HYSTERESIS AND THE SHORTAGE OF AGRICULTURAL LABOR

The GAO disputes growers' claims of a labor shortage, using unreliable farm employment data rather than relative wages. A shortage, implying a failure of intersectoral arbitrage, may arise due to hysteresis in labor movement. Estimates find the probability of a farm labor shortage (30%) three times that of a surplus.Labor and Human Capital,

Internet-delivered treatment: its potential as a low-intensity community intervention for adults with symptoms of depression: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Depression is a high prevalence disorder, displaying high rates of lifetime incidence, early age onset, high chronicity, and role impairment. In Ireland 12-month prevalence of depression has been reported to be 10.3%. A large percentage of affected individuals have no medical diagnosis nor seek treatment. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has established itself as an option for the treatment of depression. Many Irish adults with depression find it difficult to access evidence-based CBT, this is due to several factors, like stigma and costs. However, systematic factors including the shortage of trained professionals and the relative underdevelopment of services also make access difficult. Stepped-care can increase access to evidence-based CBT. One option is tailored internet-delivered treatment programs. Preliminary research from Ireland needs now to include large-scale studies on effectiveness. Thus the current study seeks to examine the potential of an internet-delivered low-intensity treatment for symptoms of depression in an Irish adult community sample. METHOD/DESIGN: The study is a randomized controlled trial of an online CBT (iCBT) program for the treatment of adults with depressive symptoms. The trial will include an active treatment group and a waiting-list control group. The active condition will consist of 8 weekly modules of iCBT, with post-session feedback support. Participants in the waiting list will receive access to the treatment at week 8. Participants will complete the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and eligibility criteria will also apply. Primary outcomes are depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes include quality of life indicators, significant events and satisfaction with online treatment. Data will be collected at baseline and at post-treatment, week 8, and at follow-up week 20 (3-months) and week 32 (6-months). Analysis will be conducted on the intention-to-treat basis. DISCUSSION: The study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of an online delivered treatment for depression in a community sample of Irish adults with symptoms of depression. The study will be a first contribution and depending on the sample recruited the results may be generalizable to people with similar difficulties in Ireland and may therefore give insight into the potential of low-intensity interventions for Irish people with depressive symptoms. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN03704676. DOI: 10.1186/ISRCTN0370467

Principal Component Analysis of SDSS Stellar Spectra

We apply Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to ~100,000 stellar spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In order to avoid strong non-linear variation of spectra with effective temperature, the sample is binned into 0.02 mag wide intervals of the g-r color (-0.20<g-r<0.90, roughly corresponding to MK spectral types A3 to K3), and PCA is applied independently for each bin. In each color bin, the first four eigenspectra are sufficient to describe the observed spectra within the measurement noise. We discuss correlations of eigencoefficients with metallicity and gravity estimated by the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) Stellar Parameters Pipeline. The resulting high signal-to-noise mean spectra and the other three eigenspectra are made publicly available. These data can be used to generate high quality spectra for an arbitrary combination of effective temperature, metallicity, and gravity within the parameter space probed by the SDSS. The SDSS stellar spectroscopic database and the PCA results presented here offer a convenient method to classify new spectra, to search for unusual spectra, to train various spectral classification methods, and to synthesize accurate colors in arbitrary optical bandpasses.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, accepted by the Astronomical Journa

Frequency of reporting on patient and public involvement (PPI) in research studies published in a general medical journal : a descriptive study

Objectives While documented plans for patient and public involvement (PPI) in research are required in many grant applications, little is known about how frequently PPI occurs in practice. Low levels of reported PPI may mask actual activity due to limited PPI reporting requirements. This research analysed the frequency and types of reported PPI in the presence and absence of a journal requirement to include this information. Design and setting A before and after comparison of PPI reported in research papers published in The BMJ before and 1 year after the introduction of a journal policy requiring authors to report if and how they involved patients and the public within their papers. Results Between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014, The BMJ published 189 research papers and 1 (0.5%) reported PPI activity. From 1 June 2015 to 31 May 2016, following the introduction of the policy, The BMJ published 152 research papers of which 16 (11%) reported PPI activity. Patients contributed to grant applications in addition to designing studies through to coauthorship and participation in study dissemination. Patient contributors were often not fully acknowledged; 6 of 17 (35%) papers acknowledged their contributions and 2 (12%) included them as coauthors. Conclusions Infrequent reporting of PPI activity does not appear to be purely due to a failure of documentation. Reporting of PPI activity increased after the introduction of The BMJ ’s policy, but activity both before and after was low and reporting was inconsistent in quality. Journals, funders and research institutions should collaborate to move us from the current situation where PPI is an optional extra to one where PPI is fully embedded in practice throughout the research process

Perspectives on involvement in the peer-review process : surveys of patient and public reviewers at two journals

Objective In 2014/2015, The BMJ and Research Involvement and Engagement (RIE) became the first journals to routinely include patients and the public in the peer review process of journal articles. This survey explores the perspectives and early experiences of these reviewers. Design A cross-sectional survey. Setting and participants Patient and public reviewers for The BMJ and RIE who have been invited to review. Results The response rate was 69% (157/227) for those who had previously reviewed and 31% (67/217) for those who had not yet reviewed. Reviewers described being motivated to review by the opportunity to include the patient voice in the research process, influence the quality of the biomedical literature and ensure it meets the needs of patients. Of the 157 who had reviewed, 127 (81%) would recommend being a reviewer to other patients and carers. 144 (92%) thought more journals should adopt patient and public review. Few reviewers (16/224, 7%) reported concerns about doing open review. Annual acknowledgement on the journals’ websites was welcomed as was free access to journal information. Participants were keen to have access to more online resources and training to improve their reviewing skills. Suggestions on how to improve the reviewing experience included: allowing more time to review; better and more frequent communication; a more user-friendly process; improving guidance on how to review including videos; improving the matching of papers to reviewers’ experience; providing more varied sample reviews and brief feedback on the usefulness of reviews; developing a sense of community among reviewers; and publicising of the contribution that patient and public review brings. Conclusions Patient and public reviewers shared practical ideas to improve the reviewing experience and these will be reviewed to enhance the guidance and support given to them

VLA 1.4 GHz Catalogs of the Abell 370 and Abell 2390 Cluster Fields

We present 1.4 GHz catalogs for the cluster fields Abell 370 and Abell 2390 observed with the Very Large Array. These are two of the deepest radio images of cluster fields ever taken. The Abell 370 image covers an area of 40'x40' with a synthesized beam of ~1.7" and a noise level of ~5.7 uJy near field center. The Abell 2390 image covers an area of 34'x34' with a synthesized beam of ~1.4" and a noise level of ~5.6 uJy near field center. We catalog 200 redshifts for the Abell 370 field. We construct differential number counts for the central regions (radius < 16') of both clusters. We find that the faint (S_1.4GHz < 3 mJy) counts of Abell 370 are roughly consistent with the highest blank field number counts, while the faint number counts of Abell 2390 are roughly consistent with the lowest blank field number counts. Our analyses indicate that the number counts are primarily from field radio galaxies. We suggest that the disagreement of our counts can be largely attributed to cosmic variance.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in ApJ

Relationship of Stress, Sleep, Physical Activity, and Food Insecurity on Eating Behaviors and Obesity

There is an urgent need to find effective interventions to prevent and reduce obesity as it is associated with chronic disease and decreased quality of life. Gaining a better understanding of how modifiable variables such as stress, sleep, physical activity, and food insecurity are related to eating behaviors associated with obesity is essential to guide the direction of future interventions and research. Interventions that hold promise need to be tested to determine if they have merit or not. This dissertation presents three papers. Two papers are cross-sectional studies evaluating associations between eating behaviors, obesity, and modifiable variables (stress, sleep, physical activity, and food insecurity). The first paper describes a study completed with college students. This study found that higher emotional eating was associated with higher stress levels and female sex (P2=.12, p=.002): Uncontrolled eating was associated with higher stress when there was good sleep, but not when there was poor sleep. An interaction between age and BMI was significant in a model for cognitive restraint (r2=.18,

Quantifying the Detrimental Impacts of Land-Use and Management Change on European Forest Bird Populations

The ecological impacts of changing forest management practices in Europe are poorly understood despite European forests being highly managed. Furthermore, the effects of potential drivers of forest biodiversity decline are rarely considered in concert, thus limiting effective conservation or sustainable forest management. We present a trait-based framework that we use to assess the detrimental impact of multiple land-use and management changes in forests on bird populations across Europe. Major changes to forest habitats occurring in recent decades, and their impact on resource availability for birds were identified. Risk associated with these changes for 52 species of forest birds, defined as the proportion of each species' key resources detrimentally affected through changes in abundance and/or availability, was quantified and compared to their pan-European population growth rates between 1980 and 2009. Relationships between risk and population growth were found to be significantly negative, indicating that resource loss in European forests is an important driver of decline for both resident and migrant birds. Our results demonstrate that coarse quantification of resource use and ecological change can be valuable in understanding causes of biodiversity decline, and thus in informing conservation strategy and policy. Such an approach has good potential to be extended for predictive use in assessing the impact of possible future changes to forest management and to develop more precise indicators of forest health

Reducing test anxiety in pre-licensure nursing students with pet therapy

Fingers tapping, hearts pounding, sweat on the brow, and heads bowed in prayer are common manifestations of students waiting to take an exam. The fear of failure is the basis of test anxiety (Anxiety and Depression Association, 2015). Pet therapy may reduce test anxiety in pre-licensure nursing students

The craziness of mental health: Teaching mental illness to pre-licensure nursing students

Session presented on Monday, September 19, 2016: Nurse educators teach the nurses of tomorrow the correct way to take a blood pressure and listen to lung sounds. They also teach the proper way to insert an intravenous catheter or obtain a urine specimen. However, nurse educators also teach about mental health. From a historical perspective, the mentally ill have been treated poorly since biblical times. Until pharmacological breakthroughs in the 1950s, the mentally ill were institutionalized. Before the 1990\u27s, psychiatric nursing textbooks provided little to no information on psychiatric nursing or psychopharmacology. Today, society has become more aware of the needs of the mentally ill, and it is crucial that nursing schools teach it accurately, scientifically and compassionately. A frequent comment made among pre-licensure nursing students is that mental health nursing is not real nursing. Such a response from students can be disheartening for the healing of body, mind and spirit erupted with the founder of the profession, Florence Nightingale. To soothe the soul and comfort the mind leads one to health and wholeness. To provide nonjudgmental care, nurses must be taught self-awareness and self-reflection to identify barriers. The key to competent care is awareness of self. With one in four people experiencing a mental health issue, measures should be placed to challenge the mythology about mental illness and decrease its stigma (Scottish Government, 2012). Nursing students have been known to either fear their mental health clinical rotation or to minimize its importance to their academic learning. From horror movies to television news that taunts the latest nervous breakdown of a celebrity, the image of having a mental illness ignites fear. For nursing students, this fear along with the stigma of mental illness can be stifling. To overcome that fear of mental health, it may be all in the presentation. To best prepare nursing students for their mental health rotation, the tone should be set by educating students that mental health is a disease process, just like hypertension or diabetes. As a diabetic does not choose to be hyperglycemic, a schizophrenic patient does not choose to have auditory hallucinations. The success of our mental health rotation is directly related to the strong roots of its clinical leaders. The demonstration of positive leadership and favorable attitudes is a powerful influence on nursing students in their clinical rotation (Moxham, et al, 2011). Through self-reflection of preconceived misconceptions, an awareness of treatment modalities for the mentally ill, and a large cup of compassion, a profound educational experience for students can be created. An example of a successful mental health rotation begins with role modeling of the leader and careful planning of the experience. One rotation began with a tour of the county jail. With years of law enforcement experience to his resume, a deputy lead a group of twenty nursing students on a four-hour tour of a facility which houses almost 2,000 prisoners. With a warm welcome from the deputy who states that he is not trained to work with the crazies, we visit the segregation units, the health facility, the unit for those with mental illness, and the ancillary departments of the jail. The debriefing that occurs after the jail tour is filled with strong emotions. The treatment of the mentally ill in prison is eye-opening yet reality. The students can experience firsthand, for themselves, the journey that a mentally ill patient may begin, through little fault of their own. Self-reflection and awareness by the student begins at this point. The second day of the clinical rotation is an orientation at a state-run forensic center. This is a facility in which patients who may be incompetent to stand trial, trying to gain competency to stand trial, or who are evaluated as never to gain competency, are secured. While not a prison, this facility is a locked institution with strict rules and little freedom. A comparison activity is requested of the students at this point in the journey. The similarities and differences between the prison and the forensic center are shared on paper for only the eyes of the instructor to see. This assignment is a paper and pencil activity, not produced from a computer keyboard. The supporting belief is that pencil and paper allow for increased thought, with the intensity of the writing mannerisms a reflection of the emotion of the writer. Self-awareness and self-reflection are key. Activities that promote inner-self review, self-awareness, and personal struggles, are confidentially shared in debriefing. Activities such as crayoning, Socratic questioning, and discussion of current mental health legislation are discussed. This leads students to a deeper level of thinking. The following four weeks of the clinical rotation is spent at the forensic center, becoming familiar with the patients, the employees, the facility and the dynamics between them all. For the clinical leader, it is imperative that the tone be set on the first day. With a positive attitude, simple introductions, and body language to nurture mutual respect, the journey begins. For twelve hours a week for four weeks, conversation between students and patients begin to emerge through a simple dice game or a low-key, puzzle-solving adventure. It begins with role-modeling from the clinical leader who immerses themselves in the facility. The leader engages in conversation with the patient, initiates card games and invites students to participate, and organizes a volleyball game with the students versus the patients. This leader engagement is important and should be initiated early in the rotation and remain throughout. It is the role modeling of the leader that sends a silent, yet strong message to the students that the patients are people, just like us. Though professional boundaries are established and maintained, stories are shared and vulnerabilities are displayed. Any pre-existing fears by the student subside. The common response gleaned from the students is simply the fact that these patients are people too. Student are taught that open posturing, a listening ear, and a therapeutic use of silence are tools that can enhance conversation. An air of acceptance, genuineness, and compassion are tools that, if sensed by the patient, can also enhance conversation. Like a moth to a light, patients are drawn to students who display openness. Engaging in games, music therapy, or a game of ping pong, the student-patient barriers are diminished and the patients begin to share their life\u27s journey. There is no room for judgment. Students embrace the trust, the stories, the vulnerabilities, and the honor of receiving information that will make them a better nurse. The result from the six-week rotation culminates with an awareness that mental illness is all around us and does not discriminate between social class, age, race, or education. It is not to be feared. We need to talk about it. They are people too