Conflicting contexts: Midwives’ interpretation of childbirth through photo elicitation

IntroductionThis study seeks to explore midwives’ perceptions about childbirth and in particular their beliefs about normality and risk. In the current climate of increasing interventions during labour, it is important to understand the thought processes that impact on midwifery care in order to examine whether these beliefs influence midwifery clinical decision-making.Method12 Midwives who worked in a variety of metropolitan hospitals in Sydney, Australia were interviewed about how they care for women during labour. The study utilised an inductive qualitative design using photo elicitation during the interview process.ResultsSix themes emerged from the data that clearly indicated midwives felt challenged by working in a system dominated by an obstetric model of care that undermined midwifery autonomy in maintaining normal birth. These themes were: desiring normal, scanning the environment, constructing the context, navigating the way, relinquishing desire and reflecting on reality. Most midwives felt they were unable to practice in the manner they were philosophically aligned to, that is, promoting normal birth, as the medical model restricted their practice.DiscussionThe polarised views of childbirth held by midwives and obstetricians do little to enhance normal birth outcomes. Midwives in this study expressed frustration that they were unable to practice midwifery in a way that reflected their belief in normal birth. This, they cite is a result of the oppressive obstetric model prevalent in maternity care facilities in Sydney and the over use of technological interventions during childbirth.     

硼纤维/环氧树脂复合材料界面剪切强度实验分析

本文以0/90硼纤维/环氧树脂复合材料为研究对象,采用单纤维推出的实验方法对其界面剪切强度进行细观分析。在单纤维推出实验过程中,获得使界面脱粘失效的平均载荷,进一步推算出该材料脱粘失效时界面层的最大切应力,即复合材料界面切应力达到该值时,复合材料首先在界面处发生脱粘滑移进而失效破坏;实验结果显示,硼纤维/环氧树脂复合材料构件在界面切应力达到170MPa左右时,界面层开始脱粘失效。     

四手联弹在高师基础钢琴课教学中的运用

把四手联弹这种钢琴二重奏的演奏形式系统地引进高师基础钢琴课堂,以解决高师钢琴教学中学生难学、教师难教的现状,让课堂教学充满趣味性,让学生真正从中体会到学得快乐,学得轻松,学得进去,学有所成。基础钢琴四手联弹教学要注意以下问题：选好合作伙伴;选好曲目;加强起始音的练习,突出音乐表现力;运用好踏板。     

对高师现代汉语能力培养的思考——兼谈高师现代汉语课程教学法

高师现代汉语课程要培养学生语言教学与研究的意识和方法。语言研究和教学需要有统摄体系的理论思维能力,能兼顾知识和技能。文章对学生把握研究"足用"和教学"到位"的问题作了引导思路、形成系统、教学方法等方面的探讨。     

生成音位学重音规则解析交际英语歧义现象

运用“生成音位学”的基本原理和规则,可揭示词语结构元素的内在特征和元素的组织方式及其规律,并解析交际英语中连读、同音异义及句法结构等引起的歧义问题。生成音位学重音规则对指导交际英语和处理语音歧义问题的研究有着重要的意义,同时也为二语使用者处理交际语言歧义问题提供了理论依据。     

On the Edge: the Financial Situation of Older Renters in the Private Rental Market in Sydney

In this study, based mainly on 17 in‐depth interviews, I explore the financial implications of being an older private renter in Sydney. I illustrate that there are three key factors which determine their degree of financial stress – the actual rent being paid; the degree of support from family members and whether the older renter is living in a single or couple household. It is shown that several of the older renters interviewed found it hard to maintain their physical and mental health. The purchasing of basic items such as nutritious food and clothes was difficult. Having to devote such a substantial part of their income to cover the rent and never knowing when there would be another rent increase had a serious impact on the psychological health of some interviewees. The lack of finances encouraged isolation as interviewees found it financially difficult to participate in social activities.     

Life stress, social support, coping and depressive symptoms: a comparison between the general population and family caregivers

Major depression is one of the four most prevalent psychiatric diseases in Taiwan. Furthermore, a study showed that 45 per cent of the family caregivers of persons with persistent psychiatric disability were at risk of depression. The present study aimed at examining if caregivers experienced more depressive symptoms than the general population while controlling for other variables (direct effect), and if the constellation of correlates of depressive symptoms was different between the general population and caregivers (interaction effect). Data from 1979 subjects were gathered in a national survey, using stratified random sampling. The results revealed that the caregivers experienced significantly more depressive symptoms than the general population. However, the effect disappeared when other variables were taken into account. Life stress appeared to be more important than coping and social support. The other two common correlates of depressive symptoms were age and being unmarried. Relational stress mattered especially for caregivers. Lastly, social support variables were significant only for the general population; satisfaction with support could buffer the negative effect of survival stress on depressive symptoms.     

Effective interventions to promote child and family wellness: a study of outcomes of intervention through Children's Family Centres

This paper reports research carried out in Australia designed to evaluate the impact of family support interventions by comparing the views of families and their caseworkers with respect to the perceived benefits and outcomes of the interventions in the context of changes in family functioning and parent–child relationships, and the extent to which changes led to reduced involvement in protective services. The intervention was monitored over a six‐month period using a pre‐ and post‐test design, incorporating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the methodology. The paper discusses: problem domains identified; changes in caregivers’ level of distress, problem solving and learning ability, bonding style and use of discipline; parents’ and children's cooperation with the programme; and implications of the findings for policy and research methodology.     

On the sample characterization criterion for normal distributions

Conventionally, it was shown that the underlying distribution is normal if and only if the sample mean and sample variance from a random sample are independent. This paper focusses on the normal population characterization theorem by showing that, if the joint distribution of a skew normal sample follows certain multivariate skew normal distribution, the sample mean and sample variance are still independent.     

预测气液两相分层流界面剪切应力的新方法

针对水平管气液两相分层流界面剪切应力的预测，建立了基于计算流体力学（CFD）方法的剪切滑移壁面模 型，即将气液界面处理为固定的具有均匀剪切应力的水平滑移壁面。利用FLUENT 软件模拟了气相流动，气液界面采 用剪切滑移壁面边界条件，通过对比实验测量的气相流场分布得到气速和界面剪切收敛值，并由收敛值拟合得到界 面摩擦因子与气相雷诺数的关联式。应用这一关联式的预测结果与实验间接测量值吻合较好，并且在气、液相雷诺 数9 4006ReG650 000 和21 0006ReL630 000 范围内优于Taitel 和Dukler 与Sidi-Ali 和Gatignol 模型。表明剪切滑移壁 面模型可以有效地控制关键参数，提高预测效率和精度，为CFD 方法预测气液两相分层流界面剪切应力提供了新的 思路。