Digital Commons Network^™

Dementia And Driving: An Approach For General Practice, John Carmody, Victoria Traynor, Donald C. Iverson

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background As our population ages, the proportion of drivers with dementia will continue to rise. Increasingly, health professionals are faced with the clinical dilemma of determining fitness to drive. Unfortunately, the management of drivers with dementia is fraught with hazards.

Objective This article attempts to provide an overview of the complex issue of driving and dementia as it relates to general practitioners in Australia. In addition, an evidence based management strategy is proposed.

Discussion When determining an individual’s fitness to drive, a clinician’s input may have legal, ethical, emotional and social ramifications. At present, a clear consistent national protocol detailing …

What's On The Menu For The 75+ Health Assessment?: An Opportunity For Nutrition Screening Of Older Patients In General Practice, A H. Hamirudin, K E. Charlton, K L. Walton, A Bonney, J. Potter, Marianna Milosavljevic, G Albert, A Hodgkins, A Dalley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 27-30 November 2012, Wollongong, Australia

Preschool Programs For The General Population, Edward Melhuish, Jacqueline Barnes

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

There are several small-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies in the United States documenting the benefits of curriculum-led experimental preschool programs and "pre-kindergarten" education for long-term educational, occupational and social outcomes for disadvantaged children. In addition a larger-scale quasi-experimental study in Chicago found similar benefits up to age 28 of sustained, publicly-funded early education to subsequent education, socio-economic status, health and crime for a disadvantaged population. Such programs are cost-effective with disadvantaged groups, at risk for poor outcomes, in that the savings outweigh any costs. Besides benefits for disadvantaged groups, there is strong evidence that preschool education, whether or not …

Undergraduate Latinas' Self-Definition Of Academic Success, Carla Machado Rodrigues

Master's Theses and Capstones

This master's level thesis's objective was to gain a better understanding of how a sample of 13 undergraduate Latinas who graduated high school and immediately enrolled into college define academic success. Through interviews, these undergraduate Latinas explain where these self-definitions came from, mentors that may have influenced these definitions, and if their ethnicity and gender has played any role in the way they perceive academic success. The study also considers findings from previous research regarding academic resilience factors associated with Latinas, such as: being involved in college ready initiatives, obtaining academic support from significant others, having mentors, receiving various messages …

Discovery Of Polarization Reverberation In Ngc 4151, C. Martin Gaskell, Reńe W. Goosmann, Nelly I. Merkulova, Nikolay M. Shakhovskoy, Masatoshi Shoji

C. Martin Gaskell Publications

Observations of the optical polarization of NGC 4151 in 1997–2003 show variations of an order of magnitude in the polarized flux while the polarization position angle remains constant. The amplitude of variability of the polarized flux is comparable to the amplitude of variability of the total U-band flux, except that the polarized flux follows the total flux with a lag of 8 ± 3 days. The time lag and the constancy of the position angle strongly favor a scattering origin for the variable polarization rather than a non-thermal synchrotron origin. The orientation of the position angle of the polarized flux …

Bl Lacertae Objects Beyond Redshift 1.3 – Uv-To-Nir Photometry And Photometric Redshift For Fermi/Lat Blazars, A. Rau, P. Schady, J. Greiner, M. Salvato, M. Ajello, E. Bottacini, N. Gehrels, P.M.J. Afonso, J. Elliott, R. Filgas, D.A. Kann, S. Klose, T. Krühler, M. Nardini, A. Nicuesa Guelbenzu, F. Olivares E., A. Rossi, V. Sudilovsky, Adria Updike, D.H. Hartmann

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Context. Observations of the γ-ray sky with Fermi led to significant advances towards understanding blazars, the most extreme class of active galactic nuclei. A large fraction of the population detected by Fermi is formed by BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects, whose sample has always suffered from a severe redshift incompleteness due to the quasi-featureless optical spectra. Aims. Our goal is to provide a significant increase of the number of confirmed high-redshift BL Lac objects contained in the 2 LAC Fermi/LAT cataloge.Methods. For 103 Fermi/LAT blazars, photometric redshifts using spectral energy distribution fitting have been obtained.The photometry includes 13 broad-band filters …

An Overview Of Static Pipelining, Ian Finlayson, Gang-Ryung Uh, David Whalley, Gary Tyson

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A new generation of mobile applications requires reduced energy consumption without sacrificing execution performance. In this paper, we propose to respond to these conflicting demands with an innovative statically pipelined processor supported by an optimizing compiler. The central idea of the approach is that the control during each cycle for each portion of the processor is explicitly represented in each instruction. Thus the pipelining is in effect statically determined by the compiler. The benefits of this approach include simpler hardware and that it allows the compiler to perform optimizations that are not possible on traditional architectures. The initial results indicate …

Adapting General Practice Training To Meet The Evolving Health Care Needs Of Our Communities, Andrew Bonney, Simon Morgan, Parker Magin

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Abstract of workshop held at General Practice Education and Training Convention 2013, 11-12 September 2013, Perth.

General Practice Training And Virtual Communities Of Practice - A Review Of The Literature, Stephen Barnett, Sandra C. Jones, Sue Bennett, Donald C. Iverson, Andrew D. Bonney

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Background: Good General Practice is essential for an effective health system. Good General Practice training is essential to sustain the workforce, however training for General Practice can be hampered by a number of pressures, including professional, structural and social isolation. General Practice trainees may be under more pressure than fully registered General Practitioners, and yet isolation can lead doctors to reduce hours and move away from rural practice. Virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) in business have been shown to be effective in improving knowledge sharing, thus reducing professional and structural isolation. This literature review will critically examine the current evidence …

A Scholarly Spin On Practice: The Impact Of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships On The Development Of Academic Scholarship In General Clinical Practice, Judith N. Hudson, Kathryn M. Weston

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

All senior medical students at the University of Wollongong in Australia undertake a longitudinal integrated community-based clerkship in a regional or rural community. In addition to continuity of patient care and curriculum, the clerkship offers each student individualized professional development by experienced generalist practitioners. These practitioners predicted outcomes from their relationship with the long-term students, including a more scholarly approach to clinical practice (1). In 1990, Boyer outlined the concept of four domains of scholarship: discovery, integration, application and teaching (2). More recently, a working definition of clinical scholarship in academic medicine has been proposed 930. This paper describes the …

Access To Same Day, Next Day And After-Hours Appointments: The Views Of Australian General Practitioners, Mark Fort Harris, Patrick Davies, Mahnaz Fanaian, Nicholas Zwar, Siaw-Teng Liaw

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Objective. To evaluate factors associated with the availability of same or next day appointments and after-hours access reported by Australian general practitioners (GPs). Methods. Secondary analysis of a survey of primary care practitioners conducted by the Commonwealth Fund in 2009 in 11 countries. Analysis of factors likely to be associated with reported availability of same or next day appointments and after-hours access. Findings. Of 1016 Australian GPs, 78.8% reported that most patients in their practice had access to an appointment on the same or next day and 50% that their practice had arrangements for after-hours access. Access to same or …

Practice Nurses Experiences Of Mentoring Undergraduate Nursing Students In Australian General Practice, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Kathleen Peters, Susan Mcinnes

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Internationally, the delivery of health services has shifted from secondary to primary care, necessitating an exponential growth of the nursing workforce and expansion of the nursing role in general practice. This growth, and the subsequent need to develop this workforce, has created a need to expose undergraduate nurses to general practice nursing as a viable career option. Concurrently, universities are struggling to find sufficient clinical places for their undergraduate students to gain clinical experience. It is logical, therefore, to increase the number of undergraduate nursing student placements in general practice. Through qualitative research methods, this paper seeks to explore the …

How Feasible Are Lifestyle Modification Programs For Disease Prevention In General Practice?, Heike Schutze, Elizabeth F. Rix, Rachel A. Laws, Megan Passey, Mahnaz Fanaian, Mark F. Harris

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Vascular disease is a leading cause of death and disability. While it is preventable, little is known about the feasibility or acceptability of implementing interventions to prevent vascular disease in Australian primary health care. We conducted a cluster randomised controlled trial assessing prevention of vascular disease in patients aged 40-65 by providing a lifestyle modification program in general practice. Interviews with 13 general practices in the intervention arm of this trial examined their views on implementing the lifestyle modification program in general practice settings. Qualitative study, involving thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 general practitioners, four practice nurses and …

Adapting General Purpose Interfaces To Synthesis Engines Using Unsupervised Dimensionality Reduction Techniques And Inverse Mapping From Features To Parameters, Stefano Fasciani, Lonce Wyse

University of Wollongong in Dubai - Papers

In this paper we develop adaptive techniques for mapping generic user interfaces to synthesis engines. Upon selecting a subset of synthesis parameters, the system automatically finds the parameters-to-sound deterministic relationship in a multidimensional space. We analyze this sonic space using two different unsupervised dimensionality reduction techniques and we build the mapping using statistical information on a lower, but maximally representative, number of dimensions. The result is an adaptation of any generalpurpose interface to a specific synthesis engine, providing control directly over the perceptual features with greatest variance. This approach guarantees a linear relationship between control signals and perceptual features, and …

Internet Use And Sense Of Community Among Rural Adolescents, Rebecca Benson

Master's Theses and Capstones

There is currently a debate about the way Internet use affects community outcomes. Some suggest positive effects while others propose negative effects. The current study seeks to add to this discussion by using two waves of data to examine how frequency and type of Internet use affect sense of community in a sample of rural youth. Competing hypotheses are posed---Internet use will increase sense of community and Internet use will decrease sense of community. Using data from the Rural Youth Study, results indicate mixed effects of Internet use on sense of community dimensions, community attachment, support and emotional connection with …

Under Supreme Court Review: An Evaluation Of The United States Court Of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit, 1994-2005, Matthew C. Coker

Master's Theses and Capstones

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is one of the most controversial courts in the United States due, in large part, to its high rate of reversal by the United States Supreme Court. The existing scholarship advances several potential explanations for the Ninth Circuit's reversal rate, particularly the Ninth Circuit's reputation as a very liberal court. This study evaluates the Ninth Circuit cases reviewed by the Supreme Court during the 1994-2004 terms to determine whether there are explanatory patterns to the Supreme Court's disposition of cases from the Ninth Circuit over time. Examining the effects of …

A New Model Of Procedural Justice: Legal Legitimacy, Legal Cynicism, And Satisfaction With Government Officials, Lindsey R. Phelan

Master's Theses and Capstones

The alternative model of legal socialization proposes that legal legitimacy and legal cynicism mediate the relation between procedural justice and rule-violating behavior (Triter, 2012). In contrast, the direct model of procedural justice proposes that procedural justice predicts satisfaction with government (Tyler, 1988). The current study tested these models using secondary analysis of data collected in Eastern and Western Europe during the 1990s. The present study tested two competing hypotheses: legitimacy and cynicism would mediate the relation between procedural justice and satisfaction with government officials (alternative model) and procedural justice would predict satisfaction (direct model). Results indicated that procedural justice predicted …

An Overview Of Static Pipelining, Ian Finlayson, Gang-Ryung Uh, David Whalley, Gary Tyson

Gang-Ryung Uh

A new generation of mobile applications requires reduced energy consumption without sacrificing execution performance. In this paper, we propose to respond to these conflicting demands with an innovative statically pipelined processor supported by an optimizing compiler. The central idea of the approach is that the control during each cycle for each portion of the processor is explicitly represented in each instruction. Thus the pipelining is in effect statically determined by the compiler. The benefits of this approach include simpler hardware and that it allows the compiler to perform optimizations that are not possible on traditional architectures. The initial results indicate …