1,720,968 research outputs found
Unmet need, under-met need and public financing of home care in England
Full text linkDespite the recognized importance of older adults ageing in their own homes, the role of public financing in mitigating unmet and under-met home care needs remains under-explored. This study addresses this gap by examining the impact of public financing on home care adequacy among English adults aged over 50, utilizing data from waves 6-9 (2013-2019) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Longitudinal fixed effects and pooled cross-sectional modelling are used to explore the impact of public financing of home care on the unmet and under-met needs of older people. Findings show that individuals with greater limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), as well as those experiencing cognitive decline, are more likely to receive home care. Importantly, while receipt of publicly financed care is associated with a reduction in unmet needs, it does not necessarily translate to fully met needs, resulting in under-met need and highlighting a crucial distinction between access to and adequacy of care. Comparatively, transitioning from use of publicly financed home care to exclusively informal care is linked with lower odds of reporting under-met needs, suggesting variance in the quality of care provided across funding types. This study not only enriches the existing literature by describing the specific impact of different home care financing mechanisms (publicly financed care versus other types of care) on the unmet and under-met needs of older adults but also underscores the need for policies that ensure care adequacy, not just accessibility.</p
Mathematical models of the impact of host and environmental risk factors on the incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) within a national cohort
No full textTuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that can prove fatal if untreated. Despite a re-emergence of TB in Ireland, research has failed to provide insight to the causes of recent increases. The study acquires national surveillance data and systematically identifies a number of significant trends related to TB. From these findings, epidemiological models are constructed and simulated and put through various scenarios. The primary aim of the study is to develop, simulate, and forecast deterministic epidemic models for the spread of TB with application to an Irish setting.
The study utilities anonymised cross-sectional surveillance data acquired from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). Ethical approval was granted by the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, and ethical approval recognized by Trinity College. Two SEIR (Susceptible Exposed Infection Recovered) models consisting of systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) were developed and simulated. Approximate Bayesian Computation and Metropolis-Hastings inference algorithms were implemented to estimate the basic reproductive number, R0, and other model parameters in preparation for simulation and forecasting.
Statistically significant differences were calculated between native and foreign-born TB notifications, which is in line with previously published literature. Significant seasonality was discovered in Irish TB notifications, which has not been previously shown in published research. Migrant and seasonal SEIR models were presented for analysis. The models forecast a modest decline in notifications nationally up until 2023. Key parameters were identified in each model to help strategies that involve population management. A scenario analysis conducting numerical simulations calculated marginal increases in notifications (from one to three cases annually) when a change in vaccination procedure from universal vaccination to selective vaccination is considered. Numerical simulations of the seasonal epidemic model suggest that it would be more cost effective to implement an infection control strategy such as vaccination during the period from January to June, rather than all year round.
Further research is required to investigate the causes and effects of seasonality in TB notifications and whether foreign-born and native-born populations interact with each other in an Irish setting. The epidemiological parameters estimated in this thesis form a basis for future surveillance and modelling to take place in Ireland and other settings. The top contributing countries of the foreign-born population should be surveyed to ensure these trends continue, as variance in notifications for this group is larger than that of the native-born population. Further research is required to model vulnerable populations in Ireland such as the homeless, refugee, and unemployed populations
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Benefits, pitfalls, and future design of population-based registers in neurodegenerative disease
Full text linkPopulation-based disease registers identify and characterize all cases of disease, including those that might otherwise be neglected. Prospective population-based registers in neurodegeneration are necessary to provide comprehensive data on the whole phenotypic spectrum and can guide planning of health services. With the exception of the rare disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, few complete population-based registers exist for neurodegenerative conditions. Incomplete ascertainment, limitations and uncertainty in diagnostic categorization, and failure to recognize sources of bias reduce the accuracy and usefulness of many registers. Common biases include population stratification, the use of prevalent rather than incident cases in earlier years, changes in disease understanding and diagnostic criteria, and changing demographics over time. Future registers are at risk of funding shortfalls and changes to privacy legislation. Notwithstanding, as heterogeneities of clinical phenotype and disease pathogenesis are increasingly recognized in the neurodegenerations, well-designed longitudinal population-based disease registers will be an essential requirement to complete clinical understanding of neurodegenerative diseases
The relationship between childhood depression, obesity and poor school performance among urban disadvantaged children
No full textThe Relationship between Childhood Depression, Obesity and Poor School Performance among Urban Disadvantaged Children Prakashini Banka Background: Despite the recent emergence of literature establishing the prevalence of childhood depression, research has failed to provide insight in its concomitant factors. While depression in adults has been associated with multiple negative correlates such as rumination, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, overeating, and lack of concentration, the picture for children is less clear. There is a suggestion that urban disadvantaged children may be more at risk of depression and that obesity and school performance play a role in it, but how these variables interrelate is uncertain. The present study aims to address this issue. Aims: The main aims of the study is to investigate the relationship between childhood depression, obesity and poor school performance among urban disadvantaged children, and to identify predictors of depression, obesity and poor school performance. Methods: This study makes use of an observational cross-sectional design. Data for this PhD research was collected in 2013 from the original participating schools of the Healthy School Programme (HSP). The PhD data was collected in schools some time after the completion of the HSP. The HSP, which was funded by the Childhood Development Initiative (CDI), took place between 2009 and 2012 to implement a health promoting intervention among urban disadvantaged children in Irish primary schools. Data collected included Body Mass Index (BMI), depressive symptoms, indicators of wellbeing, quality of life, dietary patterns, physical activity, and indicators of school performance. Descriptive analyses were conducted and inferential analyses such as correlations, logistic regression models and mediation models were conducted. This study received ethical approval from the researcher\u27s university. Results: Three predictors were identified from the first model, indicating that physical wellbeing, body weight perception and school environment were significant predictors of obesity. There were four predictors of depression identified, and these were gender, psychological wellbeing, body weight perception and bullying. As for the third model, five predictor variables were statistically significant in relation to its impact on reading scores, and these were gender, BMI, maths scores, Parental relationship and body weight perception. Finally, in the fourth model, there were two significant predictors of maths performance and they were reading schools and physical wellbeing. Two mediation models were conducted and the first model included depression as the predictor variable, BMI scores as the mediating variable and reading scores as the outcome variable. The findings from the first model indicated that there was a statistically significant direct effect between depressive symptoms and BMI scores, however, the indirect and direct effect was not significant, indicating that BMI did not have a mediating effect on depressive symptoms and reading scores, and depressive symptoms did not influence reading scores. The second model included depression as the predictor variable, BMI scores as the mediating variable and maths scores as the outcome variable. Similar to the first model, there was a statistically significant direct effect between depressive symptoms and BMI scores, however, the indirect and direct effect was not significant, and therefore, indicating that BMI did not have a mediating effect on depressive symptoms and maths scores, and depressive symptoms did not affect maths scores. Conclusion: The findings suggest that there is a relationship between depression and obesity. The mediational findings reported that depression affected BMI scores of children, and the regression models identified the following variables as significant predictors for depression; gender, psychological wellbeing, bullying and body weight perception. For BMI, three predictors were identified; physical wellbeing, school environment and body weight perception. It was also identified that there is currently no combined treatment for depression and obesity in Ireland, and previous research suggesting that these two illnesses should be treated together, the study provided recommendations to address these issues. These recommendations are intended to inform policy makers, health professionals and researchers in order to improve treatment methods, policies and further investigate the relationship between depression and obesity in future research
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