Community integration (CI) has been identified as a key outcome of programs designed to improve the lives of homeless and recently housed individuals (Gaetz, The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016, 2016). Although researchers have explored the extent to which Housing First (HF) impacts on social integration (Quilgars & Pleace, Soc. Incl., 4, 2016), little is known about the range and effectiveness of other interventions on CI more broadly. We conducted a systematic review of experimental studies using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines. Our search strategy was deployed in six databases: EMBASE,
Although sleep intervention is within the domain of occupational therapy, few studies exist supporting practice. Effectiveness of three sleep interventions was compared: Dreampad Pillow®, iRest® meditation, and sleep hygiene. Twenty-nine participants were randomly assigned to the Dreampad Pillow® ( n = 10), iRest® meditation ( n = 9), and sleep hygiene ( n = 10) groups. In Phase 1, all participants used a 7-day sleep hygiene regimen to reduce poor sleep habits. In Phase 2 (14 days), 10 participants used the Dreampad Pillow® and sleep hygiene, nine used the iRest meditation and sleep hygiene, and 10 continued sleep hygiene only. At intervention-end, the iRest meditation group experienced statistically greater time asleep than both the Dreampad Pillow® ( p < .006, d = 1.87) and sleep hygiene groups ( p < .03, d = 1.80). The Dreampad Pillow® group experienced statistically fewer nighttime awakenings than the iRest® meditation ( p < .04, d = -1.53) and sleep hygiene ( p < .004, d = -1.43) groups. No differences were found between groups in perceived sleep quality, length of time needed to fall asleep, and fatigue level next day. This study provides support for sleep interventions within occupational therapy's domain.
Background: Studies exploring the occupational experiences of homeless persons have grown in the past twenty years, and there is a need to identify, evaluate, and aggregate existing studies to direct future research. Objectives: To capture the scope and quality of literature exploring the occupational experiences of homeless persons in high-income countries, and to aggregate the findings of these studies to inform future research efforts. Method: Using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines, we conducted a systematic review including a critical appraisal, and meta-aggregation of themes in existing qualitative literature. Results: Fifteen studies were included and were of high quality (Mdn ¼ 8/10; IQR ¼ 2). Metaaggregation resulted in four themes (n ¼ 335 participants) describing the occupational experiences of homeless persons: 1) Restrictions on time use and activity engagement; 2) Activity as a means of belonging; 3) Institutional processes as determining time use; and 4) Transcending the self through doing. Conclusions: Homeless persons in high-income countries face multiple challenges to engaging in meaningful activity, which we argue is a disabling experience. Simultaneously, homeless persons demonstrate resilience by finding ways to engage in activities of meaning, and opportunities to connect with others in the face of multiple barriers.
We demonstrate an efficient method of rendering alias-free synthetic images using precomputed convolution integrals. The method is based on the observation that a visible polygon fragment's contribution to an image is solely a function of its position and shape, and that within a reasonable level of accuracy, a limited number of shapes represent the majority of cases encountered in images commonly rendered.The convolution integral is precomputed for all pixels affected by the polygon fragment and is stored in a table. Completely visible fragments which are either triangular or trapezoidal produce two indices into the table.Most other fragments which are represented as differences of simple fragments. The remaining eases are characterized by a bit-mask for which each bit has a corresponding set of look up tables.The basic technique has been applied to several fundamentally different rendering algorithms. In addition, we illustrate a version of the newly introduced nonuniform sampling technique implemented in the same program, but with different table values.
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