Virtual Geriatric Mental Health Care Offered Where Needed Most: An Evaluation of a Telehealth Consultation Model

Many VA facilities serving large rural populations do not have geriatric mental health specialists available to assist with managing the aging Veteran population’s complex medical and behavioral comorbidities. We applied mixed-methods to evaluate an innovative model utilizing a geriatric psychiatrist who provides cross-facility consultation in a 5-state region. During a 3-month period, the consultant completed 135 consults and 20 e-consults to settings ranging from outpatient to long-term care. Leadership stakeholder and provider interviews highlight the importance of the availability of the consultant, collaboration with local care teams, staff education, person-centered approach, and work ethic/passion. The core challenges that the consultant helps manage include complex comorbidities, medication questions, and dementia with behavioral disturbance. Initial provider survey responses (n = 11) show high satisfaction with services (100%) and strong agreement (80%) that providers could follow through with recommendations. Next steps include replication of this model in other VA facilities.

Electrical Transport and Fluctuation Processes in NbRe and NbReN Ultrathin Films for Superconducting Electronics Applications

NbRe-based superconducting thin films recently received relevant interest in the field of low-temperature electronics. However, for these materials the electrical conduction mechanisms, in particular in the normal state, still need to be investigated in more detail. Here, NbRe and NbReN films of different thicknesses have been deposited on two different substrates, namely monocrystalline Si and SiO2 buffered Si. The films were characterized by DC electrical transport measurements. Moreover, a connection with the charge carriers fluctuation processes has been made by analyzing the electrical noise generated in the normal state region. Despite the films morphology seems not to be affected by the substrate used, a lower noise level has been found for the ones grown on SiO2, in particular for NbReN. From this study it emerges that both NbRe and NbReN ultrathin films are of very good quality, as far as the low-temperature electrical noise and conduction are concerned, with noise levels competitive with NbN. These results may further support the proposal of using these materials in a nanowire form in the field of superconducting electronics.

TRANSITIONAL PROSPECTING RIGHTS: A MORATORIAL ESCORT ACROSS THE BRIDGE? De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd v Regional Manager, Mineral Regulation Free State Region: Department of Minerals and Energy Case 1590/2007 (OPD) Unreported (15-05-2008) (“De Beers (2)

On 1 May 2004 the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) not only introduced a new mineral law regime in South Africa but also made provision in the transitional arrangements of Schedule II to the MPRDA for the conversion of so-called “old-order rights” into (or application for) prospecting or mining rights in terms of the MPRDA. This decision dealt with the duration or term of transitional prospecting rights and the remedies available to a holder of an “old-order prospecting right” upon refusal by the state functionaries to convert the right into a prospecting right in terms of the MPRDA. Item 6 of the transitional arrangements makes provision for the continuation and conversion of “old-order prospecting rights”.

Individual and community-level risk factors of women’s acceptance of intimate partner violence in Ethiopia: multilevel analysis of 2011 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey

Background The prevalence of Intimate partner violence (IPV) is higher in societies with higher acceptance of norms that support IPV. In Ethiopia, the proportion of women’s acceptance of IPV was 69%, posing a central challenge in preventing IPV. The main objective of this study was to assess the individual and community-level factors associated with women’s acceptance of IPV. Methods Two-level mixed-effects logistic regression was applied to the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey data. A total of 16,366 women nested in the 596 clusters were included in the analysis. Results The acceptability of the IPV was estimated to be 69%. Among the individual-level factors: women’s education with secondary and above (AOR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.29–0.52), partner’s education secondary and above (AOR = 0.71; 95% CI 0.54–0.82), women aged 35–49 years (AOR = 0.67; 95% CI 0.54–0.82), fully empowered in household level decision making (AOR = 0.67; 95% CI0.54–0.81), literate (AOR = 0.76; 95% CI 0.62–0.92), and perceived existence of law that prevents IPV (AOR = 0.56; 95% CI 0.50–0.63) were significantly associated with women’s acceptance of IPV. Similarly, rural residence (AOR = 1.93; 95% CI 1.53–2.43) and living in the State region (AOR = 2.37; 95% CI 1.81–3.10) were significantly associated with the women’s acceptance of IPV among the community-level factors. Conclusion Both individual and community-level factors were significant risk factors for the acceptability of intimate partner violence. Women's education, women's age, women’s empowerment, partner education level, perceived existence of the law, and literacy were among individual factors. State region and residence were among community-level risk factors significantly associated women’s acceptance of IPV.

SOCIAL SYSTEMS, MODELS, TRANSFORMATIONS: ANALYSIS OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES

This article aims to consider key concepts and models from the theory of social systems that can be used as a theoretical basis for conducting cultural and anthropological research. Based on the analysis of a number of authoritative sources, attention was focused on the activity approach, which takes into account the role of the elements of the system (a person, specific communities and groups) in its functioning and change. In addition, the issue of the dynamics of social systems of different types (classical, nonclassical and postclassical) was analyzed, which allows you to pay attention to the transformations taking place in a modern multicultural urban society or the traditional society of an ethnic village, to identify their regularity, to fix the direction. Also in this work, models of social transformations in culture are considered - Westernization, destabilization, assimilative-religious, and in our opinion the most effective is the modernization-traditionalist model, the elements of which contribute to the preservation of traditional value dominants and allow you to develop a program for the sustainable development of a state, region or small territory in the global world.

Tick trails: the role of online recreational trail reviews in identifying risk factors and behavioral recommendations associated with tick encounters in Indiana

Background Recreational trails abound across the United States and represent high risk areas for tick exposure. Although online reviews represent a rich source of user information, they have rarely been used in determining the risk of tick exposure during recreational trail use. Based on online user reviews and comments, the purpose of this study was to determine risk factors and behavioral recommendations associated with tick encounters (Tick Presence) on recreational trails in the state of Indiana, U.S. Methods We reviewed 26,016 user comments left on AllTrails.com for 697 Indiana trails. Reviews were evaluated to determine Tick Presence/Absence, the total number of Tick Presence Reviews per trail, and multiple trail and user behavioral characteristics. We used hot spot (Getis-Ord Gi*) analysis to test the hypothesis of whether there are clusters in the number of Tick Presence Reviews. Pearson chi-square tests of independence evaluated whether tick presence was associated with several trail characteristics. Finally, negative binomial regression evaluated the strength of the association between the number of Tick Presence Reviews and several trail characteristics. Results Tick Presence was recorded at 10% (n = 65) of trails and occurred most frequently in May. Hot spot analysis revealed statistically significant clusters of Tick Presence Reviews on trails in the Southern Indiana State Region. Results of χ2 tests indicated significant associations between Tick Presence Reviews and (a) State Region and (b) Land Management Type; Mann-Whitney U tests detected significant differences in Tick Presence Reviews based on Trail Length and Elevation Gain. Subsequent results of a negative binomial regression model indicated that Southern Indiana State Region, Federal and Private Land Management Type, and Elevation Gain were factors significantly associated with Tick Presence Reviews. Content of user reviews indicated several behaviors employed to prevent tick encounters, particularly Repellent Application and Recreational Deterrence; 25% included a behavior Recommendation to others. Conclusions Online, user-generated trail reviews have the potential to serve as rich data sources for identifying recreational trails, where 1) the risk of tick exposure is great, 2) more robust active tick and tick-borne pathogen surveillance may be warranted, and 3) tailored prevention interventions are needed.