45,140 research outputs found
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services report 2011-12: online services report - key results
No full textThis report examines health services, Aboriginal community controlled and non-community controlled health organisations, funded by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health.SummaryPrimary health careIn 2011-12, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health-care services, funded by the Australian Government, provided 2.6 million episodes of health care to about 445,000 clients. Compared with 2010-11, there was a 5% increase in episodes of care and a 3% increase in the number of clients reported. About 4 in 5 clients (79% or 350,000) were Indigenous.About 5,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, including 3,500 FTE health staff and 2,000 FTE managerial, administrative, support and other staff, worked for, and were paid by, health services providers. This is similar to the previous year. These staff were assisted in the delivery of primary health care by 395 FTE visiting health professionals who were paid for by other organisations.Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people held more than half (57%) of the FTE positions paid by health services providers.Substance use In 2011-12, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander substance use services (funded by the Australian Government) provided treatment and assistance for substance use issues to about 32,600 clients, an increase of 14% compared with 2010-11. More than 4 in 5 clients (83% or 27,000) were Indigenous.About 1,040 FTE staff from a variety of health (620 FTE) and managerial, administrative, support and other staff (420 FTE) worked for and, were paid by, health services providers. These staff were assisted in the delivery of substance use treatment by 58 FTE visiting health professionals who were paid for by other organisations.Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people held more than half (64%) of the FTE positions paid by health services providers.Bringing Them Home and Link Up counsellingIn 2011-12, Bringing Them Home and Link Up counselling services (funded by the Australian Government) provided counselling to about 9,800 clients, a decrease of about 17% compared with 2010-11. Most (96% or 9,400) clients were Indigenous.A total of 129 counsellors (113 FTE) were employed by the counselling services. Most services providers (83%) had at least one Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander counsellor.Data quality Data with significant and non-rectifiable quality issues were not included in this report. It should also be noted that some data presented in this report-particularly around client numbers, episodes of care and client contacts-were estimates of actual figures and should be used and interpreted with caution
Improved pre-processing techniques to enhance the accuracy of extracted information from passive satellite data
No full textL’obbiettivo di questa tesi è il miglioramento della fase di pre-propcessing per dati satellitari telerilevati passivi. I miglioramenti proposti sono stati in primis rivolti ad una singola classe di copertura del territorio e, in seguito, alla generale correzione radiometrica relativa di dati satellitari multispettrali passivi. Il primo dei due grandi capitoli è connesso alla problematica dell’estrazione coperture plastiche in ambito agricolo e allo sviluppo di nuove procedure e strumenti che hanno dimostrato la loro efficacia ottenendo elevate ac-curatezze nei risultati. Sebbene i risultati ottenuti nel primo capitolo siano specifici per una singola classe di copertura dei suoli, le soluzioni ottenute possono essere considera-te valide anche per problematiche simili ma relative ad altre classi di copertura.
Nel secondo capitolo è stato proposto un nuovo algoritmo per l’individuazione di PIF (psudo invariant features) e correzione radiometrica relativa di dati satellitari passivi. Il nuovo algoritmo (TRRCA, Threshold Relative Radiometric Correction Algorithm) può essere definito come un algoritmo supervisionato che combina tre metodi per il rilevamen-to dei PIF: Momentum Distance Index (MDI), maschere di Normalized Differenced Vege-tation Index (NDVI), operatori morfologici di erosione e dilatazione. Per testare l’efficacia dell’algoritmo TRRCCA sono state selezionate scene satellitari L8 acquisite in differenti regioni sparse per il mondo. Infine, i risultati ottenuti con l’algoritmo TRRCA sono stati confrontati con il celeberrimo algoritmo IR-MAD (Iteratively Reweighted Multivariate Alte-ration Detection) mostrando come l’algoritmo proposto possa essere una valida, e in al-cuni casi migliore, alternativa agli approcci esistenti.In this thesis, the attention was focused on the enhancement of the pre-processing stage for passive remotely sensed data. The proposed enhancements were firstly related to a single land cover class and then to the relative radiometric corrections of passive multispectral satellite data. The first of the two big chapters was related to the extraction of Plastic Covered Greenhouse (PCG) and to the development of new proce-dures and tools that demonstrated their usefulness by achieving high accuracies. Alt-hough the specific LC considered, the solutions showed in this chapter can be considered valid also in other environments.
In the second chapter a new algorithm is proposed for PIF (Pseudo Invariant Fea-tures) extraction and relative radiometric normalization. The new Threshold Relative Ra-diometric Correction Algorithm (TRRCA) can be labelled as a supervised one and com-bines three methods for the detection of PIF: Moment distance index (MDI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) masks, morphological erosion and dilate operators. To prove its effectiveness, the algorithm was tested by using L8 scenes in different envi-ronments over the world. Lastly, the results achieved with the TRRCA were compared with the well-known IR-MAD (Iteratively Reweighted Multivariate Alteration Detection). These comparisons have shown that the proposed algorithm can be a valid, and in some cases better, alternative to existing approaches
Bloodborne viral and sexually transmitted infections in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: surveillance and evaluation report 2014
No full textThis report provides information on the occurrence of blood borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia for the purposes of stimulating and supporting discussion on ways forward in minimising the transmission risks.
Overview
Each year, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program collaborates with the Surveillance and Evaluation Program for Public Health on the “Bloodborne viral and sexually transmitted infections in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Surveillance and Evaluation Report”. This surveillance report provides information on the occurrence of blood borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia for the purposes of stimulating and supporting discussion on ways forward in minimising the transmission risks, as well as the personal and social consequences of these infections within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Report is produced in a format that is recognised as appropriate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services and communities, and is overseen by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Advisory Committee
Casa Ma. Teresa Torres i Rius
No full textSagnier, Lluís (arq. )Primer pla de la Casa Ma Teresa Torres i Rius. L'edifici d'habitatges, d'estil noucentista, s'estructura en: planta baixa i set plantes pis, al passeig del Born, i planta baixa i sis plantes pis, al carrer Rec
Literature review of the interplay between education, employment, health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote areas
No full textThe availability of timely, comprehensive and good quality data specifically relevant to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notions of health and wellbeing has been a significant obstacle to understanding and addressing related disadvantage in a meaningful way. This literature review for the CRC-REP Interplay Between Health, Wellbeing, Education and Employment project explored existing wellbeing frameworks at global and local levels that are relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia.Current government frameworks that collect data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often produce a narrative that describes deficit, disadvantage and dysfunction. The frameworks include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework, the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Framework, the Australia Bureau of Statistics Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Framework and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey. These frameworks gather statistical information for the purposes of policy analysis and program development and therefore use indicators that are important to policy. Increasingly, government frameworks are including holistic measures of health such as cultural health, governance and the impacts of colonisation.This literature review has identified the need to develop a wellbeing framework that not only accurately represents education, employment, health and wellbeing and the interplay between these and other factors, but that also recognises the strengths and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait people as well as reflecting their worldviews, perspectives and values. For example, a definition of ‘wellbeing’ that highlights the importance of physical, social, emotional, cultural and spiritual influences at the level of the individual and the community has been endorsed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and governments alike and sustained for over 20 years. Accordingly, this literature review has been organised along these topics.In addition, the literature suggests that optimal wellbeing occurs when there is strong cultural identity in combination with control, achievement and inclusion at a wider societal level, such as through successful engagement in education and employment. Listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to learn of their conceptual thinking, knowledge and understanding, and responding to their priorities and ideas are crucial parts of the policy equation to improve outcomes across education, employment, health and wellbeing. The challenges in developing an appropriate wellbeing framework, then, are ensuring the active involvement and participation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.One example of how this has worked is provided by the Community Indicators Victoria Project, which used local-level data to address issues that the local community identified as important. A focus on strengths is also important, and is exemplified in the Social and Emotional Wellbeing Framework of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council and National Mental Health Working Group. Various existing programs – such as ‘Caring for Country’ – can be adapted to capture data about connection to country, for example, and how that impacts on physical and mental health. Critically, the core domains of education, employment and health need to be extended to include activities and concepts that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consider important to these areas.Recommendations for the development of a wellbeing framework are proposed here, derived from information available in the literature. Rather than being definitive, these recommendations provide a starting point for consultation and adaption towards establishing a wellbeing framework and operational system for collecting and analysing long-term health and wellbeing data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia as part of the research conducted by CRC-REP
The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: 2015
No full textExamines the differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, as well as differences by factors such as age, sex and, in particular remoteness.
Background
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in all parts of the nation—from large cities to small country towns, from remote tropical coasts to the fringes of the central deserts. They speak a multitude of languages and belong to hundreds of distinct descent groups. The health and welfare of Indigenous people living in the big cities are different to those living in the Torres Strait, which are different again to those living on the outskirts of Alice Springs or those living in remote communities.
Currently, there are over 700,000 Indigenous people in Australia, accounting for 3% of the Australian population. They are the descendants of people who began to occupy Australia more than 50,000 years ago. At the time of European colonisation, an estimated 320,000 Indigenous people occupied Australia, the majority living in the southeast, and in the Murray River valley and its tributaries.
Colonisation severely disrupted Aboriginal society and economy—epidemic disease caused an immediate loss of life, and the occupation of land by settlers and the restriction of Aboriginal people to ‘reserves’ disrupted their ability to support themselves. Over time, this combination of factors had such an impact that by the 1930s only an estimated 80,000 Indigenous people remained in Australia.
Although hundreds of Indigenous people served in the Australian armed forces, especially in the Second World War, it was not until 1962 that Indigenous people had the right to vote, and not until 1967 that a national referendum recognised them as ‘people of their own country’, and included them in the national census. Also, it was not until 1992 that the High Court of Australia declared that the legal concept of terra nullius (‘land belonging to no-one’) was invalid as applied to Australia. The concept essentially assumed that Australia was unoccupied at the time of colonisation and that land could be acquired through occupation (or settlement).
 
Report on the use of linked data relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
No full textThe Council of Australian Governments funded the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to review past, ongoing and planned data linkage studies that have an Indigenous focus. This report reviews these data linkage activities and is a companion document to the National Best Practice Guidelines for Data Linkage activities relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.SummaryThis review presents various Australian studies and analyses based on linked data relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We reviewed whether the purpose of each study was: to enhance the value of Indigenous status information across datasets, orto enhance data other than Indigenous status for the purpose of undertaking research that cannot be undertaken using data from only one source. The review also examined: the core themes of the studiesthe datasets usedthe data linkage methodology used, or intended to be used, in the studiesdata quality issues encountered or anticipatedproblems with the quality of the Indigenous status variable on the various datasetsthe method of analysiswhat algorithms or methods were used or are planned to be used in deriving Indigenous status if Indigenous status was missing or was inconsistent across input datasetswhether researchers explored, or intend to explore, the impact of various algorithms or methods for deriving Indigenous status on the estimated outcome measures. We found that an emphasis on the use of data linkage to improve accuracy of Indigenous status in datasets has only recently emerged. Moreover: the use of survey data as a \u27gold standard\u27 for Indigenous status information when linking with other datasets has great potentialto date, data linkage has rarely been used for exploring topics related to Council ofAustralian Government\u27s (COAG) Closing the Gap Performance Indicatorsthere has been little consistency in how Indigenous data linkage is done or evaluatedthere is a small evidence base for the relative merits of different approaches to identifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through data linkagethe existing evidence base may not be universally applicable across all Australian jurisdictions and datasets. The amount of work using linked data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people varies greatly between different states and territories. This partly reflects how long data linkage nodes have existed in each jurisdiction, but differences in legislative regimes between states and territories may also be partly responsible. Only the AIHW and ABS are currently linking data related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on a national scale. This report should be read in conjunction with the National Best Practice Guidelines for Data Linkage activities relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and its online attachment, Thematic list of projects using linked data relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (henceforth referred to as the Thematic List)
Variations on the Author
No full text“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
Building knowledge for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remote tourism: lessons from comparable tourism initiatives around the world
No full textThis report aims to build knowledge about what issues Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may need to consider in remote tourism by reviewing, compiling and drawing insights from comparable tourism initiatives around the world.The report is based on information from a range of sources that highlight remote tourism issues at many different levels of strategy and development , from the micro level of ensuring engagement with local service providers, to the broad level of collaboration strategies with diverse interest groups. The examples identify a wealth of remote tourism roles available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, demonstrating that remote tourism is complicated and people should examine which roles are appropriate and achievable.The report covers the main remote area landscape settings: remote arid and semi-arid areas (deserts), remote rainforests, remote high altitude mountainous areas, and remote cold and warm water islands. Each section discusses a collection of cases and other tourism initiatives by people s indigenous to the respective remote landscape settings. Many cases illustrate the desires of people around the world to preserve natural and cultural qualities while sharing remote areas through tourism. Summaries from each case identify issues that progressively build further insight into the challenges and strategies people from around the world have applied to remote tourism.A limitation of the report is that the review provides a snapshot of remote tourism activity throughout the world; it has not been able to say which of these activities are sustainable. Nevertheless, this approach uncovers the gravity of challenges faced by Indigenous peoples around the world involved in remote tourism, with the common dependence on external sources particularly noted. While presenting the strategies used in the various international contexts to contend with the challenges, the report suggests that local knowledge and insight cannot be underestimated as a major factor in developing successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tourism businesses
Serum vitamin D levels, diabetes and cardio-metabolic risk factors in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
No full textAssesses levels of serum 25(OH)D in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and explores relationships between 25(OH)D and cardio-metabolic risk factors and diabetes.
Abstract
Background: Low levels of serum 25 – hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D), have been associated with development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD); however there are limited data on serum 25(OH)D in Indigenous Australians, a population at high risk for both diabetes and CVD. We aimed to assess levels of serum 25(OH)D in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and to explore relationships between 25(OH)D and cardio-metabolic risk factors and diabetes.
Methods: 592 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australian participants of The eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) Study, a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study performed in 2007 – 2011, from urban and remote centres within communities, primary care and tertiary hospitals across Northern Territory, Far North Queensland and Western Australia. Assessment of serum 25(OH)D, cardio-metabolic risk factors (central obesity, diabetes, hypertension, history of cardiovascular disease, current smoker, low HDL-cholesterol), and diabetes (by history or HbA1c ≥ 6.5%) was performed. Associations were explored between 25(OH)D and outcome measures of diabetes and number of cardio-metabolic risk factors.
Results: The median (IQR) serum 25(OH)D was 60 (45 – 77) nmol/L, 31% had 25(OH)D <50 nmol/L. For participants with 25(OH)D < 50 vs ≥ 50 nmol/L, cardio-metabolic risk profile differed for: diabetes (54%, 36% p < 0.001), past history of cardiovascular disease (16%, 9%, p = 0.014), waist-hip ratio (0.98, 0.92, p < 0.001), urine albumin-creatinine ratio (2.7, 1.5 mg/mmol, p < 0.001). The OR (95% CI) for diabetes was 2.02 (1.03 – 3.95) for people in the lowest vs highest tertiles of 25(OH)D (<53 vs >72 nmol/L, respectively) after adjusting for known cardio-metabolic risk factors.
Conclusion: The percentage of 25(OH)D levels <50 nmol/L was high among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians from Northern and Central Australia. Low 25(OH)D level was associated with adverse cardio-metabolic risk profile and was independently associated with diabetes. These findings require exploration in longitudinal studies
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