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Additional Variables (additional + variable)
Selected AbstractsChild sexual abuse in the etiology of depression: A systematic review of reviewsDEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 7 2010Roberto Maniglio Psy.D. Ph.D. Abstract Background: Despite a large amount of research, there is considerable controversy about the role that child sexual abuse plays in the etiology of depression. To prevent interpretative difficulties, mistaken beliefs, or confusion among professionals who turn to this literature for guidance, this article addresses the best available scientific evidence on the topic, by providing a systematic review of the several reviews that have investigated the literature on the issue. Methods: Seven databases were searched, supplemented with hand search of reference lists from retrieved papers. The author and a psychiatrist independently evaluated the eligibility of all studies identified, abstracted data, and assessed study quality. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Results: Four reviews, including about 60,000 subjects from 160 studies and having no limitations that could invalidate their results, were analyzed. There is evidence that child sexual abuse is a significant, although general and nonspecific, risk factor for depression. The relationship ranges from small-to-medium in magnitude and is moderated by sample source. Additional variables may either act independently to promote depression in people with a history of sexual abuse or interact with such traumatic experience to increase the likelihood of depression in child abuse survivors. Conclusions: For all victims of abuse, programs should focus not only on treating symptoms, but also on reducing additional risk factors. Depressed adults who seek psychiatric treatment should be enquired about early abuse within admission procedures. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Emergency Department Management of Acute Pain Episodes in Sickle Cell DiseaseACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 5 2007Paula Tanabe PhD ObjectivesTo characterize the initial management of patients with sickle cell disease and an acute pain episode, to compare these practices with the American Pain Society Guideline for the Management of Acute and Chronic Pain in Sickle-Cell Disease in the emergency department, and to identify factors associated with a delay in receiving an initial analgesic. MethodsThis was a multicenter retrospective design. Consecutive patients with an emergency department visit in 2004 for an acute pain episode related to sickle cell disease were included. Exclusion criteria included age younger than 18 years. A structured medical record review was used to abstract data, including the following outcome variables: analgesic agent and dose, route, and time to administration of initial analgesic. Additional variables included demographics, triage level, intravenous access, and study site. Mann,Whitney U test or Kruskal,Wallis test and multivariate regression were used to identify differences in time to receiving an initial analgesic between groups. ResultsThere were 612 patient visits, with 159 unique patients. Median time to administration of an initial analgesic was 90 minutes (25th to 75th interquartile range, 54,159 minutes). During 87% of visits, patients received the recommended agent (morphine or hydromorphone); 92% received the recommended dose, and 55% received the drug by the recommended route (intravenously or subcutaneously). Longer times to administration occurred in female patients (mean difference, 21 minutes; 95% confidence interval = 7 to 36 minutes; p = 0.003) and patients assigned triage level 3, 4, or 5 versus 1 or 2 (mean difference, 45 minutes; 95% confidence interval = 29 to 61 minutes; p = 0.00). Patients from study sites 1 and 2 also experienced longer delays. ConclusionsPatients with an acute painful episode related to sickle cell disease experienced significant delays to administration of an initial analgesic. [source] Estimation of the phosphorus sorption capacity of acidic soils in IrelandEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2001R. O. Maguire Summary The test for the degree of phosphorus (P) saturation (DPS) of soils is used in northwest Europe to estimate the potential of P loss from soil to water. It expresses the historic sorption of P by soil as a percentage of the soil's P sorption capacity (PSC), which is taken to be , (Alox + Feox), where Alox and Feox are the amounts of aluminium and iron extracted by a single extraction of oxalate. All quantities are measured as mmol kg soil,1, and a value of 0.5 is commonly used for the scaling factor , in this equation. Historic or previously sorbed P is taken to be the quantity of P extracted by oxalate (Pox) so that DPS = Pox/PSC. The relation between PSC and Alox, Feox and Pox was determined for 37 soil samples from Northern Ireland with relatively large clay and organic matter contents. Sorption of P, measured over 252 days, was strongly correlated with the amounts of Alox and Feox extracted, but there was also a negative correlation with Pox. When PSC was calculated as the sum of the measured sorption after 252 days and Pox, the multiple regression of PSC on Alox and Feox gave the equation PSC = 36.6 + 0.61 Alox+,0.31 Feox with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.92. The regression intercept of 36.6 was significantly greater than zero. The 95% confidence limits for the regression coefficients of Alox and Feox did not overlap, indicating a significantly larger regression coefficient of P sorption on Alox than on Feox. When loss on ignition was employed as an additional variable in the multiple regression of PSC on Alox and Feox, it was positively correlated with PSC. Although the regression coefficient for loss on ignition was statistically significant (P <,0.001), the impact of this variable was small as its inclusion in the multiple regression increased R2 by only 0.028. Values of P sorption measured over 252 days were on average 2.75 (range 2.0,3.8) times greater than an overnight index of P sorption. Measures of DPS were less well correlated with water-soluble P than either the Olsen or Morgan tests for P in soil. [source] On the use of reactive power as an endogenous variable in short-term load forecastingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 5 2003P. Jorge Santos Abstract In the last decades, short-term load forecasting(STLF) has been the object of particular attention in the power systems field. STLF has been applied almost exclusively to the generation sector, based on variables, which are transversal to most models. Among the most significant variables we can find load, expressed as active power (MW), as well as exogenous variables, such as weather and economy-related ones; although the latter are applied in larger forecasting horizons than STLF. In this paper, the application of STLF to the distribution sector is suggested including inductive reactive power as a forecasting endogenous variable. The inclusion of this additional variable is mainly due to the evidence that correlations between load and weather variables are tenuous, due to the mild climate of the actual case-study system and the consequent feeble penetration of electrical heating ventilation and air conditioning loads. Artificial neural networks (ANN) have been chosen as the forecasting methodology, with standard feed forward back propagation algorithm, because it is a largely used method with generally considered satisfactory results. Usually the input vector to ANN applied to load forecasting is defined in a discretionary way, mainly based on experience, on engineering judgement criteria and on concern about the ANN dimension, always taking into consideration the apparent (or actually evaluated) correlations within the available data. The approach referred in the paper includes pre-processing the data in order to influence the composition of the input vector in such a way as to reduce the margin of discretion in its definition. A relative entropy analysis has been performed to the time series of each variable. The paper also includes an illustrative case study. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A parallel analysis of individual and ecological data on residential radon and lung cancer in south-west EnglandJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2001Sarah Darby Parallel individual and ecological analyses of data on residential radon have been performed using information on cases of lung cancer and population controls from a recent study in south-west England. For the individual analysis the overall results indicated that the relative risk of lung cancer at 100 Bq m,3 compared with at 0 Bq m,3 was 1.12 (95% confidence interval (0.99, 1.27)) after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, county of residence and social class. In the ecological analysis substantial bias in the estimated effect of radon was present for one of the two counties involved unless an additional variable, urban,rural status, was included in the model, although this variable was not an important confounder in the individual level analysis. Most of the methods that have been recommended for overcoming the limitations of ecological studies would not in practice have proved useful in identifying this variable as an appreciable source of bias. [source] Viability and bar expression are negatively correlated in Oregon Wolfe Barley Dominant hybridsPLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Phil Bregitzer Summary The expression level of bar, which encodes phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT), was correlated with the inviability of barley hybrids between 20 Golden Promise-derived transgenic lines (Ds-bar lines) and a specialized genetic marker stock, Oregon Wolfe Barley Dominant (OWBD). Each Ds-bar line was homozygous for a modified maize Ds element that encoded bar and that had been delivered via transposition to a unique location. All Ds-bar lines were viable and morphologically similar. Only four of the 20 hybrid populations were viable. The remaining populations died prior to producing seed. Phenotypic, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses of these lines, and of lines from unrelated transformation events that also expressed bar, showed that viability was negatively correlated with bar expression. Analysis of crosses of a high- bar -expressing line with the OWB mapping population showed that the sensitivity of OWBD to PAT segregated as a single locus on chromosome 6HL. No sensitivity to PAT could be detected in several other lines and cultivars. OWBD has been shown to be genetically divergent from other germplasm groups within cultivated barley; therefore, the observed sensitivity may be peculiar to OWBD and thus would not impact generally on the utility of bar as a selectable marker or source of herbicide resistance in barley. Nevertheless, these results demonstrate the extent of allelic variability present in Hordeum vulgare, and suggest an additional variable for consideration when devising protocols for the transformation of Hordeum cultivars or landraces that are not known to be tolerant to PAT. [source] Testing Export-Led Growth in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Using a Multivariate FrameworkTHE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 4 2004Jim Love Most time-series studies in the area of export-led growth adopt a bivariate framework and neglect the role of terms of trade. Because the terms of trade have an important bearing on export earnings and income, the underlying models of these studies may have been misspecified. This study is the first to adopt a multivariate framework for South Asia as a region; and by including the terms of trade as an additional variable it tries to correct the misspecification bias of earlier studies. The evidence suggests bidirectional causality between real exports and real income in India, export-led growth in Pakistan and a no-causality result for Sri Lanka. [source] Starling foraging success in relation to agricultural land-useECOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2002Ola Olsson Changes in agricultural land-use have been suggested to contribute to the decline of several bird species through negative effects on their food supply during breeding. One important change in land-use has been loss of pastures, especially permanent pastures. In this study we investigated how different forms of agricultural land-use affected foraging success of a declining bird species, the European starling Sturnus vulgaris. We let caged starlings forage in different forms of agricultural fields and determined time spent foraging and foraging success. The starlings' activity level (time spent actively foraging) as well as the number of prey caught per time unit was strongly related to the abundance of prey in soil samples. Also the body mass change during the experiment was positively related to activity level and prey capture rate. We found consistent differences in foraging variables between habitats. In spring sown grain starlings were least active and found fewer prey items at a lower rate than in any other habitat. The other three habitats differed less, but in general mowed hay fields appeared slightly more valuable than the cultivated and natural pastures. We did not find any differences between natural and cultivated pastures in foraging variables. Thus, starling foraging success is higher in grass-covered fields than in cultivated fields, but the management of the grass-covered fields mattered less. The results are consistent with starlings having higher population densities and breeding success in areas with higher availability of pasture. We suggest that the physical structure of the habitat (sward height) and moisture may be additional variables that need to be taken into account to explain starling breeding density and success in the agricultural landscape. [source] Electoral turnout and income redistribution by the state: A cross-national analysis of the developed democraciesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008VINCENT A. MAHLER The discussion begins with the median voter hypothesis, which predicts that the extent of state redistribution in a country will be positively related to the degree of pre-government inequality. In seeking to extend the median voter approach, the article takes into account two additional variables: the level of electoral turnout and the degree to which turnout is skewed by income. The analysis confirms that pre-government inequality is indeed positively related to state redistribution. However, the predictive power of the median voter approach is significantly improved when account is taken of the level of electoral turnout and the extent to which the turnout rate reflects an income skew , variables that are themselves related. The link between turnout and redistribution is especially strong for social transfers as opposed to taxes, and for the lower and middle, as opposed to the upper, part of the income spectrum. [source] An efficient co-rotational formulation for curved triangular shell elementINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 9 2007Zhongxue Li Abstract A 6-node curved triangular shell element formulation based on a co-rotational framework is proposed to solve large-displacement and large-rotation problems, in which part of the rigid-body translations and all rigid-body rotations in the global co-ordinate system are excluded in calculating the element strain energy. Thus, an element-independent formulation is achieved. Besides three translational displacement variables, two components of the mid-surface normal vector at each node are defined as vectorial rotational variables; these two additional variables render all nodal variables additive in an incremental solution procedure. To alleviate the membrane and shear locking phenomena, the membrane strains and the out-of-plane shear strains are replaced with assumed strains in calculating the element strain energy. The strategy used in the mixed interpolation of tensorial components approach is employed in defining the assumed strains. The internal force vector and the element tangent stiffness matrix are obtained from calculating directly the first derivative and second derivative of the element strain energy with respect to the nodal variables, respectively. Different from most other existing co-rotational element formulations, all nodal variables in the present curved triangular shell formulation are commutative in calculating the second derivative of the strain energy; as a result, the element tangent stiffness matrix is symmetric and is updated by using the total values of the nodal variables in an incremental solution procedure. Such update procedure is advantageous in solving dynamic problems. Finally, several elastic plate and shell problems are solved to demonstrate the reliability, efficiency, and convergence of the present formulation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Clinical reasoning: concept analysisJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 5 2010Barbara Simmons simmons b. (2010) Clinical reasoning: concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing,66(5), 1151,1158. Abstract Title.,Clinical reasoning: concept analysis. Aim., This paper is a report of a concept analysis of clinical reasoning in nursing. Background., Clinical reasoning is an ambiguous term that is often used synonymously with decision-making and clinical judgment. Clinical reasoning has not been clearly defined in the literature. Healthcare settings are increasingly filled with uncertainty, risk and complexity due to increased patient acuity, multiple comorbidities, and enhanced use of technology, all of which require clinical reasoning. Data sources., Literature for this concept analysis was retrieved from several databases, including CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC and OvidMEDLINE, for the years 1980 to 2008. Review methods., Rodgers's evolutionary method of concept analysis was used because of its applicability to concepts that are still evolving. Results., Multiple terms have been used synonymously to describe the thinking skills that nurses use. Research in the past 20 years has elucidated differences among these terms and identified the cognitive processes that precede judgment and decision-making. Our concept analysis defines one of these terms, ,clinical reasoning,' as a complex process that uses cognition, metacognition, and discipline-specific knowledge to gather and analyse patient information, evaluate its significance, and weigh alternative actions. Conclusion., This concept analysis provides a middle-range descriptive theory of clinical reasoning in nursing that helps clarify meaning and gives direction for future research. Appropriate instruments to operationalize the concept need to be developed. Research is needed to identify additional variables that have an impact on clinical reasoning and what are the consequences of clinical reasoning in specific situations. [source] Density-dependent effects on tree survival in an old-growth Douglas fir forestJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2000Fangliang He Summary 1 ,We mapped the locations of live and dead trees in a large forest plot dominated by pioneer Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) with an understorey of the invading late-successional species western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, to test for intra- and interspecific density-dependent effects on tree survival. 2 ,We analysed both the spatial patterning of trees in the plot and the relationships between neighbourhood density and tree survival. We also examined the effects of additional variables (principally elevation) as covariates in our neighbourhood analyses. 3 ,Both the spatial and initial neighbourhood analyses suggested strong intra- and interspecific density-dependent effects on tree survival. Douglas fir survival was significantly higher in less dense patches of conspecifics and non-random tree death led to regularly spaced survivors, as expected from intraspecific competition. The significantly lower survival of western hemlock in denser patches of Douglas fir and the resulting negative spatial association between surviving trees of these two species were consistent with interspecific competition. 4 ,However, having controlled for the influence of elevation on tree survival (probably mediated by variation in soil moisture) in neighbourhood analyses, although the survival of the pioneer Douglas fir trees was still subject to strong density-dependent effects, variation in its density in the overstorey no longer appeared to influence the survival of the invading late-successional species. There was, however, evidence for asymmetric interspecific density dependence between the two late-successional species since western hemlock mortality tended to be higher in denser patches of western red cedar. 5 ,Our results emphasize the importance of considering confounding factors in studies that seek evidence for density dependence. [source] Path inequalities for the vehicle routing problem with time windowsNETWORKS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007Brian Kallehauge Abstract In this paper we introduce a new formulation of the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) involving only binary variables. The new formulation is based on the formulation of the asymmetric traveling salesman problem with time windows by Ascheuer et al. (Networks 36 (2000) 69,79) and has the advantage of avoiding additional variables and linking constraints. In the new formulation, time windows are modeled using path inequalities that eliminate time and capacity infeasible paths. We present a new class of strengthened path inequalities based on the polyhedral results obtained by Mak (Ph.D. Thesis, 2001) for a variant of the TSP. We study the VRPTW polytope and determine its dimension. We show that the lifted path inequalities are facet defining under certain assumptions. We also introduce precedence constraints in the context of the VRPTW. Computational experiments are performed with a branch and cut algorithm on the Solomon test problems with wide time windows. Based on results on 25-node problems, the outcome is promising compared to leading algorithms in the literature. In particular, we report a solution to a previously unsolved 50-node Solomon test problem R208. The conclusion is therefore that a polyhedral approach to the VRPTW is a viable alternative to the path formulation of Desrochers et al. (Oper Res 40 (1992), 342,354). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 49(4), 273,293 2007 [source] PREDICTORS OF JOB SEARCH BEHAVIOR AMONG EMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED PEOPLEPERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2004EDWIN A. J. VAN HOOFT This study investigated job search behavior and its predictors among employed and unemployed people. Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to predict job search intention and behavior in both groups. In addition, we examined the indirect effects of several other variables (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work valence, expectancy, and financial need). Data were collected in a 2-wave longitudinal design, using a sample of employed individuals (N = 989) and a sample of unemployed individuals (N= 317). Results supported the applicability of the TPB in the 2 groups. The attitude-intention-behavior relationship was stronger in the unemployed group than in the employed group. The TPB variables partially mediated the effects of the additional variables studied. [source] Sense of coherence as a protective factor for demoralisation in women with a recent diagnosis of gynaecological cancerPSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Nadia Boscaglia Abstract Background: Demoralisation is a dysphoric mood state commonly seen in the medically ill. Its core features comprise hopelessness, helplessness, loss of purpose and meaning, despair, and existential distress. Sense of Coherence (SOC) is a quantifiable dispositional orientation that captures the character traits likely to protect against demoralisation. In this study, we hypothesised on theoretical grounds that a strong SOC would be associated with lower levels of demoralisation in the context of gynaecological cancer (GC). Method: One hundred and twenty women with a recent (<12 months) diagnosis of GC were recruited from outpatient clinics. Participants were interviewed and completed questionnaire measures of demoralisation and SOC. A multiple regression analysis was performed using the five subscales of the Demoralisation Scale as predictor variables and SOC as the dependent variable. Results: Together, the five subscales of the Demoralisation Scale accounted for 60% of the variance in SOC. Conclusions: The results supported the hypothesis, suggesting that SOC may be protective against demoralisation in the context of serious illness. Larger, multivariate studies that examine additional variables (such as coping) would be required to further clarify the relationship between SOC and demoralisation. In the meantime, clinicians may want to consider efforts to enhance SOC in patients. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Exercise Adoption Among Older, Low-Income Women at Risk for Cardiovascular DiseasePUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2010Laura M. Hays ABSTRACT Using an expanded Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) model, we hypothesized that self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and exercise self-definition would predict exercise adoption. This secondary analysis examined data from a prospective single-group study of low-income women who received a physician screen and referral to a community-based, free exercise program. The sample included 190 older, low-income women with a mean age of 64 years, the majority of whom were African American (66%) and had at least one cardiovascular risk factor (92%). Baseline values of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and exercise self-definition were measured using instruments developed for the study. Exercise adoption was defined as the number of exercise sessions completed over 8 weeks. Our hypothesis was tested using hierarchical multiple regression. The mean number of exercise sessions completed over the 8-week period was 5.7 out of a recommended 24. Value of Exercise scores, a subscale of the Exercise Self-Definition scale, predicted exercise adoption. Self-efficacy and outcome expectations were not predictive. The significance of Value of Exercise scores reinforces the importance of expanding SCT with additional variables such as exercise self-definition. Future work should emphasize the social and environmental factors that form an important part of SCT. [source] Ecological correlates of abundance in the Tana mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus)AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Julie Wieczkowski Abstract I investigated the ecological correlates of abundance in the Tana mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus), one of the world's most endangered primates, with the goal of recommending management strategies. I systematically selected 31 forest fragments throughout the mangabey's 60-km distribution along the lower Tana River in southeastern Kenya. Within the 31 fragments, I measured vegetation structure, food abundance, and human forest product use in 107 belt transects, and conducted 370 mangabey surveys. I used a weighted multiple regression analysis to determine whether there was a dependence between the selected forest attributes and the mean number of mangabey groups per fragment. Fragment area and density of trees ,10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) were the only variables that significantly correlated with the variation in mangabey abundance. No additional variables were significant when the analysis was limited to forest fragments inside the Tana River Primate National Reserve (TRPNR) or to fragments outside the TRPNR. When I estimated the resources available before recent human forest product use by adding nonharvested and harvested variables, the total basal area of the top 15 food species became significant. This was only within the TRPNR, however. Management, therefore, should focus on increasing forest area, density of trees ,10 cm DBH, and coverage of food trees throughout the mangabey's distribution. Solutions must be found for the problem of forest clearing, and forest product use must be better managed to protect the habitat of this critically endangered primate. The significance of food abundance only within the TRPNR suggests a need to collect dietary data from mangabey groups in fragments toward the southern limit of the mangabey's distribution, where plant species composition differs from that in fragments in which dietary data have been previously collected. Am. J. Primatol. 63:125,138, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Stability analysis for discrete-time fuzzy system by utilizing homogeneous polynomial matrix function,ASIAN JOURNAL OF CONTROL, Issue 6 2009Likui Wang Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate the stability of nonlinear systems represented by a Takagi-Sugeno discrete-time fuzzy model. The homogeneous polynomial matrix function (HPMF) is developed to obtain new stabilization conditions. Applying the HPMF to the non-parallel distributed compensation (non-PDC) law and non-quadratic Lyapunov function, some new stabilization conditions are obtained by the following two means: (a) utilizing the popular idea of introducing additional variables for some fixed degree of the HPMF; and (b) increasing the degree of the HPMF. It is shown that the conditions obtained with approach (a) are less conservative than some sufficient stability conditions available in the literature to date. It is also shown that as the degree of HPMF increases the conditions obtained under (b) become less conservative. An example is provided to illustrate how the proposed approaches compare with other techniques available in the literature. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society [source] Microhabitat relationships among five lizard species associated with granite outcrops in fragmented agricultural landscapes of south-eastern AustraliaAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2010DAMIAN R. MICHAEL Abstract A fundamental part of developing effective biodiversity conservation is to understand what factors affect the distribution and abundance of particular species. However, there is a paucity of data on ecological requirements and habitat relationships for many species, especially for groups such as reptiles. Furthermore, it is not clear whether habitat relationships for particular species in a given environment are transferable to other environments within their geographical range. This has implications for the type of ,landscape model' used to guide management decisions in different environments worldwide. To test the hypothesis that species-specific habitat relationships are transferable to other environments, we present microhabitat models for five common lizard species from a poorly studied habitat , insular granite outcrops, and then compared these relationships with studies from other environments in south-eastern Australia. We recorded twelve species from five families, representing 699 individuals, from 44 outcrops in the south-west slopes of New South Wales. Five lizard species were abundant and accounted for 95% of all observations: Egernia striolata, Ctenotus robustus, Cryptoblepharus carnabyi, Morethia boulengeri and Carlia tetradactyla (Scincidae). Linear regression modelling revealed suites of different variables related to the abundance patterns of individual species, some of which were broadly congruent with those measured for each species in other environments. However, additional variables, particular to rocky environments, were found to relate to reptile abundance in this environment. This finding means that species' habitat relationships in one habitat may not be readily transferable to other environments, even those relatively close by. Based on these data, management decisions targeting reptile conservation in agricultural landscapes, which contain rocky outcrops, will be best guided by landscape models that not only recognize gradients in habitat suitability, but are also flexible enough to incorporate intraspecies habitat variability. [source] Working with managers to improve services: changes in the role of research in social careCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2004Harriet Ward ABSTRACT The setting of specific objectives for children's services and the identification of key outcome indicators, together with the development of a core information specification for children's services with its practical application in the implementation of the Integrated Children's System, all mean that substantially more data are now available to child welfare agencies. Not so long ago in the UK it was the role of research teams to collect and analyse such data. Now that so much of it is already available to agencies, are researchers who work in this area of applied social policy research becoming redundant? Using data from the cohorts of looked after children being studied at the Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University, the paper demonstrates how researchers can work in consultation with the managers of child welfare agencies to make better sense of the data at their disposal. It considers three issues: what additional variables need to be explored to help agencies better understand their performance; how groups of children could be identified who follow predictable pathways through social care; and how qualitative information is necessary to gain a true picture of what is happening. All of these examples demonstrate a fundamental role for researchers in working with social services personnel to identify how services can be improved. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||