camper travel across the study area. Next, we prioritized regions of high and low pest arrival risk via application of two stochastic ordering techniques that employed, respectively, first- and second-degree stochastic dominance rules, the latter of which incorporated the notion of risk aversion. We then identified regions in the study area where the pest risk value changed considerably after incorporating risk aversion. While both methods identified similar areas of highest and lowest risk, they differed in how they demarcated moderate-risk areas. In general, the second-order stochastic dominance method assigned lower risk rankings to moderate-risk areas. Overall, this new method offers a better strategy to deal with the uncertainty typically associated with risk assessments and provides a tractable way to incorporate decisionmaking preferences into final risk estimates, and thus helps to better align these estimates with particular decision-making scenarios about a pest organism of concern. Incorporation of risk aversion also helps prioritize the set of locations to target for inspections and outreach activities, which can be costly. Our results are especially important and useful given the huge number of camping trips that occur each year in the United States and Canada

Hydrological and planting design of an experimental raingarden at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A new experimental raingarden has been created at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) to help cope with the impacts of more frequent and intense rainfall events. Raingardens offer a sustainable, nature-based solution to flood mitigation by mimicking natural rainwater retention and infiltration characteristics within a constructed bioretention system. By incorporating specially selected plants that can withstand both very wet and very dry conditions, raingardens also provide enhanced biodiversity capacity. This paper reports on the hydrological design of the raingarden, which is aimed at reducing the occurrence of waterlogging and localised flooding within RBGE, before discussing the selection and cultivation of the planting. It is hoped that the mix of plants chosen will encourage a great diversity of wildlife, providing nectar sources for insects and bees in summer, and homes for invertebrates and food for seed-eating birds in winter. With the raingarden having been in place for over a year at the time of writing, reflections on its maintenance and upkeep during that time and performance assessment for significant storm events will also be discussed