Strategies to Support Employer-Driven Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Employees with Disabilities

Across the United States, a growing number of employers have established initiatives to increase the participation of workers with disabilities within their companies. These employers typically establish partnerships with local workforce and disability service organizations to source for talent. Coordinated by a single agency (or small number of agencies), employers are provided assistance and support services for recruitment, training, and job retention for employees with disabilities. This research brief presents four profiles that highlight innovative practices among employers operating warehouse distribution centers in the U.S

Subgrade geology beneath railways in Manchester

It is not sufficient to identify fine-grained soils, only, as locations for potential subgrade problems as could be done using a traditional 2D geological map. More information is required about the geological structure, lithological variability, mineralogy, moisture content and geotechnical properties of the soil, much of which can be supplied by modern 3D geospatial databases. These databases can be interrogated at key depths to show the wide variability of geological materials and conditions beneath the ground surface. Geological outcrop and thickness of bedrock an superficial deposits (soils), plus the permeability and water table level are predicted from the Manchester geospatial model that is based on 6500 borehole records. Geological sections along railway routes are modelled and the locations of problem soils such as alluvium, till and glaciolacustrine deposits at outcrop and shallow subcrop are identified. Spatial attribution of geotechnical data and simple methods to recast sections in engineering geological terms are demonstrated

Social Enterprise Businesses: A Strategy for Creating Good Jobs for People with Disabilities

Over the past 10 years, there has been a tremendous growth in entities known as social enterprise businesses. This approach has been particularly promising in creating new opportunities for individuals with disabilities in emerging and growth industries. Over the past five years, the Kessler Foundation's "Transition to Work" grants program has invested $18 million toward the goal of creating job opportunities for people with disabilities. This investment has included support for several social enterprise businesses in New Jersey, stemming from the Foundation's believe that these businesses have potential for increasing employment of people with disabilities

Disparities in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Mental Health Services in the U.S.

This is one of a series of five papers outlining the particular domains and dimensions of inequality where new research may yield a better understanding of responses to this growing issue.Mental health is recognized as a central determinant of individual well-being, family relationships, and engagement in society, yet there are considerable variations in mental health and mental health care according to race and ethnicity among youth in the U.S.In their report, Margarita Alegría and colleagues investigate disparities in mental health and mental health services for minority youth. Taking a developmental perspective, the authors explore four areas that may give rise to inequalities in mental health outcomes, highlight specific protective factors and barriers to care, and, finally, outline an agenda for future research

Does hospital competition save lives? Evidence from the English NHS patient choice reforms

This paper examines whether or not hospital competition in a market with fixed reimbursement prices can prompt improvements in clinical quality. In January 2006, the British Government introduced a major extension of their market-based reforms to the English National Health Service. From January 2006 onwards, every patient in England could choose their hospital for secondary care and hospitals had to compete with each other to attract patients to secure their revenue. One of the central aims of this policy was to create financial incentives for providers to improve their clinical performance. This paper assesses whether this aim has been achieved and competition led to improvements in quality. For our estimation, we exploit the fact that choice-based reforms will create sharper financial incentives for hospitals in markets where choice is geographically feasible and that prior to 2006, in the absence of patient choice, hospitals had no direct financial incentive to improve performance in order to attract more patients. We use a modified difference-in-difference estimator to analyze whether quality improved more quickly in more competitive markets after the government introduced its new wave of market-based reforms. Using AMI mortality as a quality indicator, we find that mortality fell more quickly (i.e. quality improved) for patients living in more competitive markets after the introduction of hospital competition in January 2006. Our results suggest that hospital competition in markets with fixed prices can lead to improvements in clinical quality

Analysis and Conservation of Native Forests at Kessler Mountain Fayetteville, Arkansas

Kessler Mountain in Fayetteville Arkansas has long been recognized for its beauty and natural resources. Parts of Kessler Mountain have been homesteaded and developed in the past, but most of the mountain has remained relatively undisturbed. The planned development of over 4,000 housing units to cover Kessler Mountain stimulated controversy and consideration of other management alternatives. A twist of fate involving an economic recession, a dedicated group of outdoor recreation enthusiasts, and environmental conservationists led to the permanent protection of 384 acres in the Kessler Mountain Regional Park. To help evaluate the natural resources at Kessler Mountain, forest composition, structure, and tree age were measured at two old growth forest parcels on Kessler Mountain. Forest understory and overstory were surveyed and increment cores were collected from select overstory trees. The overstory of the post oak (Quercus stellata) site (Site A) was dominated by post oak and northern red oak (Quercus rubra). The understory was dominated by northern red oak and black locust (Robnia pseudoacacia). The oldest post oak trees at the post oak site were in the 250 to 300-year-old age class based on dendrochronological analysis of core samples. The overstory of the chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) site (Site B) was dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum var. saccharum) and chinkapin oak. The understory was dominated by eastern red cedar (Juniperous virginiana) and northern red oak. The oldest chinkapin oak trees at Site B were in the 200 to 250-year-old age class. The data suggest that chinkapin oak and post oak are currently not regenerating at rates necessary to maintain long term dominance in the canopy at these particular study sites on Kessler Mountain. As more land is conserved in the region significant planning and funding need to be dedicated to proper management of these lands to maintain biodiversity and healthy forests

The effects of latent variables in the development of comorbidity among common mental disorders

Background: Although numerous studies have examined the role of latent predispositions to internalizing and externalizing disorders in the structure of comorbidity among common mental disorders, none examined latent predispositions in predicting development of comorbidity. Methods: A novel method was used to study the role of latent variables in the development of comorbidity among lifetime DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Surveys. Broad preliminary findings are briefly presented to describe the method. The method used survival analysis to estimate time-lagged associations among 18 lifetime DSM-IV anxiety, mood, behavior, and substance disorders. A novel estimation approach examined the extent to which these predictive associations could be explained by latent canonical variables representing internalizing and externalizing disorders. Results: Consistently significant positive associations were found between temporally primary and secondary disorders. Within-domain time-lagged associations were generally stronger than between-domain associations. The vast majority of associations were explained by a model that assumed mediating effects of latent internalizing and externalizing variables, although the complexity of this model differed across samples. A number of intriguing residual associations emerged that warrant further investigation. Conclusions: The good fit of the canonical model suggests that common causal pathways account for most comorbidity among the disorders considered. These common pathways should be the focus of future research on the development of comorbidity. However, the existence of several important residual associations shows that more is involved than simple mediation. The method developed to carry out these analyses provides a unique way to pinpoint these significant residual associations for subsequent focused study. Depression and Anxiety, 2011. (c) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Microscopic Selection of Fluid Fingering Pattern

We study the issue of the selection of viscous fingering patterns in the limit of small surface tension. Through detailed simulations of anisotropic fingering, we demonstrate conclusively that no selection independent of the small-scale cutoff (macroscopic selection) occurs in this system. Rather, the small-scale cutoff completely controls the pattern, even on short time scales, in accord with the theory of microscopic solvability. We demonstrate that ordered patterns are dynamically selected only for not too small surface tensions. For extremely small surface tensions, the system exhibits chaotic behavior and no regular pattern is realized.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure