Suchergebnisse

"The continued rise in smartphone penetration globally afford survey researchers with an unprecedented portal into personal survey data collection from respondents who could complete surveys from virtually any place at any time. While the basic research into optimizing the survey experience and data collection on mobile devices has continued to develop, there are still fundamental gaps in our knowledge of how to optimize certain types of questions in the mobile setting. In fact, survey researchers are still trying to understand which online design principles directly translate into presentation on mobile devices and which principles have to be modified to incorporate separate methods for these devices. One such area involves the use of input styles such as sliding scales that lend themselves to more touch centric input devices such as smartphones or tablets. Operationalizing these types of scales begs the question of an optimal starting position and whether these touch centric input styles are equally preferred by respondents using less touch capable devices. While an outside starting position seems optimal for slider questions completed via computer, this solution may not be optimal for completion via mobile devices as these devices are subjected to far more space and layout constraints compared to computers. This experiment moves the mixed device survey literature forward by directly comparing outcomes from respondents who completed a collection of survey scales using their smartphone, tablet or computer. Within each device, respondents were randomly assigned to complete one of 20 possible versions of scale items determined by a combination of three experimental factors including input style, length and number formatting. Results from this study suggest more weaknesses than strengths for using slider scales to collect survey data using mobile devices and also suggest that preference for these touch centric input styles varies across devices and may not be as high as the preference for the more traditional radio button style." (author's abstract)

Background: According to the world health organization by 2030 depression will rank first in economic burden in all high-income countries. As behavioural health disabilities continue to increase, disability managers will continue to be challenged to find ways to assist these workers in their effort to return to productivity.Objectives: The objective of the discussion is to share a specific intervention strategy that disability managers can practically apply to effectively manage those individuals out of work on a behavioural/mental health claim. The process begins through using motivational interviewing to build a relationship so that the claims professional has the opportunity to recognize key intervention points throughout the absence from work. There are three components the disability manager should assess throughout the life of the event. The first is where the person is on the path to the disability mindset. This will help gain an understanding of current motivation for productivity. Disability is often experienced through specific consequence and those consequences can be both negative and positive. They evolve throughout the life of the leave. Recognition of the current consequence can help direct intervention. Finally specific cognitive barriers tend to emerge in the life of the disability such as faulty thinking, fear, or inactivity. If these barriers are not addressed the individual will not return to work.Methods: A 20-person disability management team with associated clinical and vocational resources is using these techniques among an active block of over 1000 disability claimants. The work started in November of 2013 and there are currently very preliminary findings.Findings: The results are positive with a reduction n closed duration days month over month. The technique will have been in place 1 year at the time of the conference and as a result more comprehensive data and outcomes will be shared.

IntroductionMost existing conventional capacity building and educational programs are currently executed on ad‐hoc basis. Such approach no longer responds to the needs and capabilities of patients, supporters and healthcare providers in their engagement with and contribution to response to HIV/AIDS. In contrast, long‐term, course‐like trainings have considerably broader thematic scope and are conducive to more effective and sustainable learning, exchange of experience and best practices.MethodOver the period of one year, the Academy trains a cohort of 20 activists (10 from East Europe and Central Asia and 10 from Western and Southern Europe). The Academy goes beyond "treatment only" paradigm. Conceptually, five training modules are grouped under three larger domains: treatment literacy, treatment advocacy and treatment activism, thus covering most of the topics pertinent to the current discourse of HIV and related co‐infections. To ensure cascade effect and sustainability of the learning, the trainees are offered participation in pan‐European HIV conferences (EACS and HIV Glasgow) and resources for follow‐up activities.ResultsThe trainees empirically applied the knowledge to the benefits of their communities. In Uzbekistan, a trainee introduced EACS treatment guidelines to fellow medical students and junior doctors. In Armenia and Albania a series of small‐scale trainings were held, outreaching to young homeless people who were traditionally excluded from HIV treatment and prevention discourse in the two countries. A trainee from Spain used the materials of the Academy in his work in Mozambique and the Spanish Ministry of Health. Five trainees engaged in a joint European cross‐countries project on treatment literacy for young people who are most at risk of infection.ConclusionsEATG Training Academy is a unique initiative in the WHO Europe region that both trains future treatment activists and addresses treatment literacy, advocacy and advocacy topics. This type of capacity building can respond to existing HIV‐related problems more effectively using less limited resources and reaching out to larger communities.

IntroductionPatients on antiretroviral treatment with undetectable HIV RNA levels have a significantly lower risk of clinical disease progression and onward HIV transmission. This study aimed to estimate and compare the percentage of all HIV‐positive people who are diagnosed, are linked to care, are taking antiretroviral treatment and have undetectable HIV RNA, in eight European and high‐income countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, British Columbia (Canada) and Georgia.Materials and MethodsFor each country, the number of people in five key stages of the HIV treatment cascade was collected: 1. HIV infected, 2. Known to be HIV positive, 3. Linked to care, 4. Taking antiretroviral treatment, and 5. Having undetectable HIV RNA. Estimates were extracted from national reports [1–3], the UNAIDS database, conference proceedings [4] and peer‐reviewed articles [5–7]. The quality of the estimates and reporting methods were assessed individually for each country, with selection criteria such as availability of nationwide database and routinely collected data. Treatment cascades were constructed using estimates from 2010 to 2012.ResultsAs shown in Table 1, the percentage of all infected people with undetectable HIV RNA ranged from 20% in Georgia to 59% in Denmark. Of the high‐income countries, the United States has the lowest percentage of individuals with undetectable viral load (25% to median 52%), associated with the highest HIV incidence rate (15.30 per 100,000 to median 6.07 per 100,000). The pattern of the cascades differed between countries: in the United States, there is a fall from 66% to 33% (−33%) between linkage to care and start of antiretroviral treatment. However, in Georgia, the greatest loss in continuum was zat diagnosis, with 48% of undiagnosed HIV‐positive individuals.ConclusionsThere are great disparities among European and high‐income countries in the percentage of HIV‐positive individual with undetectable HIV RNA. Furthermore, the treatment cascades show different key break points, underlying inequalities in HIV care between countries.

IntroductionTraditional screening system focus on classic risk factors "lost" a substantial proportion of HIV‐infected patients. Several organizations such as CDC or USPS Task Force favour universal screening for HIV infection for good cost‐effectiveness profile. In a previous study prevalence of HIV infection in patients attending our infectious diseases department was high (5.4%).ObjectiveTo determine prevalence of HIV infection in patients aged 20–55 years in primary care (PC).Material and MethodsA propsective observational study was undertaken between February and June 2013. We performed a screening of HIV infection type "Opt‐out" (offering voluntary rejection) in 4 PC centers (32 Physicians) in San Juan‐Alicante. Sample size (n=318) for a prevalence of 1% and a confidence level of 97% was calculated. Nevertheless, other PC physician not recruiting patients performed HIV testing according clinical risk factors.ResultsHIV testing was offered to 508 patients. Mean age 38.9±10 years (58.5% female). Overall, 430 (83.8%) agreed to participate. Finally, 368 patients (71.7% of total) were tested for HIV. No patient had a positive result (100% ELISA HIV negative). However, following clinical practice, 3 patients were diagnosed of HIV in the same period by non‐recruiting physicians. In 2 cases, serology was performed at the patient's request and in one case by constitutional syndrome. The 3 patients were MSM.Conclusions1) In our study, we detected no new cases of HIV infection through universal screening. 2) Our screened population could be lower‐risk because of high percentage of women included (58.5%). 3) Performing HIV opt‐in screening (clinical practice), we detected 3 cases in the same period, all having HIV risk factors (MSM). 4) These results suggest that opt‐out screening should be developed in high‐risk populations. It is still to be determined what is the best screening strategy in low‐risk populations such as ours.

IntroductionWe report the SVR12 final analysis of a phase 3 study of telaprevir in combination with peginterferon (P)/ribavirin (R) in HCV‐genotype 1, treatment‐naïve and ‐experienced patients with HCV/HIV co‐infection (INSIGHT).Materials and MethodsPatients receiving stable, suppressive HIV antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, containing atazanavir/ritonavir, efavirenz, darunavir/ritonavir, raltegravir, etravirine or rilpivirine, received telaprevir 750 mg q8h (1125 mg q8h if on efavirenz) plus P (180 µg once‐weekly) and R (800 mg/day) for 12 weeks, followed by an additional 12 weeks (non‐cirrhotic HCV treatment‐naïve and relapse patients with extended rapid viral response [eRVR]) or 36 weeks (all others) of PR alone. Analysis was performed when all patients had completed the follow‐up visit of 12 weeks after last planned dose.ResultsOne hundred sixty‐two patients were enrolled and treated (65 efavirenz, 59 atazanavir/ritonavir, 17 darunavir/ritonavir, 17 raltegravir, 4 etravirine). Mean age was 45 years, 78% were male, 92% were Caucasian; mean CD4 count was 687 cells/mm3. Sixty four patients (40%) were HCV treatment‐naïve and 98 (60%) were treatment experienced (29 relapsers, 18 partial responders and 51 null responders). 64% were subtype 1a. 30% had bridging fibrosis (17%) or cirrhosis (13%). 19% of patients discontinued telaprevir, including 9% due to an adverse event (AE), 8% reaching a virologic endpoint and 2% for other reasons (non compliance or not defined). Treatment responses are shown in Table 1. There were no HIV RNA breakthroughs. Most frequently reported (≥20% patients) AEs were pruritus 43%; fatigue 27%; rash 34%, anorectal events 30% and influenza‐like illness (25%). Anemia was reported in 15% of patients; grade ≥3 haemoglobin decrease occurred in 2.5% of patients. 6% of patients experienced serious AEs.ConclusionsIn this phase 3 study of HIV‐infected, HCV treatment‐naïve and ‐experienced patients, 49% achieved eRVR and 57% reached SVR12. In patients with an eRVR, SVR12 rates were >80%, irrespective of prior treatment history.

Abstract
The adaptability of olive-growing systems to climate change is studied in the Sierra Mágina region (Andalusia) using an interdisciplinary approach that evaluates and makes associations across climate, water resources, and socioeconomic strategies. First, the evolution of rainfall and temperature during the twenty-first century is assessed at the local scale using 17 regional climate model (RCM) simulations. A 15%–30% rainfall reduction is expected in the fall combined with a 7%–9% annual reduction by 2030–50. Based on a regression model relating yields to rainfall, residual yields (independent of the increasing trend in the present period and from the biennial fruit bearing of the olive tree) are projected to decrease by 7% and 3.5% by 2030–50 for rainfed and irrigated olive groves, respectively. Substantial uncertainties in these results are discussed. A GIS analysis shows a reduction of ground and surface water resources, which are the basis of the present adaptation to rainfall variability, and an uneven potential for adaptation to climate change in the Sierra Mágina region. Despite the important challenges faced by this rural region, there is no consensus among the local key actors regarding adaptation strategies. This is due in part to the diversity among farmers, but also to the different levels of awareness about climate change among all the stakeholders and farmers. Since the projected decline in medium-range future yields is not very high, there might be time and possibilities, especially in the northern part of the Sierra Mágina, to build a local adaptability strategy within the next 20 years that would take into account improved methods of water management and a better economic valorization of olive oil. But at longer time scales, the adaptability of the olive-growing system to yield and water resource declines seems to be threatened.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate, through metaphor analysis, the complex nature of the work undertaken by waiters and pursers on-board cruise ships. This is an under-researched field and empirical research has produced some interesting perceptions that these groups of workers have of themselves, of others, and of the world in which they work and live.Design/methodology/approach– A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted over the telephone from a sample of international participants. The data were analysed using a metaphor analysis.Findings– There were three clusters of metaphorical illustration found: metaphors of the ship, metaphors of the environment, and metaphors of their occupation. The metaphors of the environment were split into two sub-clusters. One explored how participants understood the ship's space or work setting, and the second identified the strategies used as participants negotiated their way through their working and social lives. The stories collected from the workers have produced a very different but realistic perspective of the working lives of waiters and pursers.Research limitations/implications– Metaphors can only offer a partial view of a social phenomenon, rather than an all-encompassing view, which are furthermore specific to the research setting. Notably, for half of all participants English was not their first language, and consequently this may have had an impact upon their use of metaphors.Practical implications– This research highlights the socio-employment relationship and complexities of working on cruise ships. In particular, it recognises behavioural learning practices and organisational bureaucratic utilities, which the industry relies upon for managing employees.Originality/value– This study contributes new knowledge in an under-researched context exploring the sociological lives of hospitality cruise ship workers. The use of metaphor analysis has provided an interesting and useful route to extend understanding of cruise ship work.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues arising for women and men in senior management in New Zealand and Australian universities where life course and career trajectories intersect, and analyses how the stereotypical masculinist culture of universities can create additional problems for women.


Design/methodology/approach
– The data presented here comes from 47 interviews undertaken with women (27) and men (20) senior managers – a total of 26 interviews from New Zealand universities and 21 from Australian universities. "Senior Management" was defined in this study as those academic managers with university wide responsibilities, who were currently in senior management positions.


Findings
– Life-course issues for women aspiring to senior management roles in universities are framed around hegemonic constructions of masculinity; notions of academic careers subsuming personal life in professional roles; and structural constraints making rational choice impossible for many women. Furthermore, the excessive hours worked in such roles equate with the definition of extreme jobs. The paper concludes that the way in which women and men in senior HE endeavour to balance work and family life differs but creates issues for them both.


Research limitations/implications
– The structure and operation of Australian and New Zealand universities make gender diversity and management difficult to operationalise, given the competing imperatives of work and other life course trajectories. It is crucial to reframe life course and career intersections are conceptualised to ensure that diversity can be maximised.


Originality/value
– This paper focuses on women and men in senior management positions in New Zealand and Australian universities, but the findings can be generalised to other countries with HE systems based on the British University model. In discussing how institutional culture affects the intersection of career and life course trajectories, this paper highlights the detrimental outcomes for individuals and the resultant lack of diversity in the sector.

Purpose
– This study aims to investigate English recreational reading habits of Arab Jordanian EFL university students when classes are in session and during vacation, and the types of recreational reading they engage in. In addition, the study explores other relationships such as the relationship between reading habits and students
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cumulative grade point average (CGPA); and the effect of parents
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educational level and their time spent on reading.


Design/methodology/approach
– The respondents, comprising 225 third- and fourth-year English majors, completed an English recreational reading habits questionnaire. The study utilised a non-probability sampling method, namely, purposive sampling. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS software v. 20.


Findings
– The findings indicated that students read more when they were on vacation compared to their readings while classes are in session. The students
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average time spent on reading when classes are in session and during vacation is 2.15 hours and 2.82 hours per week, respectively. Slightly more than half (57 percent) the students always read emails/chat rooms/Facebook, which are their most preferred type of recreational reading. Non-fiction books were the least favourite among students with 47 percent of students indicating that they never or rarely read this type of genre. Among all the reading interests, only novels had a significant correlation with the students
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CGPA. The findings showed that the respondents with higher levels of fathers
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education were significantly reading more.


Originality/value
– The reading habits of EFL students have received little attention and there is limited research that surveyed Arab EFL students
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recreational reading habits at the tertiary level. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature and set out to be a point of reference and comparison for future investigations about English recreational reading habits of Arab EFL tertiary students.

AbstractEpisodic memory involves binding together what‐where‐when associations. In three experiments, we tested the development of memory for such contextual associations in a naturalistic setting. Children searched for toys in two rooms with two different experimenters; each room contained two identical sets of four containers, but arranged differently. A distinct toy was hidden in a distinct container in each room. In Experiment 1, which involved children between 15 and 26 months who were prompted with a very explicit cue (a part of the hidden toy), we found a marked shift in performance with age: while 15‐ to 20‐month‐olds concentrated their searches on the two containers that sometimes contained toys, they did not distinguish between them according to context, but 21–26‐month‐olds did. However, surprisingly, without toy cues, even the youngest children showed a fragile ability to disambiguate the two containers by room context. In Experiment 2, we tested 34‐ to 40‐month‐olds and 64‐ to 72‐month‐olds without toy cues. The 5‐year‐olds were nearly perfect, and the 3‐year‐olds showed a significant preference for the correct container given only the context. In Experiment 3, we filled in the age range, and also investigated the effects of the use of labels (i.e. names of experimenters and rooms) and of familiarization time, in groups of 34‐ to 40‐month‐olds, 42‐ to 48‐month‐olds, and 50‐ to 56‐month‐olds. Neither labels nor familiarization time had an effect. Across experiments, there was regular age‐related improvement in context‐based memory. Overall, the results suggest that children's episodic memory may undergo an early qualitative change, yet to be precisely characterized, and that continuing increments in the use of contextual cues occur throughout the preschool period. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkwEFw0UEz4&list=PLwxXcOKHPC0llAPVcJyW4EtzlA934A2Rz&index=1

International audience ; Les femmes transalpines votent pour la première fois aux élections municipales de 1946. Bien que symboliquement importante, la participation des femmes à la gouvernance demeure encore aujourd'hui marginale. Les élues femmes représentent 21.5% actuellement des élus municipaux, 19% des conseillers départementaux et 16% des conseillers régionaux. L'Italie compte tout de même actuellement 2 Présidentes de région sur 20, 9 Présidentes de départements sur 110 et 909 Maires sur 8.003.Les causes de cette présence marginale sont multiples : une législation électorale qui ne favorisent que timidement la représentation féminine, la perception des femmes comme des êtres faibles, image qui engendre souvent un processus d'auto-exclusion ; la tendance de la classe politique masculine à se reproduire de manière autoréférentielle ; la difficulté à concilier vies professionnelle et familiale avec l'action politique, la faiblesse des moyens financiers.La place occupée par la politique dans la vie des femmes transalpine contribue à cette sous-représentation. Des enquêtes évaluent que seules 3% des femmes placent la politique parmi les valeurs les plus importantes.Dans un contexte de sous-représentation féminine, il nous a semblé légitime de savoir comment votent les femmes, si elles ont une préférence pour les candidates femmes et enfin si les attentes sont différentes lorsque l'on choisit un homme ou une femme.Elles sont non seulement sous-représentées dans les instances de la démocratie représentative, mais, en plus, peu visibles dans l'espace public puisque l'opinion publique est peu informée de leur présence dans les instances élues. Les femmes sont ainsi doublement pénalisées.Dans une étude menée auprès de six femmes maires, elles disent avoir défié les stéréotypes en faisant valoir leurs compétences. Elles ont mis en place des politiques amies des femmes en développant les services à la famille, rendant plus compatible la vie personnelle et professionnelle, réduit les inégalités entre genres. Enfin, ...

16 pages ; Lorsqu'on pense aux activités liées aux arts divinatoires, on voit souvent l'Afrique ou d'une manière générale les pays du Sud où ni l'Église, ni l'Islam et encore moins la Science n'ont réussi à éloigner les croyances aux esprits des morts, des arbres, des astres, des animaux, etc. Et pourtant ce "monde de pensée" n'est pas propre aux pays du Sud. Toutes les nations ont connu et connaissent encore des croyances qui engendrent des formes d'activités diverses dont certaines se professionnalisent de plus en plus, quoique souvent vues comme étant en marge des normes dominantes de l'emploi. Au Togo, les activités de maraboutage sont fréquentes et investissent tous les domaines de la vie : religieuse bien sûr, mais aussi professionnelle, familiale, scolaire, politique, juridique, etc. Pour des motifs aussi divers que variés, les tiyou, bokono, alfa, karamo(ko), djiba . sont consultés. En France, environ 20% des femmes et 10 % des hommes consulteraient chaque année des médiums. En 2012, plus de 100.000 cabinets de voyance auraient été répertoriés et entre 1994 et 2011, les consultations à caractère divinatoires seraient passées de 8 à environ 15 millions. Il s'agit pour la plupart de professionnels, commerçants et même des traders. Cela constituerait un marché d'environ 3 milliards d'euros. Chiffres assez surprenant au pays de Descartes et paradoxe d'un métier qui n'est toujours pas considéré comme tel. On aura du mal à trouver par exemple sa classification dans la Nomenclature d'Activités Françaises (NAF). Il va falloir aller chercher dans "Autres activités pour la santé humaine", et encore ce n'est qu'une approximation. Au-delà des questions de légalité, de légitimité ou de reconnaissance, c'est surtout le caractère de ce métier qui donne à voir un autre aspect des catégories de pensée de la société togolaise et française que je compte interroger à partir de l'analyse de la vie quotidienne d'un Tiyou que j'ai suivi de 2008 à 2011 sur le terrain de ma thèse de doctorat.

The increase in cultural tourism has revealed the vulnerability of the heritage resources during the phase of tourism exploitation and, thus, the need to set limits and to establish visitor management tools to ensure the conservation of the heritage resources and the visitors' satisfaction. This work focuses on the determination of the recreational carrying capacity of the Fort of Santiago monument located on the Island of Chikly (Tunisia), situated in the Northern Lagoon of Tunis, which is declared a Nature Reserve for its ornithological interest. Furthermore, it has always attracted people from many civilisations, as evidenced by the Phoenician, Punic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Spanish and Turkish remains discovered there. The Fort of Santiago is one of the most important monuments of 16th century. Emperor Charles I of Spain ordered the construction of the fort in 1535. A few years later, the fort passed into Turkish hands. Subsequent to transformation processes and changes of use, it was abandoned in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the monument was restored for tourism purposes. The results of this assessment specifically highlight the greater fragility of the island in relation to the Fort of Santiago, and the need to control the visitor use level. Thus, one group of 20 people per day would be an acceptable volume of visitors. Tourism management guidelines and environmental, cultural and social performance standards and monitoring indicators are also identified to guarantee the conservation and wise use of this valuable heritage site. ; Viñals Blasco, MJ.; Martínez, I.; Abdennadher, A.; Teruel Serrano, MD. (2014). A recreational carrying capacity assessment of the 16th century Spanish Fort of Santiago on the Island of Chikly, Tunisia. WIT Transactions on the Built Environment. 143:185-196. doi:10.2495/DSHF140161 ; S ; 185 ; 196 ; 143

Includes bibliographical references. ; This dissertation examines the pre-negotiation stage of the negotiation process in South Africa leading to the first plenary session of the Convention for a Democratic of South Africa on 20 December 1991. The pre-negotiation stage was that period in the South African conflict when negotiated solutions were considered, and negotiation towards a political settlement was adopted as an option by the major parties, namely the National Party South African government and the African National Congress. The central question this dissertation asks is why did the South African multiparty negotiations begin? This question is important; De Klerk's seminal address to the Tricameral Parliament on 2 February 1990, and the subsequent release of Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990, is often considered as the beginning of the negotiation process in South Africa. This however is not true. Negotiations did take place before this date and they were crucial in shaping the path towards multiparty negotiations. The important question therefore is what prepared the ground for 2 February 1990, and the resulting political process that l ed to multiparty negotiations. The dissertation thus has two sub-questions: (1) why negotiations in South Africa occurred at all; and (2) why the South African government ended up negotiating with the ANC. To answer these questions, the dissertation will use I. William Zartman's theory of ripeness as a guide, and Brian Tomlin's five-staged model of prenegotiation as an analytical framework. In this respect, the dissertation is a theoretical singlecase study. The dissertation argues that multiparty negotiations in South Africa began because the South African government and the African National Congress reached a shared understanding that the South African conflict could be solved through a negotiated solution, produced a commitment to a negotiated solution, and in the process, overcame the problem of preconditions as a barrier to the opening of multiparty negotiations.