Improving wheelchair prescription: an analysis of user needs and existing tools

Wheelchair users experience many situations that affect the stability and associated performance of their wheelchair. Stability is affected by user characteristics and abilities, environmental features and conditions, and wheelchair modification and accessories. Wheelchair prescribers need effective tools and methods to provide quantitative evaluation and prediction of the behavior of the user-wheelchair system in a variety of static and dynamic situations. Such information is very important to guide efficient management of associated risks and adjust chairs accordingly. This project involves a user-centered approach for design and evaluation of a load cell based wheelchair stability assessment system (Wheel-SAS). Here, the current methods for assessing stability are described, and their shortcomings explained. The user-centered design approach being applied to the development of the associated Wheel-SAS hardware and software is described. Future work including semi-structured interviews and an online survey with wheelchair prescribers and associated healthcare professionals for deriving user requirements and a design specification for a load cell system for measuring dynamic wheelchair stability are detailed.     

Manual flying skills under the influence of performance shaping factors

This paper describes an experimental study investigating pilots' manual flying skills. In today's line oriented flight training, basic flying skills are neglected frequently. So, the study examines the manual flying skills of commercial airline pilots under the influence of several performance shaping factors like training, practice or fatigue in a landing scenario. The landing phase shows a disproportionate high percentage of aircraft accidents and it is typically flown by hand. The study is to be undertaken with randomly selected pilots in a full motion flight simulator to ensure a high validity of the results.     

Reliability of professional judgments in forensic child sexual abuse evaluations: unsettled or unsettling science?

In the absence of photographic or DNA evidence, a credible eyewitness, or perpetrator confession, forensic evaluators in cases of alleged child sexual abuse must rely on psychosocial or "soft" evidence, often requiring substantial professional judgment for case determination. This article offers a three-part rebuttal to Herman's (2009 ) argument that forensic decisions based on psychosocial evidence are fundamentally unreliable and that this conclusion represents settled science. The article also discusses the potentially adverse consequences of Herman's proposed reforms to forensic practice on child protection and prosecution efforts.     

Schulman's urban lesbian: a hobosexual pedestrian rhetoric

The following article reads the protagonist in Sarah Schulman's Girls, Visions and Everything as not only lesbian, but as hobosexual-a concept representative of anti-capitalist practices in both sex and labor. The hobosexual is developed as an extension of the lesbian flaneur, as a concept that requires reading Schulman's urban lesbian at the intersection of class and sexuality. Lila Futuransky's sexual identity is suspended and complicated through an emphasis on her desire for queer mobility; her urban movements connect her to hobo history, but also expose the effects of capitalism that thwart her urban movement.     

Introduction: Special issue on Global Lesbian Cinema

This article offers a brief introduction to this special issue on Global Lesbian Cinema. This issue particularly highlights the importance of recognizing lesbian discourse as a separate, related piece of the discourse of queer transnational and global cinema. Subsequently, brief summaries of the eight articles of this collection are provided.     

Disability beliefs and help-seeking behavior of depressed Chinese-American patients in a primary care setting

In this study the authors assessed the effects of disability beliefs, conceptualization and labeling of emotional disabilities, and perceived barriers on help-seeking behaviors among depressed Chinese Americans in a primary care setting. Forty-two Chinese Americans participated in semistructured interviews using established psychological measures and open-ended questions adapted from the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue. The authors found that care utilization appears to be complicated by somatization of emotional problems, variations in causal attribution to depression, barriers to receiving mental health care, and the burden of comorbid physical conditions. Their findings highlight the importance of addressing these issues and educating patients about body-mind dialectic common to depression.     

A systematic review of education for the prevention of HIV/AIDS among older adults

Through a comprehensive literature search, the authors of this systematic review identified 21 articles focused on primary prevention of HIV/AIDS for adults aged 50 and over. Three major challenges to providing HIV/AIDS education for older adults include health professionals' ageism, older adults' reluctance to discuss sexuality, and their misconception of their HIV risk. Clinical guidelines for social workers, nurses, and physicians identified the importance of sharing information and assessing risk, considering cultural diversity, and devising creative delivery strategies. Three models of HIV/AIDS education include group education programs delivered by social workers or other health professionals, peer education models, and one-on-one early intervention models including HIV/AIDS testing. Additional outreach and research on HIV/AIDS prevention among older adults is needed.