An overview on deficit and requirements of the Irish national soil phosphorus balance.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential life-supporting nutrient for which there is no substitute. Modern farming practice and food production are supported by the application of mineral P fertiliser derived from finite mined phosphate rock. The European Union does not have indigenous mineral phosphate reserves, which poses a significant issue to food security. This research paper assesses the potential of indigenous recycled P sources to replace imported P fertiliser within the Republic of Ireland. The research is undertaken at NUTS 3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) regional level, the nutrient soil P requirement is established, and the extent to which the regional production of indigenous recycled P sources can offset this requirement is determined. The soil P requirement was derived from analyzing the regional soil P indexes, stocking rate and land-use. It was established that to optimise Irish agricultural production, approximately 95,500 t of P fertiliser is required by Irish agriculture per annum. Indigenous P sources were reviewed to determine their contribution to the Irish P balance; the sources included sewage sludge, dairy processing waste, and animal manures. Regional indigenous P quantities vary greatly with the South-West Region producing the largest quantity of indigenous recycled P at 42.4% of required P than the Mid-West Region only producing 22.0% of its P requirement indigenously. Sources of indigenous P also vary greatly from region to region depending on population and industry, with the highest quantity of sewage sludge being produced in the Dublin plus Mid-East Region while the greatest contributor of dairy waste is the South-West Region. In total, over 28,500 t of P is recovered from indigenous sources per annum. This indicates that approximately 30% of the national P requirement could be met by indigenous P recycling.

The value of traditional cognitive variables for predicting performance in graduate speech-language pathology programs.

BACKGROUND: Student performance on the Praxis examination and in clinical settings is considered indicative of university graduate program quality. Utilization of admission variables most predictive of graduate school performance in speech-language pathology is therefore critical. This study evaluated the relationship between cognitive variables (GRE scores, undergraduate GPA, and course-specific grades) and performance on the Praxis and between the cognitive variables and first-year clinical performance. METHODS: Admissions data for 230 students from four graduate programs in two states were analyzed. Participants were assigned to three groups based on Praxis scores (high performance, moderate performance, low performance/fail) and two groups based on clinical performance (low need supervision, high need supervision). RESULTS: Statistically significant relationships were found between all independent variables and the dependent variables (Praxis scores and first-year clinical performance). Participants' pass-fail status on the Praxis was predicted with a high degree of accuracy based on speech-hearing science grades, physical science grades, and the GRE-Total (GRE-T) scores alone. The low need supervision group for clinical performance demonstrated statistically higher group means for GRE-T and GRE-Quantitative (GRE-Q) scores compared to the high need supervision group. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the GRE and American Speech-Language-Hearing Association-required science course grades in graduate admissions is warranted.

Satisfaction with health care among people with hearing impairment: a survey of Medicare beneficiaries.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of access to and satisfaction with health care from Medicare participants with hearing impairment. METHOD: Raw data for the study was obtained from the 2004 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). Satisfaction with care was assessed using 10 of the MCBS questions probing satisfaction in a number of areas related to health care. The data were analyzed using logistic regression. This analysis was conducted in three steps. The first step involved identifying potentially important predisposing and enabling variables that influenced satisfaction with care using univariate analysis. The second step involved fitting the variables retained from the first step into a multiple logistic regression equation to determine a preliminary main effects model. The final analysis included determining the odds ratio for each independent variable retained from the earlier analysis. RESULTS: Individuals with hearing impairment demonstrated some level of dissatisfaction with quality of health care. Each of the MCBS satisfaction questions were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with at least one of the communication variables. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the effects of hearing impairment on satisfaction with health care is critical to the delivery of effective and efficient services to individuals with such disabilities. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Presence of communication impairment, specifically hearing impairment, affects satisfaction with health care. Medical school training regarding methods to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with communicative impairments could lead to improved patient-provider interactions and ultimately increased satisfaction with the provider and care given. Health care providers need to allow for extended appointments for patients with communication impairments. Time accommodations could prevent misunderstandings about diagnosis and treatment methods which otherwise might have detrimental results.