Accommodation Settings Research Articles

Tourism and Health Information System (THiS) in the Caribbean, June-September 2017

Objective: The new Tourism and Health Information System (THiS) was implemented for syndromic surveillance in visitor accommodations in the Caribbean region. The objective was to monitor for illnesses and potential outbreaks in visitor accommodations (hotels/guest houses) in the Caribbean in real-time using the web-based application.Introduction: Travel and tourism pose global health security risks via the introduction and spread of disease, as demonstrated by the H1N1 pandemic (2009), Chikungunya (2013), and recent Zika virus outbreak. In 2016, nearly 60 million persons visited the Caribbean. Historically no regional surveillance systems for illnesses in visitor populations existed. The Tourism and Health Information System (THiS), designed by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) from 2016-2017, is a new web-based application for syndromic surveillance in Caribbean accommodation settings, with real-time data analytics and aberration detection built in. Once an accommodation registers as part of the surveillance system, guests and staff can report their illness to front desk administration who then complete an online case questionnaire. Alternatively guests and staff from both registered and unregistered accommodations can self-report their illness using the online questionnaire in the THiS web application. Reported symptoms are applied against case definitions in real-time to generate the following syndromes: gastroenteritis, fever & respiratory symptoms, fever & haemorrhagic symptoms, fever & neurologic symptoms, undifferentiated fever, and fever & rash. Reported data is analyzed in real-time and displayed in a data analytic dashboard that is accessible to hotel/guest house management and surveillance officers at the Ministry of Health. Data analytics include syndrome trends over time, gender and age breakdown, and illness attack rates.Methods: Visitor accommodations from the following countries participated: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos Islands. National staff from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism, and/or Tourism Authority/Board engaged accommodations to participate. Participating accommodations were provided with training by national staff on how to report cases and use data analytic functions. They were asked to provide registration information to CARPHA, such as contact information to create login credentials, and data on occupancy rates for low/high seasons, number of staff, and number of lodging rooms to calculate illness attack rates. Weekly email reminders to accommodations to report cases of illness in the THiS web application, or to confirm 'nil' cases by email were sent by CARPHA staff.Results: Of the 105 accommodations engaged by national staff, 39.1% (n=41) registered to participate, accounting for 3738 lodging rooms. From epidemiological week 24-39, five cases of syndromes from three accommodations in two countries were reported in the THiS web application (Table). A case of gastroenteritis and fever & respiratory symptoms were self-reported from an unregistered accommodation. Three cases of gastroenteritis were reported by hotel administration from two registered accommodations. The average response rate to weekly emails confirming 'nil' cases was 32.1% (range: 10.5-83.3%). One accommodation reported by email a cluster of 7 cases with possible conjuctivitis. No outbreaks or aberrations were detected in the THiS web application.Conclusions: Engagement of Caribbean visitor accommodations in public health surveillance is a novel but critical undertaking for promoting health, safety, and security for both visitors and locals in the tourism dependent Caribbean region, but it will take time to establish. Confirming the absence of illness is an important public health endeavor for visitor accommodations. Preliminary results have demonstrated that it is possible for public health to work in a voluntary basis with the private accommodation sector. To establish more consistent and reliable reporting public health legislation and policies will need to be explored. As more data is gathered, assessments of the validity and sensitivity of the system will need to be conducted.

Reducing challenging behaviour of adults with intellectual disabilities in supported accommodation: A cluster randomized controlled trial of setting-wide positive behaviour support

BackgroundImproving the quality of social care through the implementation of setting-wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS) may reduce and prevent challenging behaviour. MethodTwenty-four supported accommodation settings were randomized to experimental or control conditions. Settings in both groups had access to individualized PBS either via the organisation’s Behaviour Support Team or from external professionals. Additionally, within the experimental group, social care practice was reviewed and improvement programmes set going. Progress was supported through coaching managers and staff to enhance their performance and draw more effectively on existing resources, and through monthly monitoring over 8–11 months. Quality of support, quality of life and challenging behaviour were measured at baseline and after intervention with challenging behaviour being additionally measured at long-term follow-up 12–18 months later. ResultsFollowing intervention there were significant changes to social care practice and quality of support in the experimental group. Ratings of challenging behaviour declined significantly more in the experimental group and the difference between groups was maintained at follow-up. There was no significant difference between the groups in measurement of quality of life. Staff, family members and professionals evaluated the intervention and its outcomes positively. ConclusionsSome challenging behaviour in social care settings may be prevented by SWPBS that improves the quality of support provided to individuals.

Is There a Downside of Job Accommodations? An Employee Perspective on Individual Change Processes.

By modifying the work environments, work routines, and work tasks of employees with health restrictions, organizations can effectively help them continue to perform their jobs successfully. As such, job accommodations are an effective tool to secure the continued employment of aging workers who develop disabilities across their life span. However, while accommodations tackle health-related performance problems, they might create new challenges on the part of the affected employee. Building on the organizational change and accommodations literatures, we propose a theoretical framework of negative experiences during accommodation processes and apply it to qualitative data from group interviews with 73 manufacturing workers at a German industrial company who were part of the company's job accommodation program. Although problems associated with health-related impairments were mostly solved by accommodation, affected employees with disabilities reported about interpersonal problems and conflicts similar to those that typically occur during organizational change. Lack of social support as well as poor communication and information were raised as criticisms. Furthermore, our findings indicate that discrimination, bullying, and maltreatment appear to be common during accommodation processes. To make accommodation processes more successful, we derive recommendations from the organizational change literature and apply it to the accommodation context. We also emphasize unique characteristics of the accommodation setting and translate these into practical implications.

Prevalence and Sensitivity of Bacilli and Pseudomonas in the Newborn's Oral Cavity.

The aim of this study was to isolate Enterobacteria and Pseudomonas from the oral cavity of hospitalized newborns (NB) and determine their prevalence and the sensitivity profile to most commonly used antibiotics for this age group. Samples from the oral cavity of NB from 24 to 48 h age were collected using swabs. The samples were inoculated on MacConkey agar, incubated and the colonies counted and identified. For each strain, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using agar dilution test. Tests for enterobacteria producing extended spectrumβ-lactamases (ESBL) were performed using agar diffusion. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. Two of the isolated strains were submitted to the susceptibility test in biofilm. Of the collected samples, 8% presented Enterobacteria (mean of 6,141 CFU/mL) and no Pseudomona species was isolated. Positive samples were from NB in accommodation set or in the NB nursery. Enterobacter was the most prevalent genus and some strains were resistant to ampicillin, gentamicin and cephalothin. No ESBL strain was detected. Microorganisms in biofilms were resistant to all antibiotics, with concentrations four times higher than MIC. The presence of enterobacteria in the oral cavity of newborns, especially some strains resistant to normally used antibiotics, warns to the need for care to avoid the early colonization of this niche and the occurrence of a possible hospital infection in this age group.

Commentary on Zirkel: Judicial Rulings Specific to FBAs or BIPs Under the IDEA and Corollary State Laws—An Update

The authors discuss the journal article by Perry Zirkel on legal action in regard to functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs). They contend that the Zirkel article opens larger questions that will be central to ongoing discussions at the national, state, district, school, and family levels. Such issues include the role of legal standards to guide quality education, specifically special education; the response of families, communities, and school personnel to problem behaviors; and a focus on the development of a full set of accommodations that result in academic, social, and physical growth rather than just FBA and BIPs.

Framing Appropriate Accommodations in Terms of Individual Need: Examining the Fit of Four Approaches to Selecting Test Accommodations of English Language Learners

ABSTRACTProviding appropriate test accommodations to most English language learners (ELLs) is important to facilitate meaningful inferences about learning. This study compared teacher large-scale test accommodation recommendations to those from a literature- and practitioner-grounded accommodation selection taxonomy. The taxonomy links student-specific needs, strengths, and schooling experiences to large-scale test accommodation recommendations that differentially minimize barriers of access for students with different profiles. A blind panel of experts rated four sets of recommendations for each of 114 ELLs. Results found the taxonomy was a significantly better fit for distinguishing accommodations by student need than teacher recommendations. Further, the fit of teacher recommendations showed no difference when the teacher used a structured data collection procedure to gather profile information about each of their ELLs and when they did not, and teachers’ recommendations were not found to differ significantly from a random set of accommodations. Findings are consistent with previous literature that suggests the task of matching specific accommodations to individual needs, rather than the task of identifying individual needs, is where teachers struggle in recommending appropriate test accommodations.

Time–space variability of paralic strata deposited in a high accommodation, high sediment supply setting: example from the Cretaceous of Utah

Abstract A previously unstudied section of the John Henry Member (Upper Cretaceous, Straight Cliffs Formation) preserves four stacked regressive–transgressive cycles of paralic strata from the Kaiparowits Plateau in south-central Utah. Meso-scale (10–100 s m thick) shoreface, wave-dominated delta and estuarine depositional environments stack vertically and show the complexity of paralic facies in a single location through time. Correlations with nearby exposures show the palaeogeographical variability updip and along-strike over c. 6.5 myr. Such variability highlights the importance of high accommodation settings in preserving transgressive deposits, including landwards-stepping barrier island and lagoon systems. The Buck Hollow section is expanded two to three times compared with correlative successions only 15–40 km away. Tectonics, eustasy and climate contributed to relative shifts in base level, but these regional controls do not explain the dramatic local thickening observed. Local controls on accommodation were quantified through decompaction analysis. The results showed that the expanded thickness of the John Henry Member in Buck Hollow can be explained by differences in decompaction ( c. 9%), local erosion by fluvial incision ( c. 5%), early compaction ( c. 30%) and local structures such as faults ( c. 100–150%). This outcrop-based study illustrates facies variability within a thick paralic succession and investigates accommodation controls on the preservation of these strata with the goal of improving predictive models for analogous deposits. Supplementary material: 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age data methods and sample location available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3277436.v1

The architecture and variability of valley-fill deposits within the Cretaceous McMurray Formation, Shell Albian Sands Lease, northeast Alberta

Abstract This study focuses on the stratigraphy and internal architecture within the middle/upper portion of the McMurray Formation as seen at the Shell Albian Sands Lease (Rge 10W4M and Rge 9W4M along Twp 95), NE Alberta. Based on facies patterns and stratal relationships mapped from borehole data and mine exposures a number of conclusions can be made regarding architecture of the middle-to-upper McMurray including: 1) the informal subdivision of the McMurray into middle and upper units, 2) general environments of deposition, 3) the character of the stratigraphic framework, 4) the inferred accommodation setting. Key findings of this work include the following: Subdivision of the McMurray Formation into middle and upper units based on upward change from inclined estuarine strata to flat bedded nearshore marine and coastal plain strata is feasible through much of the study area. However, the boundary displays considerable complexity and is not characterized by a single stratigraphic surface or contact that can be correlated across the study area. Facies and bedding characteristics indicate a significant portion of the IHS was deposited by tidal bars rather than tidal-fluvial point bars as most previous studies assigned the facies to. The middle-to-upper McMurray section is subdivided by a series of high relief unconformities. The morphology of the unconformities suggests they are erosional valleys filled with a transgressive succession of facies that ranges from fluvial or inner estuarine at the base to outer estuarine or nearshore marine at the top. Estuarine and nearshore marine strata within the valley fills show considerable variation in the amount of tide versus wave influence. Initial valley fills are tide-influenced whereas later valley fills show a progressive increase in wave influence. The progressive change in tide versus wave influence is interpreted to reflect a change in shoreline morphology from an initial shoreline setting that was highly embayed to a final shoreline setting that was linear to weakly embayed. The middle-to-upper McMurray largely fills in accommodation space created by changes in relative sea level. Structural subsidence associated with the dissolution of the Prairie Evaporite was likely occurring but to a lesser extent than with the lower McMurray. As a result, stratal relationships within the middle-to-upper McMurray are relatively flat and not strongly correlated with relief on the Pre-Cretaceous unconformity. The stratigraphic architecture of the contrasts sharply with the lower McMurray where widespread unconformities are not observed and facies patterns are controlled by subsidence patterns related to dissolution and collapse of the underlying Devonian Prairie Evaporite.

Women Entrepreneurship of Bangladesh: A Contextual Study on Beauty Parlor Business of Rangpur Expanse

Women can play imperative role to economies of a country from any derivation of glassy. Bangladesh is a developing country, the women of Bangladesh is deprived and discriminated for many reasons. But it is an optimistic achievement is that they are now levitation their action to empower themselves. By this study it is shown that general status of women entrepreneurship of Bangladesh special deliberation of Rangpur region from the scenarios and the problems of the beauty parlor business of north Bengal. About 96.67% beauty caring women customer using these services on the other hand most of the beauty parlor is dominated by the women. 75% beauty parlor is maintained by the sole proprietorship. Moreover the women of this region is very aware of their self-reliant matter besides facing some social problems, ethical problem, funding problem, women business recognition problem, accommodation setting problem lacking of overall assistant-ship of the government specially focusing on the beauty parlor business expansion that spectacles as one of the best portion of women entrepreneurship pictures of Bangladesh. To ascertain the gist figures it is steered open-ended question at the outset and secondary data as per the requirements of descriptive analysis of the study. The study acclaimed a model (Sbs-model) that developed by the author for the enactment of business corresponding beauty parlor business in Bangladesh for several concerns that may relax to the women who are involved of such business and who wants to. At all this study cognize the subjects of beauty parlor business of Bangladesh of the north Bengal about the problems and prospects issues to empower the women and intensifying women entrepreneurship of Bangladesh.

Late Devonian Carbonate Margins and Foreslopes of the Lennard Shelf, Canning Basin, Western Australia, Part A: Development During Backstepping and the Aggradation-To-Progradation Transition

Abstract Carbonate reefal margin and foreslope settings are characteristically heterogeneous and difficult to predict due to a spectrum of sediment source factories, resedimentation processes, resultant deposit types, and controlling parameters. In particular, the effects of changes in long-term accommodation on the composition, architecture, and sediment distribution patterns of carbonate margin–foreslope–basin systems are poorly understood. Upper Devonian (Frasnian) outcrop exposures along the Lennard Shelf, northeast Canning Basin, Western Australia, were investigated to assess the development of reefal margin and foreslope settings during long-term 1) platform backstepping with aggradational pulses, and 2) across the transition from platform aggradation to progradation. Measured sections tied to interpreted photomosaics and detailed mapping using aerial photographs were collected from the South Lawford Range and Windjana Gorge areas. The exposures reveal distinctive differences in foreslope grain composition, deposit characteristics and proportions, margin morphology, and stratigraphic expression 1) during platform evolution between backstepping events, and 2) depending on position within the long-term accommodation setting. Between backstepping events, aggradational margins can be classified as “growth escarpments” with associated grain-dominated, onlapping foreslope deposits. Margins across the long-term transition from aggradation to progradation evolved from erosional escarpments with onlapping debris deposits to accretionary, interfingering configurations. Development of growth escarpments between backstepping events was a function of vertical reefal growth from sustained high accommodation conditions during the long-term transgressive systems tract, coupled with a Frasnian reefal assemblage that responded to light and tracked relative sea level. This net vertical reefal growth also resulted in relative margin stability and the deposition of grain-dominated foreslopes. Conversely, margins were highly unstable and underwent repeated failure across the long-term aggradation-to-progradation transition, reflecting a lack of underlying substrate to support basinward advance, and resulting in debris-dominated foreslopes. These observations provide relationships that predict margin and foreslope associations of facies-scale heterogeneity and seismic-scale geometry within a low-frequency sequence stratigraphic framework.

Is the level of institutionalisation found in psychiatric housing services associated with the severity of illness and the functional impairment of the patients? A patient record analysis.

BackgroundIn this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether clinical, social, financial, and care variables were associated with different accommodation settings for individuals suffering from severe and persistent mental disorders.MethodElectronic record data of 250 patients who fulfilled the criteria for persistent and severe mental illness were used. Multiple linear regression models were applied to analyse associations between the types and the costs of housing services and the patients’ severity of illness, their functional impairment, and their socio-demographic characteristics.ResultsWe identified 50 patients living at home without need for additional housing support who were receiving outpatient treatment, 41 patients living in the community with outpatient housing support, 23 patients living with foster families for adults, 45 patients living in group homes with 12-h staff cover, 10 patients living in group homes with 24-h staff, and 81 patients living in psychiatric nursing homes. While this housing differed largely in the level of institutionalisation and also in the costs of accommodation, these differences were not related to a patient’s severity of disease or in their functional impairment. In particular, patients living in nursing homes had a slightly higher level of functioning compared to those living in the community without welfare housing services. Only where patients were subject to guardianship was there a significant association with an increased level of institutionalisation.ConclusionsOur study suggests that the level of institutionalisation and the associated costs of welfare housing services do not accurately reflect the severity of illness or the level of functional impairment of the patients there are designed to support. The limitations of the study design and the data do not allow for conclusions about causal relationships or generalisation of the findings to other regions. Therefore, further prospective studies are needed to assess the adequacy of the setting assignment of patients with persistent severe mental illness into different types of housing settings with appropriate (also welfare) services.

Effects of spending time outdoors in daylight on the psychosocial well-being of older people and their family carers: a systematic review

BACKGROUND A range of studies found that spending time outdoors in daylight provided substantial benefits for the psychosocial well-being of older people. Good psychosocial well-being is essential in maintaining overall health as people age and often contributes to adequate physical functioning. OBJECTIVES The overall objective of this study was to undertake a systematic review on the effects of spending time outdoors in daylight on the psychosocial well-being of older people and their family carers. INCLUSION CRITERIA Types of participants: This review considered studies that included older people aged 55 years or more, including those living in a community or residential accommodation setting. In addition, this review considered family carers, who were defined as unpaid relatives or friends of an older person, who helped that individual with their activities of daily living. Types of intervention(s): The intervention of interest was spending time outdoors in daylight. Types of studies: All experimental and epidemiological study designs including randomized controlled trials and non-randomized controlled trials published in the English language were included in this review. Types of outcomes: This review considered studies that included objective and/or subjective measures of psychosocial well-being for older people and their family carers. SEARCH STRATEGY The search aimed to find published and unpublished studies through electronic databases, reference lists, key reports and the World Wide Web. An extensive search was undertaken for the following databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Wiley Online Library, ProQuest Central, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library. Databases were searched up to December 2013. METHODOLOGICAL QUALITY Methodological quality was assessed independently by three reviewers using the Joanna Briggs Institute Meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI) checklists. Disagreements that arose between the reviewers were resolved through discussion. DATA COLLECTION Quantitative data were extracted from papers included in the review using the standardized data extraction tool from JBI-MAStARI. The data was individually extracted by two reviewers. Disagreements that arose between the reviewers were resolved through discussion. All results were subject to double data entry. DATA SYNTHESIS For this review statistical pooling of the data was not possible due to the heterogeneity of the studies; therefore, the findings are presented in narrative form. RESULTS A total of 13 studies were included in the final review. In the four studies that evaluated the effects of exposure to daylight on behavioral disturbances, there was no evidence of effect of daylight hours on physical and verbal aggression. There was some evidence to indicate that exposure to daylight for a period of time resulted in fewer depressive symptoms. Increasing the frequency of going outdoors was associated with better cognitive preservation over a one year period. Similarly exposure to daylight resulted in improved social functioning and improved quality of life. There were no studies that evaluated the effect of spending time outdoors in daylight on the psychosocial well-being of family carers, including carer satisfaction or carer stress. CONCLUSIONS There is insufficient high-quality evidence from which conclusions can be drawn for the effect of spending time outdoors in daylight on the psychosocial TRUNCATED AT 500 WORDS

Accommodation set in a university hospital: postpartum depression in nurses’ perspective

Accommodation set in a university hospital: postpartum depression in nurses’ perspective

Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World Edited by Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Izumi Tsuji (review)

Reviewed by: Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World Edited by Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Izumi Tsuji D. P. Martinez (bio) Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World. Edited by Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Izumi Tsuji. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2012. xxxi, 320 pages. $35.00, paper; $35.00, E-book. Fandom Unbound is a wonderful and welcome addition to the increasing body of work on Japanese popular culture and mass media. While some of the volume’s chapters are a few years out of date and the occasional need for a native English speaker to have proofread the text becomes apparent, these are minor quibbles to note about a volume that provides English-language readers with a predominantly Japanese perspective on an important aspect of its own society. The otaku (“your house,” in this case a Japanese man who spends his time at home on the computer and/or is obsessed with anime and manga) subculture, as Mizuko Ito notes in her introduction, “has evolved as a complex set of resistances and accommodations to modernity, mainstream culture, and other subcultures” (p. xxi). Not only has otaku culture evolved, but it has merged in other societies, particularly in the United [End Page 469] States, with local concepts such as that of the “nerd” to produce an international culture “grounded precisely in its ability to resist totalizing global narratives such as nationalism” (ibid., p. xviii). For social scientists, it is this international aspect of the new media technologies that is important: how do the growth in computer technologies, fan conventions, and individual appropriations lead to new creativities, relationships, hierarchies of knowledge, and connections around the world? While there does exist a literature exploring these issues from a Western perspective, led by the pioneering work of the sociologist Henry Jenkins on fandom,1 the work by Japanese social scientists is largely missing from this canon. Given that one of the very first publications on the Japanese mass media, The Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture,2 was coedited by the eminent Japanese sociologist Hidetoshi Kato, the omission of the Japanese perspective from the booming literature on Japan’s mass media is rather glaring. As Fandom Unbound illustrates, it is well worth becoming familiar with the work of Japanese specialists. The volume consists of an introduction by Ito and three sections: “Culture and Discourse,” “Infrastructure and Place,” and “Community and Identity,” each comprising four chapters. The topics covered by the first section include Izumi Tsuji’s study of “train” otaku as setting the scene for a discursive approach to a social history of the imagination; an excerpt from Hiroki Azuma’s book on otaku as “Database Animals”; Akihiro Kitada’s chapter on “Japan’s Cynical Nationalism”; and Lawrence Eng’s overview of the U.S. otaku scene, “Strategies of Engagement.” These chapters are fascinating for different reasons. Azuma’s database animals, for example, remind me of recent anthropological theories on the posthuman in postmodernity, while Tsuji’s study of how contemporary otaku culture owes something to early rail fanatics (or trainspotters) had me making various global connections. The fascination with trains is not solely Japanese—the Lumière brothers made L’Arrivèe d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat (1895) as one of their first short films. This marvelous sequence of a steam train pulling into Ciotat station astounded audiences around the world in the late nineteenth century and was probably included in the selections of their work shown in Japan as early as 1898. The first narrative film, The Great Train Robbery, directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1903, is another [End Page 470] example of how film as a mass medium immediately engaged with modern technologies and of how creative cross-fertilizations among these technologies are not confined to the postmodern era. In fact, Kitada’s chapter on cynical nationalism depicts the process of cross-fertilization in exemplary detail. This chapter looks at Densha otaku (Train man): a novel, manga, television series, and finally a film that began as Internet postings on the anarchic 2channel. The various narratives of how an otaku sought online advice in order to woo a beautiful young woman he met...

Análisis de sobrevivencia para la estimación de tiempo adicional como adecuación para la aplicación en una prueba estandarizada

This study presents a method for predicting the time required to complete standardized tests for populations that received accommodations, time is calculated according to variables related to the classification area and the approved accommodations. The population that took the Academic Aptitude Test (PAA) of the University of Costa Rica with accommodations between 2009 and 2011 was used as a sample. Parametric survival models, where the variables were the set of accommodations offered in each area, were estimated, and these variables were reduced by a stepwise process. Estimations of the time required for people classified into learning and ADHD areas, as well as certain subsets of the other areas, were obtained

Storm‐dominated shelf‐edge delta successions in a high accommodation setting: The palaeo‐Orinoco Delta (Mayaro Formation), Columbus Basin, South‐East Trinidad

AbstractPliocene age deposits of the palaeo‐Orinoco Delta are evaluated in the Mayaro Formation, which crops out along the western margin of the Columbus Basin in south‐east Trinidad. This sandstone‐dominated interval records the diachronous, basinwards migration of the shelf edge of the palaeo‐Orinoco Delta, as it prograded eastwards during the Pliocene–Pleistocene (ca 3·5 Ma). The basin setting was characterized by exceptionally high rates of growth‐fault controlled sediment supply and accommodation space creation resulting in a gross basin‐fill of around 12 km, with some of the highest subsidence rates in the world (ca 5 to 10 m ka−1). This analysis demonstrates that the Mayaro Formation was deposited within large and mainly wave‐influenced shelf‐edge deltas. These are manifested as multiple stacks of coarsening upward parasequences at scales ranging from tens to hundreds of metres in thickness, which are dominated by storm‐influenced and wave‐influenced proximal delta‐front sandstones with extensive, amalgamated swaley and hummocky cross‐stratification. These proximal delta‐front successions pass gradationally downwards into 10s to 100 m thick distal delta front to mud‐dominated upper slope deposits characterized by a wide variety of sedimentary processes, including distal river flood and storm‐related currents, slumps and other gravity flows. Isolated and subordinate sandstone bodies occur as gully fills, while extensive soft sediment deformation attests to the high sedimentation rates along a slope within a tectonically active basin. The vertical stratigraphic organization of the facies associations, together with the often cryptic nature of parasequence stacking patterns and sequence stratigraphic surfaces, are the combined product of the rapid rates of accommodation space creation, high rates of sediment supply and glacio‐eustasy in the 40 to 100 Ka Milankovitch frequency range. The stratigraphic framework described herein contrasts strikingly with that described from passive continental margins, but compares favourably to other tectonically active, deltaic settings (for example, the Baram Delta Province of north‐west Borneo).

Accommodation-based coal cycles and significant surface correlation of low-accommodation Lower Cretaceous coal seams, Lloydminster heavy oil field, Alberta, Canada: Implications for coal quality distribution

Sequence stratigraphy and coal cycles based on accommodation trends were investigated in the coal-bearing Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group in the Lloydminster heavy oil field, eastern Alberta. The study area is in a low accommodation setting on the cratonic margin of the Western Canada sedimentary basin. Geophysical log correlation of coal seams, shoreface facies, and the identification of incised valleys has produced a sequence-stratigraphic framework for petrographic data from 3 cored and 115 geophysical-logged wells. Maceral analysis, telovitrinite reflectance, and fluorescence measurements were taken from a total of 206 samples. Three terrestrial depositional environments were interpreted from the petrographic data: ombrotrophic mire coal, limnotelmatic mire coal, and carbonaceous shale horizons. Accommodation-based coal (wetting- and drying-upward) cycles represent trends in depositional environment shifts, and these cycles were used to investigate the development and preservation of the coal seams across the study area. The low-accommodation strata are characterized by a high-frequency occurrence of significant surfaces, coal seam splitting, paleosol, and incised-valley development. Three sequence boundary unconformities are identified in only 20 m (66 ft) of strata. Coal cycle correlations illustrate that each coal seam in this study area was not produced by a single peat-accumulation episode but as an amalgamation of a series of depositional events. Complex relations between the Cummings and Lloydminster coal seams are caused by the lateral fragmentation of strata resulting from the removal of sediment by subaerial erosion or periods of nondeposition. Syndepositional faulting of the underlying basement rock changed local accommodation space and increased the complexity of the coal cycle development. This study represents a low-accommodation example from a spectrum of stratigraphic studies that have been used to establish a terrestrial sequence-stratigraphic model. The frequency of changes in coal seam quality is an important control on methane distribution within coalbed methane reservoirs and resource calculations in coal mining. A depositional model based on the coal cycle correlations, as shown by this study, can provide coal quality prediction for coalbed methane exploration, reservoir completions, and coal mining.

Fluvial architecture variations linked to changes in accommodation space: Río Chico Formation (Late Paleocene), Golfo San Jorge basin, Argentina

The Upper Paleocene Río Chico Formation is a 50–180m thick fluvial succession developed in a passive-margin setting, Golfo San Jorge basin, Central Patagonia, Argentina. A detailed description and interpretation of outcrops was carried out, analyzing exposures from the northern basin margin to the most complete successions at the southern depocenter. The unit is characterized by a regional fluvial system that flowed to the south-east. Five main lithofacies associations were defined: (I) active fluvial channels, with three sub-types: braided, meandering and low-sinuosity, (II) sheet-flood deposits, (III) proximal floodplain (natural levee and crevasse-splay), (IV) distal floodplain, and (V) abandoned channels.Lateral/vertical changes in fluvial architecture of the Río Chico Formation were recognized by variations in preserved thickness, fluvial styles, geometry of fluvial channels, regional paleoflow directions, and channel/floodplain ratios. Close to the northern basin margin, the fluvial succession is 50–60m thick, composed of braided channels, sheet-flow deposits, and high channel/floodplain ratio. In a basinward direction, the alluvial succession increases to 180m in thickness, the dominant fluvial styles change to low-sinuosity and meandering channels and channel/floodplain ratio reduces.The fluvial architecture of the Río Chico Formation shows two main depositional trends that resulted from changes in accommodation space across the basin. The interpreted break-point coincides with the underlying Cretaceous basin-boundary, thus the synsedimentary extensional reactivation of the pre-existing tectonic lineament generated differential subsidence, delimiting two different accommodation settings.

Outcrop-based characterization of the Leonardian carbonate platform in west Texas: Implications for sequence-stratigraphic styles in the Lower Permian

The Sierra Diablo Mountains of west Texas contain world-class exposures of Lower Permian (Leonardian) platform carbonates. As such, these outcrops offer key insights into the products of carbonate deposition in the transitional icehouse to greenhouse setting of the early to middle Permian that are available in few other places. They also afford an excellent basis for examining how styles of facies and sequence development vary between inner and outer platform settings. We collected detailed data on the facies composition and architecture of lower Leonardian high-frequency cycles and sequences from outcrops that provide more than 2 mi (3 km) of continuous exposure. We used these data to define facies stacking patterns along depositional dip across the platform in both low- and high-accommodation settings and to document how these patterns vary systematically among and within sequences. Like icehouse and waning icehouse successions elsewhere, Leonardian platform deposits are highly cyclic; cycles dominantly comprise aggradational upward-shallowing facies successions that vary according to accommodation setting. Cycles stack into longer duration high-frequency sequences (HFSs) that exhibit systematic variations in facies and cycle architectures. Unlike cycles, HFSs can comprise symmetrical upward-shallowing or upward-deepening facies stacks. High-frequency sequences are not readily definable from one-dimensional stratigraphic sections but require dip-parallel two-dimensional sections and, in most cases, HFS boundaries are best defined in middle platform settings where facies contrast and offset are greatest. These studies demonstrate that HFSs are the dominant architectural element in many platform systems. As such, the lessons learned from these remarkable outcrops provide a sound basis for understanding and modeling carbonate facies architecture in other carbonate-platform successions, especially those of the middle to upper Permian.

Acute Stress Reactions and Associated Factors in the Help-Seekers after the L’Aquila Earthquake

Background: The assessment of acute stress reactions and psychiatric symptomatology shortly after the occurrence of a traumatic catastrophic event, like an earthquake, is essential for implementing relief activities and for the identification of the long-term aftermath. The aim of our study was to assess the psychological distress and the occurrence of acute stress disorder (ASD) among individuals seeking help at the General Hospital Psychiatric Unit at San Salvatore Hospital following the earthquake at L’Aquila. Factors (sociodemographic, coping strategies, event-related and postevent variables) associated with the acute stress reactions were also assessed. Methods: For the first 4 weeks following the earthquake, 122 help-seekers were assessed with a checklist of traumatic-event-related variables. Measurement instruments included the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ) for the detection of ASD according to DSM-IV criteria, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for assessing psychological distress, and the Brief Cope questionnaire for assessing coping strategies. Results: Despite the high level of psychological distress (GHQ-12 ≥20, cut-off value) found in 65.6% of the subjects, only 6 subjects (4.9%) could be considered affected by ‘full’ ASD, whereas 48 subjects (39.3%) could be considered affected by ‘partial’ ASD, which is defined as showing at least one symptom on each DSM-IV criterion as evidenced by scoring higher than 3 on each SASRQ scale. The strongest predictor of traumatic stress reactions among all the predictor variables included in our study was having been trapped/injured under rubble during the earthquake, and among earthquake stressors (explaining 20% of variance in our model), a weaker predictor was the loss of personal privacy because of home displacement. In our model, more variance (39%) was explained when individual psychopathological variables and coping styles were also included as predictors. Showing coping strategies as exhibiting ‘behavioural disengagement’ or ‘requesting emotional support from others’ were found to increase the likelihood of a positive estimate of being an ‘ASD case’, while the adoption of an ‘acceptance’ coping style seemed to reduce the likelihood of the positive estimate of being an ‘ASD case’. Conclusions: This study underlines the importance of identifying ASD subsyndromal cases and taking appropriate intervention/prevention measures that focus on giving psychological support to individuals trapped/injured under rubble, showing a low acceptance of reality. A relevant underestimated source of distress was the dislocation in large accommodation settings (such as large tent camps) in which individuals lack privacy.