Background {#Sec1}
==========

The closure of psychiatric hospitals and the integration of patients into communities has stimulated growth in supported accommodation with investment in a variety of residential, semi-supported and independent living situations for people with long-term needs \[[@CR1], [@CR2]\] a process viewed by some commentators as 're-institutionalisation' \[[@CR3], [@CR4]\]. While the precise models and terminology used to describe supported accommodation varies between countries \[[@CR2], [@CR5]--[@CR7]\], most countries that have undergone deinstitutionalisation provide a range of services with different levels of support at different costs \[[@CR3], [@CR8]\]. This paper takes the three most common supported accommodation services in use in the United Kingdom (UK), residential care, supported housing and floating outreach, to explore the aims and experiences of effective practice.

Adequate housing and support with activities of daily living are crucial to maintaining rehabilitation and reducing disability for adults with mental health problems \[[@CR9]--[@CR11]\]. Furthermore, housing problems can contribute to relapse and further hospital admissions \[[@CR10], [@CR12]\]. Therefore, accommodation services form an integral component of a whole system rehabilitation pathway for adults with mental health problems \[[@CR13]\]. However, less is known about what these services aim to do, and what they actually do in terms of supporting clients to progress \[[@CR14], [@CR15]\], with variability noted in service provision, differential improvement in social functioning and low rates of discharge \[[@CR16], [@CR17]\]. An understanding is needed on what works for clients in supported accommodation and if all of the goals of these services translate into practice. Whether different models of support actually enable progress towards greater independence.

As part of the rehabilitation pathway in the UK, clients are expected to move through these various forms of supported accommodation. It is estimated that around 60,000 people with complex mental health needs access government funded specialist supported accommodation services in England at significant cost \[[@CR18]--[@CR20]\]. Clients are expected to develop skills and confidence, transitioning from higher support services to lower support, with the eventual aim of managing a tenancy with minimal or no support \[[@CR13]\]. Despite their importance and cost to the taxpayer, there is scant evidence about the various forms of supported accommodation and how effective they are in aiding this transition. A recent geographically representative survey of over 150 supported accommodation services in England, indicated few differences between services in client characteristics or in the support provided by staff with personal care and activities of daily living \[[@CR15]\].

An in-depth approach is required to understand the identified gap in what service providers and users think residential care, supported housing and floating outreach are meant to be doing, and how effective they are in doing this \[[@CR21]\]. If models of supported accommodation have a similar client base and provide similar support, what are the components that enable change and progression to independence? We conducted qualitative interviews to facilitate an understanding of the goals and mechanisms that support change and progress through lived examples. Although not representative of the entire population, a qualitative approach permitted exploration of staff and clients' potentially differing views on the purpose and experience of supported accommodation services through two related research questions: What are the goals and purpose of supported accommodation services? What factors promote effective practice in supported accommodation services?

Method {#Sec2}
======

Setting {#Sec3}
-------

This study was conducted in England and included the three main types of mental health supported accommodation: residential care, supported housing and floating outreach services \[[@CR15]\]. Residential care homes are staffed 24 h a day, seven days a week, with a high level of support provided, including meals, cleaning, personal care and supervision with medication. Clients share communal facilities and placements tend not to be time-limited, although clients can be supported to transition to more independent settings. Supported housing services can be provided as shared or individual tenancies with staff on-site available most of the day (up to 24 h). Placements are usually time-limited, with services supporting clients to gain skills needed to move to a more independent living situation. Floating outreach services provide staff visiting clients living in time-unlimited independent tenancies. Staff support clients emotionally and assist them to take on more and more responsibility to manage practical tasks (shopping, cooking, cleaning, budgeting, etc.), with the aim of being able to reduce and stop visiting staff support over time \[[@CR15]\].

Sampling and recruitment {#Sec4}
------------------------

The study sample was recruited from clients participating in a national survey of supported accommodation services in England. This qualitative study and the national survey were part of a five year programme of research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR, RP-PG-0610-10,097) on the Quality and Effectiveness of Supported Tenancies for people with mental health problems (the QuEST study). The services that participated in this survey were selected from a nationally representative sample of 14 Local Authority areas across England. The areas were systematically sampled, based on their ranking on an index score that combined measures of: local mental health morbidity; social deprivation; level of urbanicity; provision of community mental health care; provision of residential care; mental health care spend; and housing demand \[[@CR22]\]. Services from each of the three main supported accommodation service types were approached to participate in this qualitative component of the QuEST study by contacting the first service in each area of each service type recruited to the national survey. Where a particular service type was not represented in an area, or the one service of that particular type declined to participate in the survey, we recruited a service from the next area by ascending index rank score. From the 14 areas sampled in the survey, 11 areas spanning the index were represented in the qualitative component. From these 11 areas, 10 staff and 10 clients were recruited from each of three service types to participate in the interviews.

We purposively sampled the 30 clients based on age, gender, service type and length of stay in the service. Service managers provided demographic summarises of the client base and staff within their service, based on this information and knowledge of previously recruited participants to the service type, researchers stratified this information and aimed to recruit subsequent participant types that were not currently represented in the sample. In addition, the 30 staff members were recruited to ensure variation in seniority and experience. We aimed to recruit approximately 15 service managers and 15 support staff from across the three service types.

The researchers aimed to recruit an equal gender split by service type where possible (some services were exclusively, or majority, male or female in composition). Researchers purposively approached 30 staff members to capture variation in seniority and experience, researchers also attempted to recruit approximately half of the staff from the managers in these services, and the remaining half from direct care and support staff.

Data collection and analysis {#Sec5}
----------------------------

The researchers invited staff and clients to be interviewed between October 2013 and July 2014. Potential participants were given an information sheet outlining the study, and were informed that the interview would involve questions about their experiences and views of working or living in supported accommodation services accordingly. Those who verbally agreed to participate were contacted by the researcher to set up the date, time and location (usually a private meeting room in the service, or the client's room/flat) to gain written consent and to conduct the interview.

Topic guides (for staff and clients) were developed by members of the QuEST project management group (comprising all co-authors), the QuEST service user reference group, and the researchers conducting the interviews (SS, IH, JK & PM). The topic guides covered four areas: i) purpose and aims of the service, ii) positive aspects of the service, iii) negative aspects of the service, and iv) facilitators and barriers to progressing towards more independent living. We explored the experiences, preferences and views of the participants using specific questions; flexible prompts and probes were used to obtain more in-depth responses. Participants were asked to give examples and/or further explain their experiences, significant events and critical issues that could have a bearing on the goals or effectiveness of a supported accommodation service.

The research team aimed to approach data collection and analysis without a priori hypotheses or to test a particular theory. We attempted to cultivate an approach of 'mindful inquiry' to note, accept and transcend the influence of our own professional and experiential views and experiences on the interviews process, interpretation and analysis \[[@CR23]\]. In terms of methodological approach, we took a critical realist approach to data collection and analysis, viewing participants' talk as grounded in reality, but with an awareness of the influence of our subjectivity in the interpretation process of the analysis, as well as the social context of the interview \[[@CR24]\].

The interviews were transcribed and anonymised prior to being entered into NVivo 10 software \[[@CR25]\] for data management and coding. Transcripts were subsequently subjected to inductive semantic thematic analysis \[[@CR26]\]. Transcripts were read and re-read for familiarisation. The main research questions formed the basis for the initial coding frame. To capture chronologies, critical events and the comparative perspectives between service types and participant groups, coding was based on the search for patterns, such as similar and different occurrences and processes. We also noted any attributions or explanations for these. Coding was iterative to ensure that important points in the transcripts were recognised and encoded to describe and organise observations prior to interpretation \[[@CR27], [@CR28]\]. The transcripts were initially coded by one researcher, with a second checking the consistency and credibility of interpretations for a random selection of 20% of the coded interviews.

Conceptually similar codes were grouped to form categories, which were then grouped to form candidate themes. The analytic process for generating candidate themes was collaborative and involved discussions between the lead investigators (HK, GL and SP) and the researchers (IH, JK, PM and SS) to identify tentative categories and themes that were consistent between clients and staff across the service settings. We used acknowledged guidelines for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research \[[@CR29], [@CR30]\], with potential themes assessed for credibility, applicability, constancy and confirmability in relation to the transcripts and research questions. Interpretation of the themes was monitored by the QuEST project management group and service user reference group. For quality assurance, the conduct of the study and reporting of the results was in line with the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) \[[@CR31]\]. The finalised thematic structure, with interpretation of the themes and supporting quotations, is presented in the results.

Results {#Sec6}
=======

Participants {#Sec7}
------------

Main participant characteristics by the three service types are presented in Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}. Thirty clients were interviewed with a mean age of 40 years, slightly more were male (*n* = 17). Client duration of stay in the current supported accommodation service ranged from three months to 14 years, with a mean of three years and four months. Eighteen support workers (60%) and 12 service managers (40%) participated in the staff interviews. Most were female (*n* = 18, 60%), with a mean age of 45 years and a mean duration of working in the supported accommodation service of six and a half years (range of 3 months to 22 years). Staff in all three service types also tended to use the term 'client' most frequently in reference to those they supported in their service. For this reason, the reporting of the themes has adopted the term 'client' to adequately reflect the consistent terminology in these settings. The duration of the interviews lasted between 16 and 63 min.Table 1Client, staff and service characteristics by supported accommodation service typeMean (s.d.)/n by service typeCharacteristicsResidential CareSupported HousingFloating OutreachAll ServicesClients*n* = 10*n* = 10*n* = 10*n* = 30 Mean age45.4 (16.3)33.8 (9.3)39.8 (13.3)39.7 (13.7) Male65617 Female45413 Mean years in current accommodation service3.7 (3.9)4.2 (4.5)2.1 (1.2)3.3 (3.5) Range3 months -- 14 years8 months -- 11.5 years7 months -- 4 years3 months -- 14 years Previous accommodation situation  Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit0202  Community Rehabilitation Unit2002  Residential Care Home1102  Supported Housing (staffed 24 h)0033  Supported Housing (staffed \<24 h)3126  Temporary Accommodation (e.g. bed and breakfast, night shelter/hostel)1102  Rented Property0134  Family Home3429Staff*n* = 10*n* = 10*n* = 10*n* = 30 Mean age52 (11.2)39.5 (12.5)43.6 (10.3)45.0 (12.2) Male52512 Female58518 Manager/Deputy Manager53412 Support Worker57618 Mean years working in the service8.2 (8.1)6.3 (6.4)4.9 (4.7)6.5 (6.5) Range3 months -- 22 years8 months -- 20 years7 months -- 14 years3 months -- 22 yearsService*n* = 10*n* = 10*n* = 10*n* = 30 Mean number of clients in service14.4 (5.1)13.9 (6.9)29.8 (15.5)19.4 (12.4) Mean number of staff in service15.4 (9.5)9.6 (9.1)6.9 (6)10.6 (8.8)

The goals and purposes of supported accommodation {#Sec8}
-------------------------------------------------

Four related themes captured staff and clients' views of the purpose and goals of supported accommodation services: building independence; building confidence; supporting people with their mental health; and providing safety and stability. However, these themes contrasted with a fifth theme regarding anxiety about the continuity of support when a client moves on from a service. Staff tended to have greater clarity across the service types on what the purpose of the service was for, than the clients did. The frequency of these themes amongst the staff and clients is presented in Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"}, and by service type in Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}.Table 2Frequency of themes by participantsParticipantsThemeClientsStaffTotal*Goals and purposes of support accommodation*303060Building independence243054Supporting people with their mental health151833Providing safety and stability61522Building Confidence91221Competing theme - Anxiety about the continuity of support231841*Helps and aids effective practice in supported accommodation*303060The supportive presence of others253055Incremental steps262955Working together to avoid deskilling and dependency282755Feeling known and personally understood232649Tailored support for social and community engagement261743Building confidence through encouragement82735 Table 3Frequency of themes by participant's service typeParticipant's Service TypeThemeResidential CareSupported HousingFloating Outreach*Goals and purposes of support accommodation*303060Building independence191520Supporting people with their mental health81312Providing safety and stability868Building Confidence849Competing theme - Anxiety about the continuity of support141215*Helps and aids effective practice in supported accommodation*303060The supportive presence of others201916Incremental steps181918Working together to avoid deskilling and dependency191719Feeling known and personally understood191317Tailored support for social and community engagement161512Building confidence through encouragement101213

Building independence {#Sec9}
---------------------

Building the capacity for independent living in the community was the predominant goal discussed by service staff and clients. Supported accommodation staff were viewed as standby support for the client, guiding clients through practical experiences to gain independence, a role differentiated from that of other mental health service staff; where staff are analogous to 'life coaches', and the support is metaphorically similar to a 'crutch' or 'stepping stone'.""We don't treat people, but we are more like life coaches now. We have kind of....our main role is to help people to maintain their independence, maintain their tenancies, stay in their own home basically." (manager floating outreach s.01)." ""...a place where there's support, somewhere where I could get back on my feet, which is actually what this place is, you know, based on. It's like a kind of stepping stone, you know what I mean?" (client residential care s.03)"

Staff in all service types acknowledged the limitation of viewing greater independence as equating to a move to more independent accommodation. Thus, building independence was determined by the individual capacity and needs of the client; helping individual clients to progress their lives in a holistic way. Building independence was variously interpreted as clients becoming less reliant on services through the accomplishment of everyday tasks and maintaining their home or, more ambitiously, developing the client's personal interests and goals beyond accommodation.""...we've got some clients here that we would imagine maybe in two years' time they'd be able to live either in a minimum support setting; with a view to their moving to independent. Whereas there's other people here that they would...you know, that is probably not within their reach, for various reasons. So that is... you know, then our job is to work with them to find out what their likes or dislikes are, what they need to \[do\], to have a good quality of life and independence really." (manager residential care s.67)"

A strongly expressed desire for clients in floating outreach services was the pursuit of 'normalisation', that is, to have the same experiences as other people.""I never thought about it, but it will be great if I became normal like everyone else -- could manage everything I want to do, could go like find a job and do some work and feel like everyone else -- you know? I wish to one day become like that so I could live independently; I'd really love that -- you know? And then become like normal: have a car, have a house or girlfriend or anything you know? Be like everyone else. " (client floating outreach s.40)"

Building confidence {#Sec10}
-------------------

Another goal of the services was that of building confidence. Clients reported an inability to cope or to do things they once could, often attributed to a lack or loss of confidence. Services were perceived as supporting clients to gain competence in a particular domain in order to help them to build confidence in themselves and their capabilities. Regaining confidence was considered crucial to skill acquisition and a prerequisite to mobilise clients to access their full potential. There was a difference by service type in terms of the importance placed on building confidence as a purpose of the service. Staff and clients in supported housing were less likely to perceive this as a goal of the service (see Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}) than those in the other service types.""Well I'm getting my confidence back, 'cos I haven't had my confidence for a long while, and I'm getting more respectful towards people and I'm starting to see life in a different way now...." (client residential care s.17)" ""I think in the main what it does is it helps develop their feelings of confidence about being able to deal with situations that may not be terrifically familiar, or by which they feel quite threatened, so that they learn how to do it in a more measured way so the confidence comes up, and the next time a similar situation comes around I can say well look, do you remember what we did last time?" (support worker floating outreach s.92)"

Supporting people with their mental health {#Sec11}
------------------------------------------

Staff and clients alike agreed that an integral element of supported accommodation was to promote and support the mental health of the clients through addressing their daily living and social needs. For example, assisting a client with an activity they were concerned about, in order to reduce their anxiety and prevent deteriorating mental health. This view of bolstering mental health was generally couched in social interaction and engagement terms rather than medical intervention. Addressing problems or issues identified in the client's social environment that impact on their mental health.""Now, if there are four things that are from a social perspective -- if you like, that have an impact on someone's mental health, if you take those away then you're looking at...I suppose better mental health. So I would focus on that. The clinical stuff...there are nurses and people and doctors that will look after that element." (manager floating outreach s.56)"

Staff and some clients openly stated that they were living in the supported accommodation because of their mental health and the impact this was having on them personally or people close to them. For other clients, it was only after they had moved into supported accommodation that they realised why they were there, feeling that they had little or no involvement in the decision prior to the move. It was not until they began to receive services that they gained a better understanding of the purpose in terms of specifically supporting them with their mental health and associated problems.""I still kind of wasn't very well -- mentally I mean -- and they said oh, we decided that, you need to go into a Home. So I thought they meant elderly people. So I was sat there like: 'Do you want me to go into an elderly person's home?' Then they said no, the mental health places. So I kind of...because I'd been independent -- living with friends and stuff -- at first I didn't really get it, and then obviously I didn't...wasn't very happy but when I came here, obviously yeah, I realised that now it was the right decision, and that I did need the support." (client supported housing s.98)"

Staff and clients in residential care were least likely to mention supporting people with their mental health as the purpose of the service, with residential care services more often managing debilitating physical health conditions that required personal care or supervision. In these cases the mental health needs became secondary.

Providing safety and stability {#Sec12}
------------------------------

Providing safety and stability through structured support was regarded as a goal by half of the staff interviewed, and a quarter of the clients. The service was viewed as providing a safe and stable living environment in which to monitor and reduce risks. Thus, both sets of participants acknowledged the need for services to provide emotional reassurance and formal risk management, but staff were considerably more likely to mention safety and stability as a goal of the service than clients were to perceive it as such. The purpose of the service was considered as a 'safety net' providing a reliable support network for the client, across all service types.""I kept like moving around all the time, or like I didn't...I don't really get on very well with shared accommodation -- and that's kind of a lot of the accommodation I was in. So it was basically I needed somewhere stable." (client supported housing s.52)" ""...purpose like of this service I think is for safety, security so it's that basic...that's what if you ask any of \[th\]em, that's what they say straight away -- is that they feel safe and secure. And somebody who cares. Basically, well it's giving them reassurance that, when they do go out -- I'm thinking of \[*client*\], when he does go out, that nobody's trying to hurt him. Just that reassurance that he will be safe, and if he does have any problems all he's got to do is come back to me and I will give him the reassurance..." (support worker residential care s.80)"

Anxiety about the continuity of support {#Sec13}
---------------------------------------

A paradoxical consequence of building confidence and creating a safe and secure living environment was the increased likelihood that this would lead to further change. Most participants discussed their anxiety about the uncertainty and potential lack of support when clients move on from a service. Thus, engendering safety and security can also reduce a client's desire for change. Clients feared changes in their support might harm their progress. Most worried about their ability to cope and manage daily tasks in a new environment. The thought of moving on or severing ties with the service resulted in anxieties about losing their safety net.""The anxiety's always been there, it's not just anxiety it's things that like I know I wouldn't cope in a flat on me own..." (client supported housing s.95)" ""Yeah that's because, you know everyone wants to be safe and secure whether, you know whether you're ill or not, so to have that in the back of your mind to know that you've got a place for life, you know is good, but then at the same time, you know you can get caught in a trap and then you think well you know something's a bit too safe and you don't wanna move on 'cos you know you get scared of change." (client floating outreach s.76)"

Confronted by such fears, some staff were often dissuaded from pursuing move-on with clients when they anticipated this response.""...we've tried it once with one person and it was a no-go. As I say I think it's a safety blanket, and I think it's a case of not so much us approaching them but them approaching us if they're ready to move. Because I think if they start to worry and panic and think 'I'm going to lose me home'..." (manager support housing s.97)"

Helping and aiding effective practice in supported accommodation {#Sec14}
----------------------------------------------------------------

Despite the resistance to move on, staff and clients related examples of effective practice in supported accommodation. Six interrelated themes captured these: (i) the supportive presence of others; (ii) incremental steps to progress; (iii) working together to avoid deskilling and dependency; (iv) feeling known and personally understood; (v) tailored support for social and community engagement; and (vi) building confidence through encouragement. The frequency of these themes amongst the staff and clients is presented in Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"}, and by service type in Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}.

The supportive presence of others {#Sec15}
---------------------------------

The support of other staff and residents was considered essential to positive outcomes. Clients reported the presence of others was helpful in terms of feeling safe, reassured, comforted, and afforded the opportunity to engage with others to share similar experiences. When the service promoted respectful interactions between clients this created fertile ground for nurturing protective and personally valued relationships within the service. Clients and staff in floating outreach were least likely to mention the supportive presence of others, as staff would often be required to deliver access to others, or would be the main supportive presence in the client's life.""Yeah, I'm not very good at living alone. So just having...if anything goes wrong for me I've got, I've got the support... yeah residents as well actually. But I've lived in supported accommodation because of the having other people around helps really." (client residential care s.67)" ""We might not have actually touched on anything...serious, but just that, just that chin-wag, just that interaction with somebody that's going through the same thing as you is...it's just, you can't put a price on that." (client supported housing s.69)" ""And I think, like I say...just from taking these ladies to the coffee mornings they have...you know it's not for everybody but, you know you can see that they've made friends, they've interacted with people, they've...you know they've shared stories and also I think...it's empowering really because you can help each other and sort of give each other tips on how you cope with your mental health.." (support worker floating outreach s.71)"

However, other clients could also provoked tension and frustration and some people described how the atmosphere created by excessively noisy, inappropriate or disrespectful clients contributed to conflict. Staff frequently used mediation and early intervention methods to deal with tension and resolve conflict between clients in residential care and supported housing. Some clients would also mediate when tension arose between fellow clients. Staff acknowledged the benefit of sharing information and involving others from within the service and professionals from outside to support appropriate decision making.""..One person hadn't been taking their medication, was on Clozapine, became quite poorly quite quickly and was quite intimidating to another one of the tenants, and staff intervened pretty quick and basically take them aside, diffuse them...calm the situation down, get in touch with the CPN, and unfortunately that person was admitted to hospital, but sometimes that does happen." (manager supported housing s.97)"

Incremental steps to progress {#Sec16}
-----------------------------

Incremental steps were essential to increasing a client's independence and willingness to move on. This was done through: breaking down concerns into more manageable steps; reducing support hours; moving the client into purpose built less supported 'stepdown accommodation' within the service; or continued short-term transitional support after a client had moved to their new accommodation. Essentially, clients viewed services as helpful if they felt they received adequate preparation and support during the process of moving to their new accommodation rather than being abandoned.""We have a lady and she was really, really poorly when she came to us, very low self-esteem, very anxious, very depressed, very paranoid -- wouldn't eat or drink off the table \[stayed in bed\]. We've taken little steps with her -- she is now at the stage where she's going out on public transport, she's now going out to activities, she's now attending appointments on her own, she's confident in making telephone calls and we think we've done really well with her." (manager residential care s.61)" ""It won't be shared; it'll be a one-bedroom flat and I will get some support when I move from here, like the safety and support workers that support you for a few months. So they don't just chuck you out -- like you have got something." (client supported accommodation s.52)"

A phased reduction in support helped build a client's confidence with a skill or activity. Support planning and formal key-working sessions with clients allowed staff to identify goals and assess the potential limitations in achieving them.""So it's discussed at every support plan - they happen monthly, two-monthly, three-monthly, depending on what the client's needs are, so we just discuss about moving on, if it's moving on from accommodation-based, or whether it's to another accommodation setting that they require, but we'll also discuss about the steps towards independent living and what services or support needs to take place to achieve that." (manager floating outreach s.94)"

Working together to avoid deskilling and dependency {#Sec17}
---------------------------------------------------

While deskilling and disempowering clients and creating dependency were common concerns irrespective of service type, these negative outcomes could be avoided through joint decision-making in which a process of managed autonomy encouraged partnership working between clients and staff, rather than one of paternalism. Giving advice to clients, prompts, reminders, and sharing distinct parts of an activity were given as examples of this joint effort.""....what we're aware of as well is there's always a chance you can deskill people, and that's what we're very aware of; that we don't wanna bring somebody into support like this and then take away the skills they've already learnt by offering too much support if that makes sense -- that all your meals are provided here: that's deskilling somebody...We always try and keep those people, when they come in to us, if they've got those skills we don't want them to lose it." (support worker supported housing s.19)" ""You...you've got two sides of the coin, because you've got help being offered right? Um, but also you've got to help yourself. They go hand-in-hand as it were -- if you're not prepared to help yourself then she's wasting her time, and that sort of motivates me." (client floating outreach s.87)"

Feeling known and personally understood {#Sec18}
---------------------------------------

Staff-client trust was essential to help the client feel personally understood and their personhood recognised. This demanded a process of familiarisation and mutual respect, which permitted openness in addressing the client's needs and risks. This involved questions about client preferences and involving them in decisions. This theme was more commonly mentioned by staff and clients in residential care and floating outreach where proximity and one-to-one time were more readily available to build relationships.""..she's aware that I'm intelligent enough to kind of look after myself, but just a little bit sort of overwhelmed with a load of stuff that's been going on so...and that's what's made me fall behind and kind of lose track and things. But from her part kind of using her skills to try and sort of ascertain like what do I need to be doing for this guy and what can he do for himself?\....it's kind of been almost tailor-made for me, which I suspect is sort of a credit to \[support worker's\] kind of people skills." (client floating outreach s.71)" ""...a necessary part of relationship building -- not just at the beginning, but at times throughout my relationship with clients, to be social. So, maybe suggesting that we go out into town and have coffee - particularly if there's a level of anxiety about being around a lot of people. And I will do that purposely." (support worker floating outreach s.92)"

Tailored support and provision for social and community engagement {#Sec19}
------------------------------------------------------------------

Social inclusion was also vital to building independence for most participants, but achievable only through a more personalised approach in which social activities were tailored to the client's needs and tastes. This was done by signposting or, where necessary, actually accompanying the client to an activity, or getting clients to interact more with their local community. Clients mentioned the need for supported social and community engagement more so than the staff. Clients that benefitted the most from the support were the ones that received support to increase or expand pre-existing interests and goals, where support was aligned with the individual's aspirations and adjusted to their changing needs.""He's got me in touch with, I'm not sure -- I think they're a charity and they do all sorts of things, mainly for homeless people but, with mental illness and all sorts and he's got me in touch with those and I done a course -- it was a resilience course; that was for a mental health course and he's also helped me get onto a bike maintenance course, and also Monday morning down to the canal for fishing..." (client floating outreach s.85)" ""We've got one gentleman who, he was visiting his step-father every weekend, and he'd done it for the last 20 years, and he turned round to me and said 'Well I don't want to go every weekend' and I'm: what would you rather do? So we sat down at the computer and checked the cinema listings and now every other weekend he goes to the cinema, has a meal with a friend and then comes back. So that we broke out of his routine and he's really enjoying having a bit more independence." (manager residential care s.25)"

Particularly helpful to clients in floating outreach was regular interaction with their support worker to increase opportunities for any form of social interaction. Staff attributed the lack of opportunities to support clients with social and community engagement to a lack of funding and dedicated time to support this:""I mean I'm not one to tell people what to do, but I think it would be good for some tenants to get out and do different things, and I think if we were able to do that with tenants, I think the tenants would be amenable to do that. Because a lot of people they don't want to go out on their own and don't have that many friends and family, so it's just like... the social aspect of it and I think it would be beneficial for the tenant's mental health if we could sort of do a social activity with them. But the supported people contract that we are under, it only allows us to provide housing-related support." (support worker floating outreach s.76)"

Building confidence through encouragement {#Sec20}
-----------------------------------------

Nearly all staff spoke of helping their clients through constant encouragement to engage in activities and actions that would increase their confidence in two ways. First, to demonstrate to the client that they were able to do the activity or engage in the situation they previously felt they were unable to do, or were reluctant to do. Second, staff used knowledge of clients' past achievements and abilities to encourage new activities.""Well like I have one client and like he needed a lot of support with his shopping but we sort of go with him in the initial stages or, so we'll go round with him and then he knows what to buy and then we suggested maybe writing a list out prior with him, he went with the choices that he would use, and then bit by bit we try to drop off our support, so that he can then go by himself and mainly give him lots of encouragement in saying that he'd be fine and he'd manage well on his own, and to try to control his anxiety levels while he was there, and then we only now support if he's feeling really unwell...but if he's feeling well enough then we try to encourage him to go by himself." (manager supported housing s.70)"

Clients who appreciated this kind of staff encouragement suggested that it should be linked to a list of requisite practical skills or achievements to give them the reassurance they needed to cope in a more independent living situation.""Well it's confidence-building, helping you to deal with things that you need to know about, like it's how to pay rent and your bills and how to keep yourself clean and...and where you should go." (client supported housing s.95)"

Discussion {#Sec21}
==========

Main findings {#Sec22}
-------------

While staff and clients had a shared understanding about the goals and purposes of supported accommodation services, the process of achieving them may be conflicted. Thus, building a secure stable environment may perversely reduce a client's desire to leave the service. Consequently, staff anticipating a negative reaction or impact on a client may be reluctant to pursue greater independence.

Staff and clients in all three service types shared a similar understand of the facilitators of effective practice. They valued dependable relationships and shared experiences gained between clients and staff, formed through the visible supportive presence and encouragement of others, when clients feel personally known, understood and involved in decisions. To avoid dependency and anxieties about moving on from the service, staff and clients emphasised the need for staff to 'work with' clients in incremental ways to achieve progress. Entailed in this was a structure of stepdown procedures from breaking concerns into more manageable steps, reducing support hours gradually, providing transitional support and the use of purpose-built stepdown accommodation. Although important, client involvement in decision-making processes about moving on to more independent accommodation may be limited. We cannot say whether this is due to client passivity, deliberate avoidance to prevent the loss of an established 'home' or limited information. All three appear to contribute to client resistance to a move to a more independent living situation. The current rehabilitation system \[[@CR13]\] requires the movement of clients through the supported accommodation pathway. However, this may go against the very human need to feel settled and secure, with clients seeking a sense of permanence and familiarity from supported accommodation. The dissonance between the intended supported accommodation pathway and clients actually moving on to more independent living may perpetuate from mental health professionals viewing these services as providing somewhere for clients to live with access to support, while clients may view these placements as more of a 'home'. This disparity in views has been indicated elsewhere with clients preferring independent accommodation absent of institutional regimes, and professionals preferring environments with staff on-site \[[@CR32], [@CR33]\].

In addition, staff and clients in all service types attributed tailored support and provision for social and community engagement as essential for building independence and confidence. For staff and clients in floating outreach services this theme was particularly pertinent. Recognition was given to the often isolated nature is which the clients live with visiting support. The regular interaction with the support staff could often be the main or only opportunity for clients to socially engage with others or access the wider community. In our findings, the floating outreach client group expressed the distinct pursuit for a 'normal life', or to have the same experiences as other people. Therefore, limited opportunities for social and community engagement for this group may be particularly pertinent. All staff endorsed the need for more funding and dedicated time to support clients' preferences for community activities.

Comparisons to previous literature {#Sec23}
----------------------------------

The themes identified in this study lend support to those from a review of seven qualitative studies of clients' accounts in various forms of supported accommodation services in England \[[@CR21]\]. Although the review focused primarily on the structural aspects of the housing, it conceptualised three determinants that enabled clients to benefit from the support: autonomy, domain and facilitation. Autonomy was mirrored in our analysis of independence as a goal and path to a 'normal life'. In Burgoyne's \[[@CR21]\] review it was viewed as a goal and an outcome and was nurtured by environments that empowered clients as individuals with rights and choices. These aspects of empowerment were also presented in our analysis of clients feeling personally known and understood in their own right, which outlined the value placed on choice and involvement in decisions. Burgoyne's \[[@CR21]\] theme 'Domain' referred to the physical environment and dwellings themselves, something that was represented less in our findings. However, noise and the negative impact of other clients reflected aspects of our theme on the supportive presence of others through staff mediation and early intervention to counter the potentially negative impacts of shared space. The theme 'Facilitation' referred to staff effectively helping clients to live their lives the way they wanted to. This concept mapped onto several of our themes related to effective practice including feeling known and personally understood, providing tailored support for social and community engagement, and building confidence through encouragement.

The most notable difference between our findings and those of Burgoyne's \[[@CR21]\] review was the suggestion that clients in residential care were more likely to report disempowering staff attitudes that would be less likely to be helpful in promoting independence. Our findings did not support this and were more consistent with the view that building independence is a goal across the entire supporting accommodation continuum \[[@CR34]\], particularly amongst staff. Furthermore, our findings highlighted some differences between service types, and between staff and clients, absence in this review \[[@CR21]\]. Staff tended to be clearer about the goals and purpose of the service, particularly in relation to providing safety and stability. This was a lesser goal of the service from the perspective of the clients. In our findings, for residential care the goal of supporting people with their mental health care would more often compete with physical health goals, mitigating risks for clients with offense histories, and managing deteriorating conditions, compared with those in supported housing and floating outreach. In addition, clients in floating outreach more often reported being the most isolated and in need of support with social and community engagement, whereas residential care and supported housing clients experienced difficulties from being in the presence of others. For staff and clients in floating outreach, a shortage of time and a lack of support from others were limiting factors to building independence and social support.

Our themes also share similarities with recent findings from qualitative studies outside of the UK. Although the precise service models may differ, the variation in level of support is similar. For clients in Sweden and Denmark having a 'nest', and forming attachments with others and sharing experiences in supported housing, was akin to the desire for security and the supportive presence of others in our findings \[[@CR35], [@CR36]\]. In Australia, when support workers and managers of a floating outreach programme were interviewed about their perceptions of the service, joint effort and involvement to avoid deskilling and dependency was highlighted through the theme of balancing the provision of care with the promotion of autonomy. In addition, feeling known and personally understood was also reflected in the author's analysis of developing an effective working relationship \[[@CR37]\]. Similar to our findings, in the United States of America, qualitative and observational studies with clients in supported accommodation services have noted the importance of stability, security, safety, and a flexible approach to foster a sense of autonomy \[[@CR38], [@CR39]\].

Most notably, a review of the international literature on various models of supported accommodation \[[@CR2]\] supported the tension we found across service types regarding provision of safety and support whilst promoting independence; in other words, providing a safe and supportive home risks reducing a client's desire to move on to more independent accommodation. The review concluded that clients generally preferred more independent living situations, but had concerns about with the lack of support and loneliness outside of staffed settings.

Strengths and limitations {#Sec24}
-------------------------

To our knowledge, these findings present the first qualitative analysis of both staff and client views and experiences across the three main types of supported accommodation services in England. Although the precise models may vary between countries, this study represents a range of supported accommodation types broadly familiar in most, in terms of safety, independence and level of staff input. We sought not only to elicit the experiences of those working and living in supported accommodation services, but also to explore the intention or purpose of these services from their perspective. Our analysis was data-led with the direct intention not to propose a particular theory or model on the purpose of supported accommodation. To our awareness, it is the first study to qualitatively analyse the relationship between the two, instead of focusing on one or the other.

However, this is a selective sample and we cannot be sure that we have fully captured the range of views and experiences available in these settings. Staff and clients may have been reluctant to share some of their more negative experiences, or to divulge elements of their practice or behaviours with concerns that they may be perceived or construed in a negative or undesirable way. We have no reason to assume this was the case, but nonetheless we selected participants that had previously been contacted by the researcher and were willing to participant in research. Staff and clients that may have felt apprehensive or marginalised from the services may not have agreed to take part in the national survey from which the potential participants for this study were drawn.

Implications for practice {#Sec25}
-------------------------

The goals and purpose of these services were more clear and consistent amongst staff, regardless of service type. Some work is required with clients to more clearly articulate the purpose of these services, and to bring the clients on board, in order to prevent anxieties about progressing and moving on. The dual purpose of supported accommodation services to provide safe housing as well as supporting rehabilitation presents a common and historic tension in institutional care \[[@CR3], [@CR40]\]. However, several of the themes we identified illustrated methods to overcome this including staff and clients working in partnership towards agreed goals in an incremental fashion and being clear about future move-on plans from an early stage in the process. Dedicated time and resources to support these activities are needed from inside and outside of the service. Restricted support hours and isolated services can limit the opportunity for progress. However, sufficient funding and joint working with other agencies and services could reduce this and support significant changes in independence, confidence and safety.

Conclusions {#Sec26}
===========

This study provides an in-depth experiential understanding of the commonalities in service approach for adults with mental health problems in need of supported housing. The goals of clients in these services and the intentions of the staff in these services are similar in terms of: building independence and confidence; supporting people with their mental health; and providing safety and stability. However, there is a common tension between providing safe and supportive living environments whilst also promoting independence and facilitating rehabilitative change. Some of the themes on the experience of what aided effective practice, such as: incremental steps to progress, working together to avoid deskilling and dependency, and tailoring support for social and community engagement provide practical approaches to counter this tension and increase independence to bring about rehabilitative change. These approaches were consistent in the views and experiences of staff and clients alike, and were applicable and acceptable in a range of supported accommodation services, despite the varying levels of support provided.

COREQ

:   Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative research

CPN

:   Community Psychiatric Nurse

NIHR

:   National Institute for Health Research

QuEST

:   Quality and Effectiveness of Supported Tenancies for people with mental health problems

UK

:   United Kingdom

We would like to acknowledge the QuEST Service User Reference Group (Katherine Barrett, James Bennett and Gavin McCabe) for their feedback on design and the findings of this research.

Funding {#FPar3}
=======

This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research scheme (RP-PG-0610-10,097). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

Availability of data and materials {#FPar4}
==================================

The full anonymised interview dataset supporting the conclusions in this article cannot be shared or made publically available. The individual participants did not consent to data (anonymised or otherwise) being made available to anyone outside of the research team. Consent was only taken for the reporting of anonymised analyses and findings.

SS contributed to data acquisition, conducted the analysis and drafted the manuscript. HK conceived, designed, and supervised the study, contributed to interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. SP conceived, designed and supervised the study, contributed to interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. GL designed and supervised the study, contributed to the interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. JK contributed to data acquisition, contributed to the interpretation of data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. PM contributed to data acquisition, contributed to the interpretation of data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. IH contributed to data acquisition, contributed to the interpretation of data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. SD managed the research, contributed to the interpretation of data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. MA contributed to the design, interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. SC contributed to the design, interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. MK contributed to the design, interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. GS contributed to the design, interpretation of the data, and critically commented on drafts of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethical approval and consent to participate {#FPar1}
===========================================

This study was approved by the London Harrow Research Ethics Committee of the National Health Service (reference 12/LO/2009). Written consent was gained prior to the semi-structured interview, and participants were informed that the interviews would be audio recorded and transcribed for analysis, and that all reporting of the analysis would be anonymised.

Consent for publication {#FPar2}
=======================

Not applicable.

Competing interests {#FPar5}
===================

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher's Note {#FPar6}
================

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.


Actin polymerization: forcing flat faces forward.
Actin polymerization has been shown to be sufficient to propel curved objects, for example beads and vesicles coated with the Listeria monocytogenes protein ActA. Recent studies suggest that actin polymerization on flat surfaces can also provide the propulsive force to push them forward.


Chemical and sensory analysis of strawberry flavoured yogurt supplemented with an algae oil emulsion.
A yogurt mix (2 g fat and 17g solids/100 g) was supplemented with an algae oil emulsion to provide 500 mg omega-3 fatty acids per 272 g serving of yogurt white mass. The emulsion was added to the yogurt mix either before or after the homogenization step and prior to pasteurization. It was then flavoured with a strawberry fruit base and fermented and stored for up to three weeks. The oxidative deterioration of the products was determined by hydroperoxide measurements and by trained and consumer sensory evaluations. The hydroperoxide content of the supplemented yogurts increased over the storage treatment and was unaffected by the stage of addition. The trained panel could distinguish a stronger fishy flavour in both of the supplemented yogurts after 22 days storage, but the consumer panel rated both control and supplemented samples similarly, as 'moderately liked'.


India's Munaf Patel consoles Gautam Gambhir after an injury during day two of the 3rd test between the New Zealand Black Caps and India at Allied Prime Basin Reserve, Wellington, New Zealand on Saturday, 4 April 2009. Photo: Dave Lintott / lintottphoto.co.nz


Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn't drive Thursday's announcement of a cash payment to drought-stricken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they'd reached the four-year time limit.

They say the measure — giving up to $13,000 to a couple and $7,500 to individuals at a cost of $12.8 million this financial year — had been in Cabinet's expenditure review committee process for some time.

But the National Farmers Federation says it wasn't given any notice, which seems odd since Drought Minister David Littleproud is constantly referencing the NFF.

Regardless of the sequencing, Mr Jones' extraordinarily angry and emotional performance on Tuesday, haranguing Mr Morrison on radio, breaking down on TV, and warning of dire political consequences if the Government didn't do something, certainly concentrated the Prime Minister's mind.

As one official puts it, Mr Morrison is "attuned to the zeitgeist".

Alan Jones (left) loves to claim he has political influence and Scott Morrison (right) is very sensitive to public opinion. ( AAP/ABC )

Described more prosaically, the PM is highly sensitive to public opinion, and he judges that in metropolitan areas as well as the regions, people want more action — and then more still — to help those brought to their knees.

As for Mr Jones, whatever impact his outbursts had on the Government, the fact the announcement followed so soon will be used to burnish his much-honed image of having political influence.

Can drought policy deliver better outcomes?

When he became PM, Mr Morrison was immediately anxious to own the issue of the drought. He referred to it in his news conference the day he was elected leader, saying it was "the first thing I need to turn attention to", and was quickly off to a drought-affected area.

Now he is feeling the full cost — political as well as financial — of that ownership, as he's confronted with pressure on all sides.

NFF president Fiona Simson continues to say she doesn't think the Government has a drought policy.

The Coalition's handling looks ad hoc and reactive. The responses of Federal and state governments need to be better linked.

For example, is there a case for federal help for moving breeding stock to agistment?

Oh, the feds say, that's in the state arena (rather than looking at augmenting state assistance).

Drought policy is bedevilled by the old federal-state blame game, as shown by the wrangling over dam building.

There may be a case for protecting breeding stock but that debate has become a casualty of the federal-state blame game. ( ABC: Neal Woolrich )

A sign of weakness?

Also, the Government has no credible reason for keeping under wraps the report it commissioned from Stephen Day, who was its drought coordinator, which would provide some useful overview.

Thursday's announcement of the cash payment was messy: Mr Morrison trumpeted it on radio at the same time as the Nationals unveiled it at a press conference.

Mr Morrison chose John Laws' program, which he rarely goes on. Laws asked pointedly, "Why do you permit yourself to be harangued in the way that Alan Jones harangues you … [a lot of people] rather felt that it was a sign of weakness that you let Alan get away with what he got away with".

Some Nationals were unhappy at Mr Morrison seemingly one-upping their leader Michael McCormack and his colleagues, especially as the PM went out of his way to tell listeners "that's new news today on the John Laws program".

Nationals, under the pump in their seats, see it as symptomatic of a wider issue about Mr Morrison's approach.

One senior National says: "Morrison is going to have to learn to build a deeper and more respectful relationship with the Nationals — find space for McCormack to be seen to be delivering for regional Australia."

The Nationals' problems go further.

Outsiders observe the rivalry between the party's deputy leader Bridget McKenzie and Mr Littleproud, both of whom have stakes in drought policy.

Mr Littleproud was particularly upset at losing the agriculture portfolio to Ms McKenzie after the election.

Bridget McKenzie's appointment as Agriculture Minister is said to have upset Drought Minister David Littleproud. ( ABC News: Anna Henderson )

Can anything be done?

From the Coalition's vantage point the drought debate — and the Prime Minister making himself so central in it — has raised unrealistic expectations of what government can do.

In prolonged drought, the harsh reality is some farmers will go under, just as in a recession, some city businesses will fail.

There is only so much protection a government can or should provide.

The difficulty for many farmers is deciding whether hanging on is worth the gamble because there is no knowing how long it will be before the rains come.

During prolonged drought the harsh reality is some farmers will go under. ( ABC Longreach: Melanie Groves )

Economic policy on a knife edge

On two fronts now Mr Morrison, who likes to be in control, is at the mercy of events he can't control.

Apart from the drought, the International Monetary Fund's downgrading this week of the growth outlook for the world and Australia has reinforced the message that the Government's economic policy is on a knife edge.

The IMF's latest downgrade of 0.4 of a percentage point points takes the projection for Australia's growth in 2019 to 1.7 per cent — a year ago the IMF set it at 2.8 per cent.

The situation poses a judgement call for the Government — inject some stimulus quickly or hope that it can get through on its present fiscal setting, keeping its projected surplus (its top priority) intact.

The IMF has downgraded Australia's economic growth outlook. ( Jonathan Ernst: Reuters )

Three reductions in interest rates in quick time haven't had much effect in boosting the economy (and there is speculation about another).

On the evidence to date, neither have the income tax cuts achieved what was hoped. People are not spending enough; many businesses are uncertain.

So far, the Government has held out in face of exhortations from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe to help on the fiscal side. (Dr Lowe's style might be at the opposite end of the advocacy spectrum to that of Mr Jones, but he can pack a punch.)

Mr Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (who is in the US for the IMF and other meetings) this week defended their position on the surplus as a giving a buttress against bad times.

"A surplus is not an end in itself", Mr Morrison told Parliament — "a surplus … is a means to an end," the end being that "Australians can have confidence that we can meet the uncertainties that are ahead."

He describes Labor's calls for government action as reflecting its "penchant … for panic and crisis".

As it stands by its unwillingness to inject immediate stimulus, the Government is harking back to the Labor's action in the global financial crisis and what it condemns as overreach.

Probably it was, but going hard and going early also made sure Australia had a gold-plated insurance policy.

The period ahead will tell whether the Government's present refusal to stimulate the economy does indeed show the "cool and clear heads" that Mr Morrison boasts.

Or whether it will turn out to be an unfortunate manifestation of pig-headedness, with policy having to be modified subsequently. If it's the latter, let's hope it won't be a case of too little too late.

Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra and chief political correspondent at The Conversation, where this article first appeared.


Q:

How to specify correctly codebase and archive in Java applet?

I use firefox version > 3.5 (3.5.,3.6.,4.*) and I try to specify archive and codebase property correctly but it doesn't work. My main class for applet is situated in the archive and some necessary classes that are loaded during runtime are situated in the codebase. If I specify only the archive then the applet is loaded but the classes from codebase are missing. If I specify the archive and the codebase then the applet can't be loaded. It looks like applet try to load main class from codebase folder and doesn't look into the archive file.
<html>
<body>
<applet width=600 height=300 code="MyClass.class"
  type="application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=6"
  archive="http://myurl.com/archive/myjar.jar"
  codebase="http://myurl.com/classes">
    no applet
</applet>
</body>
</html>

Main class is situated in http://myurl.com/archive/myjar.jar and runtime classes are situated in http://myurl.com/classes.

A:

Attribute codebase specifies the base URL of the applet - the directory that contains the applet's code. It is used while searching jar files in archive attribute, in such a way that all jars in archive attribute are searched relative to codebase.
So. When you use archive="http://myurl.com/archive/myjar.jar" and codebase="http://myurl.com/classes" together it means: find "http://myurl.com/archive/myjar.jar" in "http://myurl.com/classes" folder.
I.e. the full search path is "http://myurl.com/classes/http://myurl.com/archive/myjar.jar". And of course it can't be found!
Also, classes, whose jar-files aren't specified in the archive attribute, can't be found without codebase attribute. I.e. if there is no codebase then there is no way to find your classes in "http://myurl.com/classes" folder.
You can find more details in the Deploying With the Applet Tag tutorial.
I suggest the following solution:

Place myjar.jar in the http://myurl.com/classes folder;
Assuming your MyClass.class is in default package, and in the "http://myurl.com/archive/myjar.jar", the following code should work:

<html>
<body>
<applet width=600 height=300 code="MyClass"
  type="application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=6"
  archive="myjar.jar"
  codebase="http://myurl.com/classes">
   no applet
</applet>
</body>
</html>


“There they go again.” The Privatization Posse rolled into Nevada with the most recent incarnation of plans to privatize our public education system. “The proposed bill would allow parents and teachers to petition school district officials to execute one of several federal recipes for school improvement, including replacing the principal and half the staff, closing the school or converting it into a charter school.” [LVSun]

Consider the Source

The first clue to the ultimate intent of the legislation is the enthusiastic sponsor — Nevada’s very own right wing Tea Party state Senator Mike Roberson (R-LV). The second clue is that the astroturf StudentsFirst organization founded by former Washington, D.C. school superintendent Michelle Rhee, is aligned with the Chamber of Commerce, and Republican Governors in Ohio and Michigan, and — not surprisingly — Florida’s Governor Rick Scott. [HuffPo]

The third clue is that the vultures are circling; here’s one example among many:

“In the venture capital world, transactions in the K-12 education sector soared to a record $389 million last year, up from $13 million in 2005. That includes major investments from some of the most respected venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, according to GSV Advisors, an investment firm in Chicago that specializes in education. The goal: an education revolution in which public schools outsource to private vendors such critical tasks as teaching math, educating disabled students, even writing report cards, said Michael Moe, the founder of GSV.” [Reuters]

The Premise

The proposed legislation rationalizing the privatization of our public schools rests on the highly questionable premise that parents have “no voice” in the operation of their schools. Not True. At worst, this premise discourages parents and guardians from active participation in school district discussions by informing parents in advance that they are powerless in the face of overwhelming bureaucracy. After spending many a less than thrilling hour attending school board meetings, I can say without much fear of too much contradiction, a packed room works wonders in terms of the enlightenment of school committee or board members. Nothing so moves a recalcitrant principal to action as a few telephone calls from parents, and nothing is more appreciated by classroom teachers than calls from parents asking what they can do to get Johnny or Susie’s arithmetic grades up.

Parental involvement matters. Better still, parents don’t have to adopt proposals for expensive consultants, pricey Silver Bullets from corporate vendors, and for-profit “management solutions.” Corporate proposals for education are analogous to selling any other product — We, say the corporations, will do for you what you don’t want to do for yourself. And, that’s the premise of any private service, from selling carpet cleaning to lawn care — the corporation or firm will do for us what we do not wish to do for ourselves.

It’s ironic that while stoutly defending and “promoting” parental involvement in the education of their children, the proponents of the right wing privatization plans are essentially telling parents: Here’s a legislative answer to your desire for better education which allows you to outsource the education of your children to for-profit corporations. And, IF your local elementary school is transferred to the management of a private corporation answerable to their shareholders from an elected board of education who are members of the community — then which organizational structure is obviously more closely accountable to parents in the LOCAL area? In which structure do parents have more power?

Fiscal responsibility matters. The Privatization Posse depends on the myth that private sector management is always cheaper and more efficient. Not True. They are cheaper. [BIPP] They are not necessarily more efficient, nor do they necessarily provide a better outcome.

Management Issues: There appears to be a generalized premise that public schools can fail, but charter schools do not. Wrong.

“Of the approximately 6,700 charter schools that have ever opened across the United States, 1,036 have closed since 1992. There are 500 additional charter schools that have been consolidated back into the district or received a charter but were unable to open.” [AJC]

So, from 1992 to 2011 6,700 charter school lost 1,036 to closure and another 500 to reversion. That computes to a 22.92% failure rate, approximately 1 in 4.

Combine the top two reasons for charter failure and we find 65.7% going down because of financial constraints and/or mismanagement. Now we should return to the question of parental and voter involvement, because the solution offered by proponents of chartered education are NOT advising more parental control, to wit:

“As overseers of charter school performance, financially affiliated directors serve as an important link to external resources and support flowing into the school insofar as they act as a credible signal to other donors and sponsors. Additionally, the academic program supplied by the charter school must be of high quality and financial resources are properly managed by school administrators and governing board.” [CharterNB] (emphasis added)

To whom are the charter managers and administrators responsible? “Donors and Sponsors.” Those are not necessarily voters and parents.

Getting Results

The essential question should be for all the abdication of parental influence in school management, and for all the public funds funneled to private education corporations and groups — do charter schools offer better education?

“Middle-school students who were selected by lottery to attend charter schools performed no better than their peers who lost out in the lottery and attended nearby public schools, according to a study funded by the federal government and released Tuesday.

This is the first large-scale randomized study to be conducted across multiple states, and it lends some fuel to those who say there is little evidence to back the drive for more charters.” [ChSciMon]

Similar results were obtained in a study of charter schools in Michigan. [MLive] [EJ.org] There is some evidence that urban low income areas may benefit from charter schools, but the notion that charter schools have an across the board advantage over the public schools is not substantiated by the research to date.

This is a Test

Q: If the research to date does not offer evidence that charter schools are necessarily any better at educating our children, then why should parents hand over their authority to directly elect school boards of education to boards of unelected corporate managers?


lyfe kitchen new york city design ca nyc closed,pretty kitchen delivery pictures lyfe new york city nyc closed, lyfe kitchen new york city lost gem sideways nyc closed,lyfe kitchen nyc closed new york city if you do not now will hate,kitchen set to debut first new outpost total lyfe nyc closed york city ,alum on a mission to change the future of fast food news lyfe kitchen new york city nyc closed,kitchen restaurant review lyfe new york city nyc closed, lyfe kitchen nyc closed perfect unique coastline design inc home new york city, kitchen lost gem sideways lyfe new york city nyc closed,healthy fast food restaurants in the united states lyfe kitchen new york city nyc closed.


Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

Maybe things between Kobe and Vanessa Bryant aren't so bad after all.

They didn't get a whole lot of help from Kobe, but the Los Angeles Lakers were able to beat the Atlanta Hawks at the Staples Center on Tuesday night. After the game, Kobe happened to bump into Vanessa on his way to the locker room.

After they bumped into one another, they shared a kiss. TMZ has the scoop.

This, my friends, would be the plot thickening before our very eyes.

It was reported by TMZ back in December that Vanessa had filed for divorce from Kobe because he apparently cheated on her too much. The divorce is far from being final, though, and sources have told TMZ that it wouldn't be a huge surprise if Kobe and Vanessa ended up back together.

That may very well be in the cards, but this is something that Kobe really needs to think about. His heart may be telling him one thing, but he will invariably conclude that this divorce is for the best if he thinks with his head.

Chris Chambers/Getty Images

The truth is that the bridge between Kobe and Vanessa has been burned to the ground in the last couple of months. Some Tiger Woods-like details have come out about Kobe's personal life, and there's been all sorts of drama about the ugly financial ramifications of this divorce. The whole thing has been like something out of a bad soap opera.

Video Play Button Videos you might like

Reconciling would mean pushing all this aside and ignoring it like it never happened, which is impossible. If Kobe and Vanessa do get back together, the drama that they went through these past few months will be an elephant in the room for the rest of their days.

It would be one thing if Kobe's career was suffering as a result of this divorce, but it's not. He's having his best season in years, and he's keeping the Lakers afloat more or less single-handedly.

Instead of believing that he can fix things and make them the way they were, Kobe's better off just moving on.


Q:

Drawing a B/W grating

I'm trying to create a .tif or .jpg image that will be used in full screen mode. The image should be filled with black and white thick lines. I need to set a width variable so I can create different images with different line thickness.  I can't figure out how to do it. Any ideas ?

A:

Some thing like this?
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \foreach \x in {2,4,6,...,48}{
    \draw[line width=1mm] (\x mm,0) -- (\x mm, 2);
    }
    \begin{scope}[yshift=3cm]
    \foreach \x in {3,6,...,48}{
    \draw[line width=1.5mm] (\x mm,0) -- (\x mm, 2);
    }
    \end{scope}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

To get it in .jpg format, compile this code:
\documentclass[tikz,convert=jpg]{standalone}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \foreach \x in {2,4,6,...,48}{
    \draw[line width=1mm] (\x mm,0) -- (\x mm, 2);
    }
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

with imagemagick installed and -shell-escape option enabled.
To use it in full screen, compile this code
\documentclass[tikz,convert=jpg]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \foreach \x in {2,4,6,...,48}{
    \draw[line width=1mm] (\x mm,0) -- (\x mm, 2);
    }
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

and put it in full screen (press ctrl+L)


Expert
Review of Uluru/Ayers Rock

Family Review of Uluru/Ayers Rock

Learn about Anangu culture and see workshops devoted to aboriginal art and crafts, learn about bush tucker, or enjoy a traditional dance in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre.

Families with older children might like to tackle the 10.6-kilometer loop around Uluru. This will take around three and a half hours. Take plenty of drinking water, and try to complete it in the morning, before the day gets too hot.

One of Australia's most iconic attractions is up there on the wish list of almost everyone who visits the country. It is also a place that many Australians yearn to visit. This large sandstone rock formation has captured the imaginations of millions
(+) More

One of Australia's most iconic attractions is up there on the wish list of almost everyone who visits the country. It is also a place that many Australians yearn to visit. This large sandstone rock formation has captured the imaginations of millions thanks to its vivid red color and colossal size. Standing over 318 meters high and with a girth of eight kilometers, it is the second-largest monolith in the world. It is also sacred to Aborigines, who ask visitors not to climb it. For families who don't want to climb, there are a host of other things to do. First off should be a trip to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre, an architecturally impressive free-form structure that blends effortlessly with the outback scenery. Leaving the center, the Liru Walk (four kilometers) can easily be tackled by families, while the Kuniya (one kilometer), Mala (two kilometer) and Lungkata (four kilometer) walks from the base of Uluru are also good options. A number of walks also leave from Talinguru Nyakunytjaku. These are wheelchair accessible, so you should be able to push a sturdy stroller around them.
(-) Close


As issues of life and death become more pronounced in our society, it is time for those who value freedom, liberty, and nonaggression to re-examine their political position on abortion.

The United States is experiencing a resurgence of those who not only condone abortion (and its federal funding) but also seek to extend it to include born infants — now outside the mother’s womb — as subject to death as well. This slippery slope began with abortion being permitted at certain stages of development and has come so far that people are actually debating letting fully developed infants die. What is next? Very likely, a discussion of exterminating infants with mental or physical defects, like the Nazi euthanasia program, which killed the mentally ill and the handicapped. Putting to death “inconvenient,” “undesirable,” or “unproductive” persons is the surest sign of a totalitarian society. In other words, an evil society.

Within the libertarian community, both sides of the issue are taken, with many adopting a stance I took many years ago: Because I opposed the government’s imposing its will on citizens, I thought abortion should neither be encouraged nor discouraged by the government. As with any government financing of medical coverage, I opposed using federal funds. I also did not believe the government should prevent a woman from having an abortion, only that Americans should not be forced to pay for it.

I have always believed life begins at conception, but as a libertarian I did not want the force of law to impose my belief on others. It was not, in my opinion, an issue for federal executive decision. (Roe v. Wade was a judicial decision, not an executive one.)

But I was wrong.

I now believe that people who view human life as beginning at conception, including libertarians, who believe in nonaggression or the noninitiation of violence, must also reject abortion, just as they reject all other acts of violence perpetrated against an innocent person. If I regard fetuses to be human life, which I do, then I believe in their self-defense, and as with any other defenseless person who is being assaulted, I would defend their lives as I would defend my own.

For many years, it seems libertarians preferred a hands-off approach to this controversial issue, linking its prohibition to governmental unjustified force. However, upon deeper reflection, one cannot consistently oppose crimes such as rape or other physical assaults — including those that significantly harm or take the life of a victim — and also accept abortion. The U.S. Constitution declares that no person is to be denied equal protection of the laws and that, of course, includes every person’s right to life. This is commonly interpreted to address all manner of human-rights abuses, including the unjust taking of life.

Minarchists, who accept the legitimacy of limited government, agree that the only laws that should be passed are those prohibiting behaviors that have actual victims. We also concur that laws prohibiting unhealthy or unwise behavior are unjust, as they try to legislate morality, which is not a proper function of government. That an anti-abortion stance is often associated with religious opposition to abortion does not in itself make that stance equivalent to legislating morality. In fact, many just laws limited-government proponents rightly accept are consistent with religious teachings, because many religious perspectives are entirely congruous with nonaggression.

I present the argument that your dedication to the government’s being kept from intruding into the personal lives of citizens does not extend to permitting the unjustified killing by one person of another. Abortion is not a matter of personal choice versus government control; it is a matter of life and death where one person for personal gain chooses to end the life of another. In every other instance in society, we call that murder.

From the time that the egg is fertilized, a new human life has begun. As society has shifted, making infanticide legal has in no way changed the fact that abortion is a violation of the nonaggression principle. Human life is not subject to judgment as to its value socially, but is valued intrinsically with an inviolable right to life.

It is disheartening to see the callous pseudo-intellectual debate some libertarians have engaged in on this topic, with some rationalizing their acceptance of abortion by using such words as “parasite,” “tumor,” or “property.” Such intellectually dishonest verbiage when speaking of the symbiotic nature of a mother’s body and her child’s body completely disregards the younger human life’s rights as a sovereign individual. The legitimate function of government is to protect the rights of the individual person — those rights include the right to one’s life.

Without entering here into a debate over situations such as rape, or when the mother’s life is in serious jeopardy, most abortions are simply sought by women to avoid taking responsibility for their behavior. Thus, they choose taking a human life over inconvenience. Pregnancy is a foreseeable result of deliberate behavior, and most libertarians believe in taking personal responsibility for one’s behavior — in this case taking personal responsibility would be at the very least carrying the child to term, even if thereafter the biological mother ceases to be involved in her child’s life.

Suffice to say that in general abortion would have to be viewed as an initiation of force, fatal force, against a live human being. In that, it becomes obvious that the thoughtful libertarian must conclude that abortion, like all the violent acts libertarians do agree must be prohibited and people protected from, would be a true crime, as it certainly has an actual victim.

The beauty of the Constitutional approach, and of the non-initiation of force or nonaggression approach, is that it does not differentiate between the persons it is applied to. It is intended to provide equal protection to all.

I advise those who believe in nonaggression and favor limited government not to become so wrapped up in being opposed to government intervention that they mistakenly permit clear violations of the protection of human life. Like every other unjustified killing they rightly regard as unlawful and classify as murder, abortion must also be considered murder.

It is clearly a freedom-loving and liberty-respecting position to use the power of government to defend human life … in fact, it is imperative.


[Bacteria of the citrobacter genus as one of the possible indeices of dysbacteriosis in intestinal diseases].
A study of the incidence of detection of bacteria of the Citrobacter genus in chronic intestinal diseases with the clinical and bacteriological manifestations of dysbacteriosis indicated that the mentioned conditioned pathogenic bacteria were revealed with the same frequency as bacteria of the Proteus genus which served as the commonly accepted index of intestinal dysbacteriosis. Comparative analysis of the intestinal microbial flora of the patients led to a supposition that bacteria of the Citrobacter genus could be found not only in the associations with other microbes, but also as a definite individual group of bacteria during the infectious disease and antibiotic therapy in case of disturbance of normal intestinal biocenosis; this could occur even in the absence in these patients of the known bacteriological indices of dysbacteriosis, thus becoming one of its manifestations.


Blackstone Rising

Though hopelessly outdated now, the DSMVI makes reference to a disorder called “Mad World Dysphoria.” It was defined as “a persistent, despondency and shift away from previously held ethical precepts, caused by catastrophic social change and a lack of traditional sources of moral authority.” While the DSMVII refused to expand upon it and last year’s DSMVIII excises the entry completely, it is useful for us to consider the implications. The sixth volume of that catalogue was published in 2027—ironically at the dawn of the 6th world. Fifty years on we forget what some of those early days were like: widespread rioting, racial violence, magical catastrophe, and the complete dissolution of national sovereignty that had been the guiding force of the world’s stability and morality for almost four hundred years. We forget now, but there is a generation for whom “Mad World Dysphoria” was a descriptor, not of a psychological pathology, but of lived experience. Those that survived it have broken almost completely from an account of what came before. Who was the President of the United States in 2008? Who won Eurovision in 2011? What was the the World Cup final bracket in 1998? Not only do most not remember, no one cares. Those were the last shuddering concerns of the 5th world and might as well be as distant from ours as the building of the pyramids or the extinction of the Dinosaurs. We live in the 6th world now and where our grandparents might have deemed it “mad” we see it as the only consistent source of sanity.
-excerpt from “ReAwakened: A Memoir” by Professor Ntongela van der Graaf, Johannesburg 2077


"Vector-borne disease" is the term commonly used to describe an illness caused by an infectious microbe that is transmitted to people by blood-sucking arthropods. The arthropods (insects or arachnids) that most commonly serve as vectors include: 1.) blood sucking insects such as mosquitoes, fleas, lice, biting flies and bugs, and 2.) blood sucking arachnids such as mites and ticks. The term “vector” refers to any arthropod that transmits a disease through feeding activity.

Vectors typically become infected by a disease agent while feeding on infected vertebrates (e.g., birds, rodents, other larger animals, or humans), and then pass on the microbe to a susceptible person or other animal. In almost all cases, an infectious microbe must infect and multiply inside the arthropod before the arthropod is able to transmit the disease through its salivary glands. The most common vector-borne diseases in Virginia are carried by mosquitoes and ticks.


When it comes to choosing the men™s wedding attire, it™s important that the bride and groom not only agree on what the men are going to wear, but that the attire they are looking for is available. Unlike the bride, the men are not expected to purchase their wedding attire and keep it forever. In fact, in many cases, a man may never wear a tux in his life before or after the day he gets married. Rentals are more than acceptable. Rental or not, great care goes into selecting the men™s wedding attire.

Tuxedos are always in fashion whether it's morning, midday or evening. The level of formality will dictate the style of the tuxedo. Colors include off-white, gray, white and black. Cummerbunds are great because the cummerbund color can match that of the bridesmaids' dresses as can the actual tie or cravat. Accessories for the bridegroom, groomsmen and best man should include cufflinks, leather shoes and a boutonniere. The groom's boutonniere should match the bride's bouquet.

When shopping for a suit rental, make sure all of the men's wedding attire is rented from the same location. This will ensure that the style, color and accessories are the same. It's also important to make sure that rentals are confirmed at least three to five weeks ahead of time and that the men present themselves for one fitting in case a suit needs to be altered. In the event of traveling for a destination wedding, the men's wedding attire should be rented from the same place the groom and groomsmen are coming from in order to avoid mix-ups during arrival. While tuxedos are standard, it's perfectly acceptable for men's wedding attire to reflect the theme or style of the wedding. That means casual dress for a casual wedding, costume for a themed or costumed wedding and more.

Ever wonder how you could make your life better and more fun? So have tens of millions of fans who have turned to LifeTips for answers over the past decade. We keep the tips, advice, books, podcasts and writing services flowing, so you can keep your life and business growing in the right direction. Upward!


Q:

When not to use Google Web Toolkit?

I'm considering use of GWT on a major in-house web app development project, namely it's major advantage in my eyes is the cross-compilation to Javascript which would (at least theoretically) help my team reduce the size of tech stack by one.
However, having been burnt before (like most devs), I would like to hear from programmers who did actually use it on any problems with GWT which would hamper, or limit, it's use within a certain problem domain.
What are the arguments against using GWT, and why?

A:

I am both good and bad to answer this question - good, in that I've actually used it before, and bad, in that I was quite experienced with HTML/CSS/JavaScript prior to working with GWT.  This left me maddened by using GWT in a way that other Java developers who don't really know DHTML may not have been.
GWT does what it says - it abstracts JavaScript and to some degree HTML into Java.  To many developers, this sounds brilliant.  However, we know, as Jeff Atwood puts it, all abstractions are failed abstractions (worth a read if considering GWT).  With GWT, this specifically introduces the following problems:
Using HTML in GWT sucks.
As I said it, to some degree, even abstracts away HTML. It sounds good to a Java developer. But it's not. HTML is a document markup format.  If you wanted to create Java objects to define a document, you would not use document markup elements.  It is maddeningly verbose.  It is also not controlled enough.  In HTML there is essentially one way to write
Hello how are you?
.  In GWT, you have 3 child nodes (text, B, text) attached to a P node. You can either create the P first, or create the child nodes first.  One of the child nodes might be the return result of a function.  After a few months of development with many developers, trying to decipher what your HTML document looks like by tracing your GWT code is a headache-inducing process.
In the end, the team decided that maybe using HTMLPanel for all HTML was the right way to go.  Now, you've lost many of GWT's advantages of having elements readily available to Java code to bind easily for data.
Using CSS in GWT sucks.
By attachment to HTML abstraction, this means that the way you have to use CSS is also different.  It might have improved since I last used GWT (about 9 months ago), but at the time, CSS support was a mess.  Because of the way GWT makes you create HTML, you often have levels of nodes that you didn't know were injected (any CSS dev knows how this can dramatically affect rendering). There were too many ways to embed or link CSS, resulting in a confusing mess of namespaces.  On top of that you had the sprite support, which again sounds nice, but actually mutated your CSS and we had problems with it writing properties which we then had to explicitly overwrite later, or in some cases, thwarted our attempts to match our hand-coded CSS and having to just redesign it in ways that GWT didn't screw it up.
Union of problems, intersection of benefits
Any languages is going to have it's own set of problems and benefits.  Whether you use it is a weighted formula based on those.  When you have an abstraction, what you get is a union of all the problems, and an intersection of the benefits.  JavaScript has it's problems, and is commonly derided among server-side engineers, but it also has quite a few features that are helpful for rapid web development.  Think closures, syntax shorthand, ad-hoc objects, all of the stuff done by Jquery (like DOM querying by CSS selector).  Now forget about using it in GWT!
Separation of concerns
We all know that as the size of a project grows, having good separation of concerns is critical.  One of the most important is the separation between display and processing.  GWT made this really hard.  Probably not impossible, but the team I was on never came up with a good solution, and even when we thought we had, we always had one leaking into the other.
Desktop != Web
As @Berin Loritsch posted in the comments, the model or mindset GWT is built for is living applications, where a program has a living display tightly coupled with a processing engine.  This sounds good because that's what so many feel the web is lacking.  But there are two problems: A) The web is built on HTTP and this is inherently different.  As I mentioned above, the technologies built on HTTP - HTML, CSS, even resource-loading and caching (images, etc.), have been built for that platform. B) Java developers who have been working on the web do not easily switch to this desktop-application mindset.  Architecture in this world is an entirely different discipline.  Flex developers would probably be more suited to GWT than Java web developers.
In conclusion...
GWT is capable of producing quick-and-dirty AJAX applications quite easily using just Java.  If quick-and-dirty doesn't sound like what you want, don't use it.  The company I was working for was a company that cared a lot about the end product, and it's sense of polish, both visual and interactive, to the user. For us front-end developers, this meant that we needed to control HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in ways that made using GWT like trying to play the piano with boxing gloves on.

A:

We use GWT for a big eGovernment web application (SOA in the backend) which has a heavy usage. The old UI was in DHTML but we had issues with browser compatibility, performance optimization and the development process, so we looked for alternatives.
Our requirements have been:

client side UI layer to minimize server load
browser compatibility
web based RIA
Easy performance optimizations
No client plugins installation necessary, should work with a plain windows installation

We choosed GWT and I never regret it. The new team had no or less DHMTL experience and therefore the Java dev process of GWT was very helpful. What you get  of the box is:

browser compatibility
Java based development process and code reuse
easy minimizing of requests (image bundle, ...)
easy agressive caching (new apps are completely cached at client side)
easy compression of all ressources (even with js on older buggy IEs)
and a lot more, to much to mention here

Our application issues only one request to the server on startup. On the negative side is that GWT (and also Android) have a poor design out of the box, but anyway if you apply your own look and feel you have to adapt the CSS. Alternatively you can use various component libraries for GWT which make it easy to apply proper styles and theming.
For me there is no point that maybe the HTML DOM is not as good as handcrafted, this was never an issue. When I develop in C++, I do not look at the generated assembler code. When I develop in GWT there was never a reason for me to look at the JS code and only once a reason to look at the DOM and do some refactoring.
For me GWT is the only choice when it comes to RIA development and I hope that GWT has a bright future. See the mission statement at:
[1] http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/webtoolkit/makinggwtbetter.html#introduction
But it should not be unmentioned that Google don't use GWT on many of their internal projects and that at the moment there are some rumors around about the future of GWT, see
[2] http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2011/11/gwt-and-dart.html
[3] https://plus.google.com/105933370793992913359/posts/bLfSagtziBC