‘Reasonable and necessary’ care: the challenge of operationalising the NDIS policy principle in allocating disability care in Australia

Disability reform in Australia centres on a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which aims to provide lifelong, individualised support based on the principle of ‘reasonable and necessary’ care. As a universal rights‐based scheme it represents a historical shift in allocation principles in Australia's disability policy. Nonetheless, attention will be on determining who receives what care given the diversity of personal and family contexts. The aim of this paper is to discuss the operational complexities of a principle of reasonable and necessary care with reference to the findings of a three‐year study on the experiences and perspectives of disability care of 25 adults with acquired disability, their 22 nominated family members and 18 service providers. Evidence from this study suggests enacting the principle of reasonable and necessary care and support will be problematic, in particular as it relates to personalising the level and scope of services, balancing formal and informal care, and principles of equity. The paper contributes to the literature about allocation principles in social policy and the challenges of implementation. Further, it provides an empirically informed discussion of some of the specific policy implementation challenges concerning the NDIS.     

Mixed ranked set sampling design

The main focus of agricultural, ecological and environmental studies is to develop well designed, cost-effective and efficient sampling designs. Ranked set sampling (RSS) is one method that leads to accomplish such objectives by incorporating expert knowledge to its advantage. In this paper, we propose an efficient sampling scheme, named mixed RSS (MxRSS), for estimation of the population mean and median. The MxRSS scheme is a suitable mixture of both simple random sampling (SRS) and RSS schemes. The MxRSS scheme provides an unbiased estimator of the population mean, and its variance is always less than the variance of sample mean based on SRS. For both symmetric and asymmetric populations, the mean and median estimators based on SRS, partial RSS (PRSS) and MxRSS schemes are compared. It turns out that the mean and median estimates under MxRSS scheme are more precise than those based on SRS scheme. Moreover, when estimating the mean of symmetric and some asymmetric populations, the mean estimates under MxRSS scheme are found to be more efficient than the mean estimates with PRSS scheme. An application to real data is also provided to illustrate the implementation of the proposed sampling scheme.     

Resource Description and Access: It’s Really Not So Bad

Abstract

This article provides a background for Comics Librarianship and the sources which can be, and are, used. The author describes the application of FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) for serials to the cataloging of the comic book format and ways to adapt these methods to flat MARC records, to aid in retrieval of items. Sample records are included for illustration of methods.     

Improved best linear unbiased estimators for the simple linear regression model using double ranked set sampling schemes

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we consider the best linear unbiased estimators (BLUEs) based on double ranked set sampling (DRSS) and ordered DRSS (ODRSS) schemes for the simple linear regression model with replicated observations. We assume three symmetric distributions for the random error term, i.e., normal, Laplace and some scale contaminated normal distributions. The proposed BLUEs under DRSS (BLUEs-DRSS) and ODRSS (BLUEs-ODRSS) are compared with the BLUEs based on ordered simple random sampling (OSRS), ranked set sampling (RSS), and ordered RSS (ORSS) schemes. These estimators are compared in terms of relative efficiency (RE), RE of determinant (RED), and RE of trace (RET). It is found that the BLUEs-ODRSS are uniformly better than the BLUEs based on OSRS, RSS, ORSS, and DRSS schemes. We also compare the estimators based on imperfect RSS (IRSS) schemes. It is worth mentioning here that the BLUEs under ordered imperfect DRSS (OIDRSS) are better than their counterparts based on IRSS, ordered IRSS (OIRSS), and imperfect DRSS (IDRSS) methods. Moreover, for sensitivity analysis of the BLUEs, we calculate REs and REDs of the BLUEs under the assumption of normality when in fact the parent distribution follows a non normal symmetric distribution. It turns out that even under violation of normality assumptions, BLUEs of the intercept and the slope parameters are found to be unbiased with equal REs under each sampling scheme. It is also observed that the BLUEs under ODRSS are more efficient than the existing BLUEs.     

Sensitive research with adolescents: just how upsetting are self-report surveys anyway?

Distress related to answering personal survey questions about drug use, suicidal behavior, and physical and sexual abuse were examined in multiple convenience samples of adolescents. Samples varied in consent procedures utilized (active vs. passive parental consent), data collection setting (school vs. juvenile justice), developmental level (middle school vs. high school). Participation rates differed across consent procedures (e.g., 93% with passive vs. 62% with active parental consent). Results indicated that small percentages of adolescents in every sample reported frequently feeling upset while completing the survey (range 2.5% to 7.6%). Age, race, gender, and data collection strategy did not emerge as significant predictors of feeling upset. Instead, as hypothesized, adolescents reporting a history of suicidal ideation or attempt, illicit drug use, or experiences of physical or sexual victimization endorsed more frequent feelings of upset while completing the survey than peers without these experiences. Taken together, however, these sensitive event experiences explained only 6.6% of the variance in adolescents' upset ratings. The scientific and ethical implications of these findings are discussed with regard to adolescent participation in survey research about sensitive topics.     

Preference for same-race health care providers and perceptions of interpersonal discrimination in health care

This article examines black Americans' preference for black health care providers. Using data from a national survey, we assess how blacks 'perceptions of discrimination are related to preference for same-race health care providers. Overall, the belief that discrimination is frequent in different-race doctor-patient dyads is associated with greater preference for a same-race provider However; the belief that discrimination occurs regardless of a doctor's race reduces preference for a same-race provider Finally, general perceptions of discrimination are distinct from concerns about personally being treated unfairly, and low personal concern about unfair treatment reduces preference for a same-race provider among those who believe that interpersonal discrimination occurs frequently. These results suggest a complex picture of how perceptions of discrimination influence preferred race of health care provider among blacks in the United States.     

Stem cell aging and cancer

Stem cells are capable of self-renewal, differentiation into various lineages, and proliferation; thus, they play critical roles in the functioning and maintenance of many biological systems. However, these unique qualities of stem cells also make them more vulnerable to mutations as the organism ages. The biggest risk factor in cancer development is age, and most scientists believe that cancers partly result from a buildup of mutations in different cell types over time. This accumulation of mutations takes place over the course of a person's lifetime, during which repeated rounds of cell division result in editing errors in the DNA. Genetic alterations can cause changes in the signaling pathways controlling proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. In the case of stem cells, such mutations would be passed on to all of the stem cell's progeny, ultimately resulting in a pool of stem cells that feeds neoplastic formation. Studies aiming to identify and characterize these putative cancer stem cells and to understand how they arise will shed light on the process of stem cell aging and its role in cancer.