Making deeper sense in the midst of great busyness: a study of and with third sector CEOs

This paper provides the background to a study from which sample findings will be presented and discussed at the ARVOVA 2008 conference in Philadelphia. It explains the origins and aims of a continuing collaborative inquiry with third sector Chief Executives, gives a summary history of the project, and describes the methodological issues involved in doing 'twin-track' research – that is, research aimed at producing both practice knowledge and formal theory

Teen Risk-Taking: Promising Prevention Programs and Approaches

To help close the knowledge gap and to help program directors, practitioners, and community leaders enlarge the network of effective programs and approaches for at-risk youth, Urban Institute researchers reviewed what is known about successful prevention interventions and their dissemination. They identified 51 problem behavior prevention interventions whose initial effectiveness has been demonstrated through scientific evaluation. A subset of 21 programs was selected on the basis of the rigor of their evaluations or the strength of their results for closer examination of the program elements and/or delivery modes that appeared to be associated with their effectiveness. The researchers also explored with the assistance of experienced prevention scientists and school-based practitioners what might be the essential elements of schools' and other community organizations' readiness to undertake research-based problem behavior prevention programming. This guidebook to promising programs and approaches offers the fruits of that research. It is our hope that it will provide a helpful starting point for the development of a larger, more sustainable network of effective prevention programs and approaches for at-risk teens.In the booklet you will find:An Update on Adolescent Risk-Taking -- what is known about the level and characteristics of teen risk-taking today and why it is both necessary and an opportune time to improve and expand the network of effective prevention programs for at-risk preteens and teens.The Common Elements of Successful Prevention Programs, briefly summarized, along with an explanation of the criteria used to select the 51 programs profiled in this guidebook.Moving from Research to Practice -- a discussion of the challenges facing practitioners seeking to replicate promising intervention programs or approaches, with some suggestions for ways to meet these challenges.A Prevention Readiness Questionnaire to help program directors and planners identify and assess factors necessary to create favorable conditions and circumstances for successful adaptation or replication of the programs or their salient components in new settings.Profiles of 51 Prevention Programs whose behavioral evaluations demonstrate their effectiveness. The profiles provide general information about the program, highlight unique features, summarize evaluation results, and give general contact information. The 21 (most) rigorously evaluated programs also have curriculum, training, and contact information included.A Handy Reference Chart for quick comparison of the 51 programs

41SM150: A Middle Caddo Period Site in the Angelina River Basin, Smith County, Texas

Site 41SM150 is an ancestral Caddo settlement and cemetery in the headwaters of the Angelina River basin in East Texas. The site was recorded by Jan Guy in 1983 as part of a University of Texas at Austin Field School, when a collector who was working at the site shared information about what he, and others, had been finding there. Apparently the site had been worked by collectors for approximately 30 years by that time. The current condition of the site is not known. The site, including both habitation and cemetery areas, is located just south of a large knoll on an alluvial terrace on the north side of the Kickapoo Creek valley. Kickapoo Creek is a westward-flowing tributary of Mud Creek in the Angelina River basin. The site area had been cultivated in the past, but in 1983 was overgrown, with weeds and pine trees

Overextending Immunity: Arbitral Institutional Liability in the United States, England, and France

This Note examines the relationship between the arbitral institution and the disputing parties. Part I demonstrates the decisions parties face when choosing between traditional litigation and arbitration; it also discusses the differences between an arbitral institution and an ad hoc arbitration, as well as major arbitral institutions\u27 rules regarding their own liability. Part II introduces several nations\u27 approaches to judicial immunity, and how it is applied to arbitrators and arbitral institutions. Part II also weighs differing views on how to characterize the relationship between disputing parties and the arbitral institution. Finally, Part II discusses several key criticisms to the immunity of arbitral institutions. Part III will demonstrate the need for arbitral institutions\u27 contractual liability to disputing parties, and will address several potential criticisms and policy concerns of this approach

Twentieth century management theory in today's organization - how relevant is a forty-year-old model in the contemporary context of a call center

[Abstract]: In the search to find the solution to the ‘one best way’ to provide a conduit for contact between organizations and their customers, call centers represent a recent incarnation of the principles of scientific management developed in the first decades of the last century. This paper seeks to apply another iconic legacy of twentieth century management theory, Tuckman’s four-stage model of group development devised in 1965, to organizations which didn’t exist when the original idea was first postulated. How relevant are the ‘forming’, storming’, norming, and ‘performing’ stages of progression to an environment renowned for constant changes to group membership? In his 1977 revision of the four-stage model with Jensen, Tuckman acknowledged the limited capacity of the theory to account for transient participation in groups. This paper reports the findings of research which provides evidence that Tuckman’s model describes accurately the patterns of behaviour demonstrated by groups of newly selected call center workers completing their initial induction training in an Australian, semi-government, call center. Call centers provide a contemporary context for the application of Taylorist management principles, symbolic of practice more readily associated with the industrial revolution than with ‘modern’ organizations. Tuckman’s 1965 model has a similar resonance for call centers today

Determining Efficacy of a Passive Exoskeleton for Running

A Valparaiso University engineering senior design team is developing a lower-body exoskeleton prototype to increase the user’s running efficiency by 2%. The device is passive, which means that all elements of the system are powered by the user’s motion and impact with the ground. This is done via elastic fabric elements and spring steel actuators that are attached at the user’s hip, knee and ankle. The device’s effectiveness was tested using a VO2-max test in which the single test subject ran on a treadmill at a constant pace with and without the device. The test recorded the amount of oxygen consumed by the user during the trials, which is directly correlated to the calories burned by the user during the trials. As the experiment has a single test subject due to the user-specific dimensions of the prototype, many trials of the VO2 max test were performed in Spring 2020 to yield a larger sample size for analysis. The team used the output data to determine if there is statistically significant evidence that the user running with the device is more efficient than the user running without the device. Analysis was performed using Python and the proprietary software used to record data from VO2-max tests. A repeatable analysis pipeline was created to enable the research team to rapidly determine if changes to the design are beneficial. This pipeline was used to continue the development of the prototype throughout the Spring 2020 semester

New Records of Stoneflies (Plecoptera) With an Annotated Checklist of the Species for Pennsylvania

Original collections now record 134 species in nine families and 42 gen- era. Seventeen new state records include, Allocapnia wrayi, Alloperla cau­data, Leuctra maria, Soyedina carolinensis, Tallaperla elisa, Perlesta decipiens, P. placida, Neoperla catharae, N. occipitalis, N. stewarti, Cultus decisus decisus, Isoperla francesca, I. frisoni, I. lata, I. nana, 1. slossonae, Malirekus hastatus. Five species are removed from the list of species for Pennsylvania