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Background: Despite the increased risk for people with an intellectual disability developing dementia, post‐diagnostic psychosocial supports such as cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) are not routinely offered and there is limited research examining this intervention with people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of CST for older adults with intellectual disability to support active ageing. Methods: Five client participants attended a 14‐session CST group and four staff attended a focus group. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to investigate the client and staff narratives. Results: Three key themes were generated: (1) Brain Health, (2) Connecting with others, and (3) Barriers and Enablers. Conclusion: Findings indicated the suitability of CST as a way of supporting active ageing for older adults with intellectual disability. This study adds to the growing knowledge about service provision for older adults and their changing needs as they age and identifies clinical implications such as staff training to support intervention adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is limited research on what, when and how outcomes should be measured in psychological therapy trials in acute mental health inpatient wards. Objectives: This study aimed to consider what outcomes service users think are important to measure. Methods: This qualitative study explored the views of 14 participants, who had an inpatient admission within the last year, on outcomes of psychological therapies using semistructured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis from a critical realist perspective with both inductive and deductive coding. Results: The 126 outcomes that were important to participants were mapped onto an established taxonomy of outcomes across different health areas and the socioecological framework to consider the wider context and help summarise the outcomes. Most of the outcomes were mapped to the intrapersonal and interpersonal level. In addition to the outcome mapping, three themes were constructed from the qualitative data: (1) I am not a problem I am a person, (2) Feeling cared for and loved, (3) What does getting better look like. Conclusions: Our results highlight the need for patient‐reported outcomes which are cocreated with service users, disseminating research and training on preventing dehumanising experiences, enhancing psychological safety and therapeutic relationships and improving access to psychological therapy. Patient or Public Contribution: The wider People with Personal Experience Involvement Committee at the University of Bath were consulted which included a focus group during the early planning stages. We also collaborated with a person with personal experience, at every stage of the research. This included developing our research question and aims, protocol, participant documents (e.g., information and debrief forms), advertisement and recruitment strategy, interview topic guide, the codes, the final themes and quotes and reviewing the manuscript. People with lived experience of being admitted to an acute mental health inpatient ward participated in our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: It is unclear how healthcare professionals (HCPs) experience and view the challenges of working with people who use New Psychoactive Substances (PWUNPS), in different healthcare services (HCS). The aim of the study was to explore HCPs' experiences of working with individuals who use NPS across statutory, non‐statutory, and private mental health and addiction HCSs. Methods: HCPs completed in‐depth semi‐structured interviews. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim with a mean duration of 30 min 55 s. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. Results: A purposive sample of 14 HCPs (6 men, 8 women) with a mean age of 42.5 years were interviewed in 2019. Organisational issues, including funding, impacted the treatment for PWUNPS and HCPs perceived a lack of support dependent on their qualifications. They reported a lack of assessment, policy, harm reduction, and awareness of NPS‐related symptoms including mental health problems and stigma faced by PWUNPS. Conclusion: HCPs need better training, education, and assessment processes to manage acute NPS intoxications and address the stigma associated with PWUNPS. There is a need for policy‐making opportunities across different HCSs to ensure better healthcare outcomes for PWUNPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do rodents' and primates' differences in visual perception impact the way the brain constructs egocentric and allocentric reference frames to represent stimuli in space? Strikingly, there are important similarities in the egocentric spatial reference frames through which cortical regions represent objects with respect to an animal's head or body in rodents and primates. These egocentric representations are suitable for navigation across species. However, while the rodent hippocampus represents allocentric place, I draw on several pieces of evidence suggesting that an egocentric reference frame is paramount in the primate hippocampus, and relates to the first‐person perspective characteristic of a primate's field of view. I further discuss the link between an allocentric reference frame and a conceptual frame to suggest that an allocentric reference frame is a semantic construct in primates. Finally, I discuss how views probe memory recall and support prospective coding, and as they are based on a first‐person perspective, are a powerful tool for probing episodic memory across species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Technology is ubiquitous in all aspects of daily life and research interest in the topic of digital mental health interventions (DMHI) for people with intellectual disabilities is growing. In addition, the COVID‐19 pandemic has accelerated technology use in delivering mental health supports. Method: This review used a qualitative systematic literature review methodology with the aim of collating the views and experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities accessing DMHI. The electronic databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and SCOPUS were searched in March 2022. Results: Five studies were selected in this review, and three major narrative themes were generated, each with sub‐themes: (1) User experience with DMHI (personal experience, digital experience); (2) Relationships fostered through technology (interpersonal support, relating to virtual characters, computer as skilled helper); (3) Psychological benefits (new skills development, personal autonomy development). Conclusion: This review highlights that, although there is a diversity of views and experiences of people with intellectual disabilities, the evidence suggests that DMHI has potential to support this population given the right opportunities. Findings also point to the benefit of technology as a complement to therapy, but not necessarily as a replacement to in‐person therapeutic encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The reuse of cardiac implantable electronic devices may help increase access to these therapies in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). No published data exist regarding the views of patients and family members in LMICs regarding this practice. Methods and Results: An article questionnaire eliciting attitudes regarding pacemaker reuse was administered to ambulatory adult patients and patients' family members at outpatient clinics at Centro Nacional Cardiologia in Managua, Nicaragua, Indus Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, Hospital Carlos Andrade Marín, and Hospital Eugenio Espejo in Quito, Ecuador, and American University of Beirut Medical Center in Beirut, Lebanon. There were 945 responses (Nicaragua – 100; Pakistan – 493; Ecuador – 252; and Lebanon – 100). A majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would be willing to accept a reused pacemaker if risks were similar to a new device (707, 75%), if there were a higher risk of device failure compared with a new device (584, 70%), or if there were a higher risk of infection compared to a new device (458, 56%). A large majority would be willing to donate their own pacemaker at the time of their death (884, 96%) or the device of a family member (805, 93%). Respondents who were unable to afford a new device were more likely to be willing to accept a reused device (79% vs. 63%, p <.001). Conclusions: Patients and their family members support the concept of pacemaker reuse for patients who cannot afford new devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a parent has a mental health problem, family members can be affected by it. Nursing professionals can provide care for the whole family, including children. Nurses can support the parental role of parents with mental illness. This integrative review aimed at the following: To identify and to synthesize the views and practices of nurses on parental mental illness (PMI). An integrative review methodology was employed, following PRISMA guidelines. Theoretical and empirical literature was included. Twenty‐three articles were obtained to be analysed, using the Whittemore and Knafl approach. A lack of knowledge about nurses' views and practices on PMI was found. Especially, in some demographic areas such as Mediterranean countries and Central and South America. Different issues which influence how nurses perceive PMI were identified: subjective meaning of family concept, personal experience of being parent, and perceptions of mental illness, among others. The main findings on nurses' practices were as follows: guidelines to implement family‐focused practices, knowledge, and skills; therapeutic relationship; and teamwork and interagency communication; among others. These issues are intimately related. They could act as enablers or barriers to support parental role of parents with mental illness. Adequate guidelines and policies are necessary to support parents with mental illness and their families. There is a need to include knowledge about PMI and family‐focused approach in nursing education curricula. Training could include reflection on nurses' experiences and personal values to become aware of how these can affect their interventions and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate the attitudes and beliefs towards the implementation of nurse prescribing among general nurses and nurse specialists. Design: A cross‐sectional survey among general nurses and nurse specialists was conducted in seven provinces and one autonomous region in mainland China using convenience sampling method. Methods: The attitudes and beliefs towards nurse prescribing were assessed using the Nurse Attitudes and Beliefs towards Nurse prescribing scale, of which Cronbach's coefficient was 0.902, retest reliability was 0.808. Respondents from eight hospitals across the country were employed to complete an online questionnaire. Results: Nurse specialists (n = 399) had statistically significantly more favourable intentions towards nurse prescribing than general nurses (n = 415; 105.64 ± 12.83 vs. 96.39 ± 13.16; p <.001). The years of clinical work experience, professional title, education degree were positively correlated with general nurses' and nurse specialists' attitudes and beliefs towards nurse prescribing (p <.05). Among nurse specialists, the variety of specialties and whether they work in nurse‐led clinics on an outpatient basis have positively influence on their intentions towards nurse prescribing (p <.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared decision‐making is related to better health outcomes in serious mental illness. It is not well addressed in non‐Western cultures, for example Chinese culture. Chinese could be influenced by both paternalism and familism when making treatment decisions. However, this is unexplored. The study purpose is to explore shared decision‐making from perspectives of inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia in China. This study adopted qualitative descriptive approach. Through semi‐structured interviews, twelve participants from the psychiatry department of a tertiary hospital shared their perceptions of shared decision‐making. An inductive thematic approach was used to analyse the transcripts. Primary results included three main themes with nine subthemes: (1) Having a positive attitude: i) wanting my voice to be heard, ii) needing my family to be involved, and iii) preferring the psychiatrist to decide; (2) Feeling excluded: i) having limited financial capacity, ii) lacking interactive communication, iii) too few psychiatrists, and iv) being unsatisfied with informed consent process; and (3) Self‐motivation in decision‐making by: i) easing the burden on the family and ii) actively collecting health information. In this context, patients have fewer treatment options and a limited role in SDM. Yet, they have preference for SDM, actively seeking health information from mental health professionals particularly nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have a right to have their views listened to, and studies have shown that doing so can improve their motivation and self‐esteem. Accordingly, this systematic literature review sought to investigate how the views of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who have difficulties with social communication, may be gathered. Searches of electronic databases yielded 20 studies which met the criteria for inclusion. Semi‐structured interviews (SSIs) were popular, but there is tentative evidence that these are better suited to older, or more academically able, participants. Some of the evidence suggests adaptations to make SSIs more accessible to young people with ASD. Initial evidence has also emerged regarding the suitability of focus groups and electronic diaries. More focused evaluation by researchers of the suitability of their chosen data‐gathering methods for participants with ASD would allow broader conclusions to be drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Evidence suggests that only a minority of service users experiencing psychosis have access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for psychosis (CBTp). Normalization Process Theory (NPT) is a theoretical framework which focuses on processes by which interventions are implemented and normalized in clinical practice. This study explored the views and experiences of mental health professionals regarding the implementation of CBTp. Barriers and facilitators to implementation were explored using the NPT framework. Design: A qualitative methodology was adopted involving semi‐structured focus groups and individual interviews. Methods: A total of 14 members of staff working in the community and crisis mental health teams were recruited. Thematic analysis was used to generate initial themes. The framework approach was utilized to map initial themes to the NPT framework. Results: Inductive coding generated five overarching themes consisting of 15 individual subthemes which captured the perceived barriers to engagement; contextual barriers to implementation; optimization of implementation; positive attitudes towards implementation; and expectations of implementing CBTp. All but two subthemes mapped on to the NPT framework. The deductive analysis suggested that difficulties in making sense of CBTp among professionals were reflected as service level barriers which impeded wider implementation. Conclusion: The results of this study suggested a mixture of barriers and facilitators to CBTp implementation. Interpreting our findings within an NPT framework indicates the importance of strong clinical leadership to address difficulties in sense‐making and service investment in CBTp. Practitioner points: Findings indicate a mixture of barriers and facilitators to CBTp implementation.NPT analysis indicates difficulties in coherence among stakeholders regarding the purpose and value of CBTp.Difficulties making sense of CBTp translates into service level barriers and impede the collective action of stakeholders.The role of clinical leadership is crucial in increasing coherence and collective action in services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Challenging behaviour is a common problem among people with ID and in services for people with ID. This paper aims to provide an overview of the views and preferences of people with ID on challenging behaviour. Method: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with thirteen adults with mild to moderate ID and seven proxies (family or close associates of adults with ID who were unable to communicate and/or with severe or profound ID) in the Netherlands. The interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Results: People with ID and (a history of) challenging behaviour have clear views and preferences on factors related to challenging behaviour, assessments, non‐pharmacological and pharmacological interventions and health professionals' approach. Conclusions: The identified views and preferences of people with ID are not always in accordance with current procedures and treatments for challenging behaviour and should be included in future care processes and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To construct a model of shared decision making (SDM) about cancer treatment by conducting an extensive consultation of stakeholders, informed by the literature.Methods: We interviewed 76 stakeholders: cancer patients, potential future patients, oncologists, nurses, and SDM-researchers. We asked, "If I say 'Doctors and patients making decisions together about cancer treatment,' what does this make you think about?" Ideas were further solicited by presenting 19 cards each describing a possible SDM element. Interviews were inductively coded and analysed, and the emerging themes were integrated into a model.Results: The model that was based on participants' views assigns specific roles in SDM to both oncologists and patients. Oncologists determine possible treatments, emphasise the importance of patients' opinion, explain treatment options, get to know patients, guide patients, and provide treatment recommendations. Patients ask questions, express thoughts and feelings, consider options, offer opinions, and decide or delegate decisions to oncologists. Outside consultations, patients search for information, prepare questions, and consider options.Conclusions: Next to oncologists' role, cancer patients also have a clear role in SDM about cancer treatment, during and outside consultations. Patients should receive the support they need to fulfil this requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selecting an appropriate set of views for materialisation is an important problem in a datawarehouse, and is referred to as the view selection problem. The existingstate‐of‐the‐art cost models select a set of views based on parameters, such asquery frequency, view size, view update frequency, and view update costs. Theexisting methods do not consider query priority as a parameter for selectingviews that can lead to shorter query processing times. Thus, in this paper,'priority' is selected as a new selection parameter. Priority values areassigned to each query per user requirements, as well as using query type,user's level, and department preference in an organisation. As analyticalqueries require aggregated data cubes, priority values are assigned to each datacube based on priority value of the queries accessing them. Finally, a modifiedcost model is designed that integrates cube priority along with other selectionparameters. The authors' proposed model uses the particle swarm optimisationalgorithm for selecting a set of prioritised cubes by minimising the total queryrunning cost under storage constraints. The experimental results shows that theproposed cost model leads to better cube selection, and consequently, shorterquery running times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controversial view agnosticism (CVA) is the thesis that we are rationally obligated to withhold judgment about a large portion of our beliefs in controversial subject areas, such as philosophy, religion, morality, and politics. Given that one's social identity is in no small part of a function of one's positive commitments in controversial areas, CVA has unsurprisingly been regarded as objectionably "spineless." That said, CVA seems like an unavoidable consequence of a prominent view in the epistemology of disagreement—conformism—according to which the rational response to discovering that someone you identify as an epistemic peer or expert about p disagrees with you vis‐à‐vis p is to withhold judgment. This paper proposes a novel way to maintain the core conciliatory insight without devolving into an agnosticism that is objectionably spineless. The approach offered takes as a starting point the observation that—for reasons that will be made clear—the contemporary debate has bypassed the issue of the reasonableness of maintaining, rather than giving up, representational states weaker than belief in controversial areas. The new position developed and defended here explores this overlooked space; what results is a kind of controversial view agnosticism that is compatible with the kinds of commitments that are integral to social identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examination success can be considered a passport to further education and, as a result, higher income and better health. Access arrangements (AAs) are intended to allow fair access to examinations for candidates with disabilities, including those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is a lack of research into how AAs should be organised for ASD candidates. Emerging evidence suggests a lack of student involvement in organising AAs in general. This case‐based action research involves students with ASD in deciding on their AAs, alongside members of school staff. Involving these students in organising their AAs improved their self‐esteem and allowed AAs to be closely tailored to individuals, both of which could lead to improved exam performance. Appropriate support to facilitate ASD student involvement is discussed. The novel concept of 'pre‐examination access facilitators' is highlighted, entailing support provided before an exam to facilitate access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to children's expressed needs and preferences can improve their self‐esteem and motivation for learning. However, some groups of children and young people may find it more difficult to express their needs and preferences. This article reviews the research evidence on methods used to gather the views of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who may have particular difficulties with social communication. From research databases, 20 relevant studies were identified. Semi‐structured interview was a frequently used method, but may be better suited to older, or more academically able, students. The effectiveness of interview methods can be improved by offering the student choice of interview location, by reducing distractions, and by the use of visual aids. Other potentially suitable methods included: oral, written or electronic diaries; use of drawings; use of photographs taken by the student; use of focus groups; and use of individually administered survey questionnaires. More focused evaluation by future researchers of the suitability of data‐gathering methods for participants with ASD would allow broader conclusions to be drawn about which methods work best and for whom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While child protection social workers (CPSWs) make decisions about which children with an injury need a medical examination, we do not know how they make these decisions. We aimed to ascertain the knowledge, attitudes and training of CPSWs in regards to assessing childhood bruising. Paediatricians' views on the bruising knowledge and training of CPSWs were also explored, as well as the relationship and communication between the two professions. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 39 CPSWs and 16 paediatricians across South Wales and South West England. Interviews were recorded and transcribed until data saturation was reached. Using NVivo, two independent assessors conducted a thematic analysis, identifying themes emerging from the data with group comparisons where appropriate. CPSWs lack confidence in assessing bruising with knowledge gaps regarding bruise patterns and the lack of evidence for ageing bruises. This appears to be linked to an almost complete lack of training. An important theme was that CPSWs regard the clinician's view as paramount, yet paediatricians feel that there is an over-expectation of what a child protection medical can conclude; this exemplified some of the communication issues between the professions. Evidence-based training of CPSWs is needed jointly by health and social care professionals, including an understanding of the respective roles. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages CPSWs lack confidence in assessing bruising characteristics associated with physical abuse, largely due to their lack of training., CPSWs' decisions to refer for medical examinations are strongly influenced by an exploration of history and key social factors, including chastisement strategies and the home environment., Paediatricians are unaware of CPSWs' training or knowledge, and thus have unrealistic expectations of their assessment of bruising characteristics., Communication between professionals could be improved by joint professional training in this area, providing current scientific evidence relating to bruises and an explicit explanation of the role of each in this assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution deals with systematic exploitation of logical reduction techniques to big distributed data handling. The particular applications are views and parallel updates over large-scale distributed databases as well as handling of queries over different generations of databases. Logical reduction techniques come in two favors. The first one: the syntactically defined translation schemes, which describe transformations of database schemes. They give rise to two induced maps, translations and transductions. Transductions describe the induced transformation of database instances and the translations describe the induced transformations of queries. The second one: Feferman-Vaught reductions, which are applied in situations of distributed databases. The reduction describes how the queries over a distributed database can be computed from queries over the components and queries over the index set. Combination and development of these techniques allow us to introduce the notion of strongly distributed databases. For such databases, we extend and generalize the known propagation techniques. The method allows unification of the distributed and parallel computation and communication as well as significant reduction of the communication load. The proposed general approach may be easily adopted to other distributed objects and their integration into large-scale systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIM The aim of this review was to provide an updated overview of awareness, knowledge and views of off-label prescribing in children. METHOD A literature search using electronic databases including PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Science Direct, Springer Link, Proquest, Ebsco Host and Google Scholar was conducted. Additional articles were identified by reviewing the bibliography of retrieved articles. The articles were searched with any of the following medical subject headings (MeSH) terms in the title: attitude, awareness, knowledge, experience, view, off-label, pediatric, paediatric and children. The inclusion criteria were full text articles published in English between January 2004 and February 2015 and reported outcome related to awareness, knowledge and views regarding off-label prescribing in children. Editorials, reviews, notes, conference proceedings, letters and studies reporting prevalence of off-label prescribing were excluded. The articles were scrutinized using thematic analysis. RESULTS Eleven studies conducted among doctors, community pharmacists, paediatric nurses, parents and children met the inclusion criteria. Nine themes were developed through document analysis which included main domains such as knowledge, awareness and views on off-label drug use in children, choice of information sources, reasons and suggestions to reduce off-label prescribing, concern regarding obtaining consent and participation in clinical trials. CONCLUSION The studies reviewed reported that the majority of doctors and community pharmacists were familiar with the term off-label prescribing but knowledge among parents was low. Awareness on off-label prescribing in children remains low among all study participants. There is a mismatch between views on off-label prescribing in children of study participants and the finding of previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I criticise a recent variety of argument for the representational theory of experience, which holds that the very idea of perceptual experience entails the representational view. I argue that the representational view is not simply obvious, nor is it contained in the mere idea of the world looking some way. I also clarify and re-present an argument against the representational view due to Charles Travis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common starting point for 'going hybrid' is the thought that moral discourse somehow combines belief and desire-like aspects, or is both descriptive and expressive. Hybrid meta-ethical theories aim to give an account of moral discourse that is sufficiently sensitive to both its cognitive and its affective, or descriptive and expressive, dimensions. They hold at least one of the following: (i) moral thought: moral judgements have belief and desire-like aspects or elements; (ii) moral language: moral utterances both ascribe properties and express desire-like attitudes. This entry concerns hybrid theories of moral language. The main division within such theories is between those treating the expression of desire-like attitudes (hereafter 'attitudes') as semantic and those treating it as pragmatic. This entry exclusively focuses on pragmatic forms of (ii) and examines the prospects for treating moral attitude expression as working via certain standard pragmatic mechanisms. I explain these mechanisms, outline the properties that standardly define them, and test to see whether moral attitude expression matches them. At the end, I briefly explain a more minimal pragmatic alternative. The main conclusions are that we should disregard presupposition and conventional implicature views and that the most plausible options for a pragmatic hybrid view are a generalised conversational implicature view and a more minimal pragmatic view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the debate over the ecosystem services (ES) concept that depicts the contrasting views and misconceptions. It mentions that ES concept is related to ethical concerns, translation in the science-policy interface, and the normative aims and optimistic assumptions that ES as a scientific approach.

Background Reuse of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) may help address the unmet need among patients in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods To examine Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) physicians' opinions regarding CIED reuse, an online survey eliciting attitudes toward CIED reuse was sent to all 3,380 HRS physician members. Results There were 429 responses (response rate 13%). A large majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that resterilization of devices for reimplantation in patients who cannot afford new devices may be safe (370, 87%) and, if proven to be safe, would be ethical (375, 88%). A total of 340 (81%) respondents would be comfortable asking their patients to consider donating their device, and 353 (84%) would be willing to reimplant a resterilized device if it were legal. The most commonly cited concerns about device reuse were infection (270, 64%) and device malfunction (125, 29%). Respondents from the United States and Canada had more favorable impressions of device reuse than respondents from other high-income countries (P < 0.05 for three of five positive statements regarding reuse), and were less likely to cite ethical concerns (P < 0.001). However, when responses from all high-income countries were compared with lower- and upper-middle income countries, there were no significant differences in the rates of approval. Conclusions HRS survey respondents support the concept of CIED reuse for patients in LMICs who cannot afford new devices. Studies are needed to demonstrate the clinical efficacy and safety of this practice and to identify potential barriers to adoption among physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sweden today, special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) are educated at universities to help resolve educational problems related to children in need of special support at three levels, that is, the organisational level, the classroom level and the individual level. Before the education of SENCOs was created in the early 1990s, special teachers were the occupational group that worked primarily on an individual level. Children's school problems were then seen as individual deficits. SENCOs can be seen as vanguards in changing an educational system from primarily focusing on an individual perspective to a broader focus on the entire learning environment. How has the occupational role of SENCOs affected schools? The overall aim of this study is to investigate possible changes within a school system when the introduction of a new occupational group, SENCOs, challenges established structures. More specifically, this paper studies how different occupational groups view where and in what ways SENCOs work and should work. Three different questionnaires are the basis of this analysis of SENCOs' present situation within the Swedish educational system. A number of interesting findings were detected in this study. For example, several occupational groups respond that SENCOs should work with individually taught special education. Meanwhile, a pattern emerges in which SENCOs seem to have partly established a new work role. However, little is known about how these changes affect children in need of special support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The current qualitative study was funded by the Judith Trust to investigate service users', support staff and community team members' views of the services currently provided to adults with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems and what they consider to be desirable qualities for staff to possess. Method In the first stage of the study, two focus groups were conducted with service users who have intellectual disabilities and mental health problems in addition to two focus groups with a variety of staff, all of who had recent experience of intellectual disabilities services. In the second stage, individual interviews were conducted with staff members employed in residential and community intellectual disabilities services. The number of participants totalled 54 (16 service users and 38 staff). A qualitative analysis ( IPA) was adopted to identify dominant themes in the discourse of these stakeholder groups. Results The analysis produced a number of themes that include: ' being interested', 'communication', 'competence-promoting support', 'past/present/future links', 'prevention', 'reviews and liaison', 'working with carers', 'looking after staff', 'staff training/supervision' and 'interface between services'. Conclusion A number of suggestions for improving services are identified and discussed in the context of current service policies and procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmacogenetics, the use of genetic information to direct safer and or more effective prescription of medication, is a relatively new clinical concept. Currently, there is no consensus regarding which healthcare professionals should deliver pharmacogenetic services. This study explored the opinions of genetic counselors about their potential role in delivering pharmacogenetic services. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 14 genetic counselors. Four vignettes describing pharmacogenetic testing scenarios were used to elicit views on specific clinical applications. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Opinions varied, but the majority of interviewees suggested that genetic counselors could have a role. However, participants suggested that additional training would be needed due to counselors' limited knowledge of pharmacogenetics. Employing genetic counselors in a specialist role within a multidisciplinary clinic was suggested as a model of service delivery. Service models developed for pharmacogenetic testing may need to be adapted according to the issues presented by each type of test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides the first comprehensive conceptual account for the imagistic mental machinery that allows us to travel through time-for the time machine in our mind. It is argued that language reveals this imagistic machine and how we use it. Findings from a range of cognitive fields are theoretically unified and a recent proposal about spatialized mental time travel is elaborated on. The following novel distinctions are offered: external versus internal viewing of time; ''watching' time versus projective ''travel' through time; optional versus obligatory mental time travel; mental time travel into anteriority or posteriority versus mental time travel into the past or future; single mental time travel versus nested dual mental time travel; mental time travel in episodic memory versus mental time travel in semantic memory; and ''seeing' versus ''sensing' mental imagery. Theoretical, empirical, and applied implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keyword image retrieval is now widely studied. By using such technologies, we can obtain images with the corresponding keywords easily. In the case of conventional image search systems, we basically search according to file names. However, the file names given are frequently incorrect. To resolve this problem, we propose an automatic keyword addition method for scenery images. In this paper, there are two important points. One is the image segmentation method using the maximum distance algorithm (MDA). The other is automatic keyword addition using the color features of regions. In the image segmentation method, we propose an automatic decision method for the parameters of the MDA. For this purpose, we investigate the relation between the optimal parameters and the features of regions. For the color feature extraction of regions, we propose a genetic algorithm (GA). Moreover, in order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, we provide simulation examples. The results of simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of keyword addition for scenery images. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 95(2): 39-49, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10364 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of the regular sequence of different views and the three-quarter view effect on the learning of unfamiliar faces by infants. 3-8-month-old infants were familiarized with unfamiliar female faces in either the regular condition (presenting 11 different face views from the frontal view to the left-side profile view in regular order) or the random condition (presenting the same 11 different face views in random order). Following the familiarization, infants were tested with a pair of a familiarized and a novel female face either in a three-quarter (Experiment 1) or in a profile view (Experiment 2). Results showed that only 6-8-month-old infants could identify a familiarized face in the regular condition when they were tested in three-quarter views. In contrast, 6-8-month-old infants showed no significant novelty preference in profile views. The results suggest that the regular sequence of different face views promotes the learning of unfamiliar faces by infants over 6 months old. Moreover, our findings imply that the three-quarter view effect appears in infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most philosophical accounts of causation take causal relations to obtain between individuals and events in virtue of nomological relations between properties of these individuals and events. Such views fail to take into account the consequences of the fact that in general the properties of individuals and events will depend upon mechanisms that realize those properties. In this paper I attempt to rectify this failure, and in so doing to provide an account of the causal relevance of higher-level properties. I do this by critiquing one prominent model of higher-level properties—Kim’s functional model of reduction—and contrasting it with a mechanistic approach to higher-level properties and causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent reviews of research regarding children in care have concluded that there remains little research which specifically focuses on young children. This paper presents the findings of research carried out with a sample of young children in care (aged 4–7 years) regarding their perspectives of their circumstances. The findings reveal that they have deeply held views regarding living with risk; removal from their families; unresolved feelings of guilt and loss; and not being listened to. This paper considers the implications of these findings for social work practice. It concludes by stressing the capacity of young children in care to express their perspectives, and the importance of practitioners seeking these views and incorporating them into assessment and decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the views of young people and their families who used an innovative, intensive home-based child and adolescent mental health service. We interviewed a sample of young people and their parents, who had used the service using a semi-structured interview designed to encourage reflection on the intensive home-based service. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and framework analysis undertaken. Key themes are discussed in the context of current strategic developments of children's services. We concluded that it is important for families to know what services are available, and feel that they have choice in treatment plans. Both positive and negative impacts on family life in caring for a young person with mental illness at home emerged as key themes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The definition of a good view of a 3D scene is highly subjective and strongly depends on both the scene content and the 3D application. Usually, camera placement is performed directly by the user, and that task may be laborious. Existing automatic virtual cameras guide the user by optimizing a single rule, e.g. maximizing the visible silhouette or the projected area. However, the use of a static pre-defined rule may fail in respecting the user's subjective understanding of the scene. This work introduces intelligent design galleries, a learning approach for subjective problems such as the camera placement. The interaction of the user with a design gallery teaches a statistical learning machine. The trained machine can then imitate the user, either by pre-selecting good views or by automatically placing the camera. The learning process relies on a Support Vector Machines for classifying views from a collection of descriptors, ranging from 2D image quality to 3D features visibility. Experiments of the automatic camera placement demonstrate that the proposed technique is efficient and handles scenes with occlusion and high depth complexities. This work also includes user validations of the intelligent gallery interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider the nexus existing between returning transnational migrants to Trinidad and Tobago's adaptation experiences, matters pertaining to their transnational life-paths, family and community experiences and their views on transnationalism and return. The research is based on an analysis of the detailed narratives provided by forty informants by means of semi-structured interviews. The informants consisted of nine ‘second-generation’, seven ‘one-and-a-half-generation’ and twenty-four ‘prolonged sojourner’ returning transnational migrants to Trinidad and Tobago. The main conceptual themes that characterise Caribbean transnationalism are presented at the beginning of the paper. Addressing these in the context of Trinidad and Tobago, we present our narrative-based findings under the following headings derived from analysis of our informant's experiences and views: transnational family and life-course issues; transnational community relationships; keeping in touch; transnational mobility and ‘home as fixed anchor’; transnational identity; transnational economic and commercial interests; and strategic flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents views of several ornithologists of what the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) means to them as members of this organization. According to its vice president from 1971-1981 Norman Moore, the all birds had simplified protection except a few pest species during his time. Moreover, Ian Newton, the president from 1999-2003, revealed that their organization during his term became more constrained by competing organizations, held conferences, and produced their own journals. In addition, Christopher Perrins, was very thankful for having a privilege to work with some scientists during his days in office in 2003-2007 as its president. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews Christopher Peacocke's account of self-knowledge. His proposal relies on the claim that first-order mental states may be given to a subject so as to function as reasons, from his point of view, for the corresponding self-ascriptions. Peacocke's Being Known elicits two different views of how that may be the case: a given propositional attitude is considered to be conscious if, on the one hand, there is something it is like to have it; and, on the other, if it can occupy a subject's attention without being an object of attention. I examine both views and conclude that, on the latter, Peacocke's proposal risks of not offering an independent reason for the self-ascription, and, on the former, of offering no reason at all. I then turn to some ideas from his The Realm of Reason and claim that they can help stabilise his earlier account only at the cost of surrendering internalism in the epistemology of psychological self-ascriptions and of contaminating internalist proposals about knowledge of any subject matter with an externalist base which would betray their point. Unless one doesn't want to pay this price, then Peacocke's account offers no solution to the problem of self-knowledge. 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A systematic review of children's and young people's views of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) was undertaken to identify the methods used, the ‘best practice’ methods, and the methods most effective in leading to service changes. Method: Electronic databases and grey literature were systematically searched. Both authors independently quality-appraised studies using a standard framework. Of 381 studies identified, only 13 were both relevant and of sufficient quality to be included in the review. Interviews, focus groups, brainstorming exercises, and questionnaires were the methods used. Results: No study reported a change of practice as a result of hearing children's and young people's views. Key Practitioner Message: So few studies have been adequately reported in the literature that it is difficult to make recommendations about good practice for undertaking views studies in CAMHS. Practitioners should use age-appropriate and rigorous methods, report findings clearly, and check beforehand that their organisation is willing and able to implement changes suggested by the young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the book "The Delirious Milton," by Gordon Teskey. The main theory behind Milton's poetry is that of his state of mind. He puts himself in the seat of the creator so that he is able to write from the view point of the founder and foundation of that he is writing about. It is this mind set that has given him the title or name of Delerious Milton.

Accessible summary • Listening to what young people with severe learning disabilities have to say about inclusion is important. • Researchers must be prepared to use a range of resources to facilitate communication. • Resources must be appropriate and familiar to the individual. This paper describes the evaluation of a drama production which involved 6 young people with profound and complex learning needs and 23 pupils from a mainstream school. The young people worked together on the project for nearly 2 years. At the end of the project we wanted to find out what the young people with disabilities thought of the inclusion project. Very often, the thoughts of young people with learning disabilities are not included because professionals do not have the resources or experience to conduct the interviews. This paper explains how the interviews were arranged, what tools were used and finishes with two case studies which are examples of what the young people thought. This research demonstrates that young people with severe learning disabilities have important messages to tell us about their experiences of inclusion. This paper gives examples of how we can enable young people with severe learning disabilities to express their views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents some key findings of qualitative research with older primary school children in Wales on their attachments to places and cultures. There is discussion of children's perspectives on the global, national and local arenas. We argue both that there are continuities with adult perspectives and that the children's views on place and identity need to be understood in the context of the social location of middle childhood. The study shows children making relatively little use of culturally-filled categories of local, national and global place-identifications. The differences they articulate are largely framed in terms of divisions between groups of people rather than in the characteristics of place, and generally related back to the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present studies sought to investigate the hedonic consequences of threat-identification skills at low and high levels of neuroticism. Such skills were assessed in terms of both speed (Study 1) and accuracy (Study 2) of identifying threatening objects in cognitive tasks. As predicted, threat-identification skills interacted with trait neuroticism in predicting subjective experiences. Specifically, individuals high in neuroticism experienced lower levels of negative affect during their everyday lives if they were also skilled in identifying threats in the cognitive tasks (Studies 1–2). Such skills did not matter at low levels of neuroticism. This interactive pattern was also replicated in the context of life domain satisfaction (Study 2). The results support the view that avoidance motivation encompasses multiple component processes, including some that are cognitive in nature, and specifically extends self-regulatory views of neuroticism. Of most importance, our data indicate that threat-identification skills can be hedonically beneficial, rather than costly, at high levels of neuroticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though responses to Stout's book, Democracy and Tradition, have touched on his discussion of rights, none has comprehensively examined his position on the subject. Having endorsed several objections Stout raises against some influential views on democracy and rights, this article proceeds to criticize Stout's description and theoretical account of the natural and human rights traditions. The central argument is that Stout cannot successfully both affirm the traditions and adhere to his account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the views of clergy regarding the conflict between science and religion, and about evolution, and creationism. For hundreds of years, there have been conflicts between science and religion. In the study, structured interviews with eight clergy and a religion professor were arranged. The survey was conducted to gather the views of clergy on compatibility between evolution, science, and religion. A majority of survey respondents agreed that God played a role in creation and evolution of life. They were of the view that the Bible was important, but it was not to be taken as a source of information for science classes. According to them, the Bible contains stories and myth, and should not be taken literally. Although science has helped to understand the Bible in a better way, but that doesn't make it a scientific text. In the process of evolution, the clergy agreed that natural selection was the process for generation of species. Regarding the relationship between science and religion, some of the clergy considered science and religion to be independent of each other, whereas, some of them were of the view that both of them are integrated.

The article focuses on teaching the nature of science (NOS) in a first-grade internship classroom. Due to educational reforms in science education in the U.S., teachers of all grade levels are encouraged to teach NOS to their students. Teachers need to understand the concepts of NOS themselves in order to teach the students. Many approaches are there to enhance the knowledge of teachers regarding NOS. But only improving the views of the teachers is not sufficient for this purpose, because only views cannot be translated into classroom practice. Science teacher educators are needed to develop informed views of NOS in elementary teachers and motivate them to teach the same in classrooms. They also need to translate the NOS views into classroom practice. Morgan, a preservice elementary teacher, had adequate knowledge regarding NOS, who had the experience of teaching NOS explicitly as a peer instructor at college level. Viewpoints of Morgan regarding teaching of NOS by preservice teachers in science education, and her methods of teaching the same were of great importance to determine the relevance of NOS education in primary classes.

This paper describes a method for generating virtual unfolded images on the basis of the results of organ wall extraction. The virtual unfolded image is a visualization of the inner wall surface of a cavity organ as a single image. In past research, the approximate shape of the considered organ has been constructed from the inner wall surface shape, obtained by extracting the air region inside the cavity organ. But the problem is encountered that folds on the inner wall surface are also stretched by the unfolding process, which prevents accurate reproduction of the shape in the unfolded image. Consequently, the unfolded image is generated in this study on the basis of information on the outer wall surface of the organ, which does not have folds and has a relatively smooth shape. Specifically, the change of the CT value is examined in the direction normal to the inner wall surface. The boundary of the considered organ is inferred and the organ wall region is extracted. The approximate shape of the organ is constructed from the extracted organ wall region, based on its outer wall surface, and then the unfolding processing is performed. The method was applied to six cases of three-dimensional abdominal X-ray CT images, and it was verified that satisfactory virtual unfolded views of the organ could be generated. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 88(8): 42–53, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20200 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about staffs' attitudes and experiences of legal abortion. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about the views of Swedish midwives and gynecologists on legal abortion. Another aim was to investigate differences between professions and possible impacting factors on these views.A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 258 midwives and 269 gynecologists. The response rate was 84%.The vast majority of all respondents supported the legislation on induced abortion. A great majority also believed that the woman alone should make the decision, and that abortion was not used as a form of contraception. Generally, there were smaller differences among views of female and male gynecologists than among views of female gynecologists and female midwives. For example, female midwives disagreed more than female gynecologists with the statement:‘Legal abortion should be permitted even if the woman has felt fetal movements’. The most impacting factors on views were the extent to which the staffs had been working with legal abortion, especially during the last year, and type of profession. Views were, however, not influenced by private experiences of legal abortion.The present study highlights that midwives and gynecologists overwhelmingly agree that legal abortion should be allowed. The more experience of working with legal abortion, especially current experience, the less restrictive gynecologists and midwives are in their views. Compared with previous studies, staffs have become more liberal in their attitudes toward abortion and the relevant legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a welcome recent shift towards taking account of the views of those who have traditionally been seen as lacking competence, including those with learning disabilities. Innovative methods have been devised to help people express their views and research demonstrates that people with learning disabilities can be taught this skill. However, none of this work has involved people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and serious doubts have been raised about the extent to which it is possible to ascertain the views of this group. Those operating at a preintentional level may not express, or have, views in the usually understood sense. Methods which attempt to ascertain the views of this group are highly inferential and it is often only possible to infer immediate preferences. It is important that the limitations of such methods are acknowledged. A case study is used to demonstrate that, in relation to major life decisions, taking account of a wide range of assessment information may give a clearer picture of the preferences of someone with profound and multiple learning disabilities than subjective interpretations of their behaviour or proxies. This should be combined with a focus on teaching the person so that they acquire as much control over their own lives as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]