873 research outputs found

    Referring to discourse participants in Ibero-Romance languages

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    Synopsis: This volume brings together contributions by researchers focusing on personal pronouns in Ibero-Romance languages, going beyond the well-established variable of expressed vs. non-expressed subjects. While factors such as agreement morphology, topic shift and contrast or emphasis have been argued to account for variable subject expression, several corpus studies on Ibero-Romance languages have shown that the expression of subject pronouns goes beyond these traditionally established factors and is also subject to considerable dialectal variation. One of the factors affecting choice and expression of personal pronouns or other referential devices is whether the construction is used personally or impersonally. The use and emergence of new impersonal constructions, eventually also new (im)personal pronouns, as well as the variation found in the expression of human impersonality in different Ibero-Romance language varieties is another interesting research area that has gained ground in the recent years. In addition to variable subject expression, similar methods and theoretical approaches have been applied to study the expression of objects. Finally, the reference to the addressee(s) using different address pronouns and other address forms is an important field of study that is closely connected to the variable expression of pronouns. The present book sheds light on all these aspects of reference to discourse participants. The volume contains contributions with a strong empirical background and various methods and both written and spoken corpus data from Ibero-Romance languages. The focus on discourse participants highlights the special properties of first and second person referents and the factors affecting them that are often different from the anaphoric third person. The chapters are organized into three thematic sections: (i) Variable expression of subjects and objects, (ii) Between personal and impersonal, and (iii) Reference to the addressee

    Managing risks and harms associated with the use of anabolic steroids

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    Background: People using AAS may adopt a range of strategies to prevent and treat adverse health conditions potentially associated with the use of these substances (AAS-HC). These strategies include seeking support from physicians, using the needle and syringe exchange programme (NSP) and seeking support from informal sources such as coaches and online forums. The process of identifying risks and harms, adopting and modifying health-related strategies is similar to the methods of risk-management employed in other fields of human activity. This approach recognises the importance of the informal body of knowledge produced by decades of AAS-related folk-pharmacology and seeks to understand harm-reduction from the users’ perspective.Objectives: The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate the strategies adopted by people using AAS to prevent and treat AAS-HC. Secondary objectives include to explore the factors associated with the adoption of health strategies and the occurrence of AAS-HC, as well as the barriers and facilitators experienced by AAS users when accessing health services and other sources of support.Methods: To achieve the objectives above, three work packages (WP) were produced as part of a mixed-methods research design. WP1 is a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of AAS users seeking support from physicians. WP2 is a cross-sectional online survey that identified AAS-HC, risk factors and health-related strategies adopted by AAS users in the UK. WP3 is a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews to discuss the experiences of AAS users and their risk-management strategies (RMS).Results: The estimated overall prevalence of AAS users seeking support from physicians is 37.1%. Higher prevalence rates were observed in studies from Australia (67.3%) and amongst clients of the NSP (54.1%), whilst the lowest was observed among adolescents (17.3%). The health conditions most commonly reported by the 883 participants of the online survey were insomnia (33.3%) and anxiety (32.2%). Most participants adopted preventive strategies such as having blood tests in the last 12 months (86.2%) and seeking a GP to treat AAS-HC (55.0%). Those who sought a GP for AAS-related information were 76% less likely to report an AAS-HC in the last 12 months. The interviews described AAS users’ RMS as a continuous process of awareness and behavioural changes. Participants described an extensive use of private health services and other sources of support to bypass the barriers experienced by AAS users engaging with the public health system.Conclusion: A large number of AAS users refrain from seeking support from physicians. Health professionals should be trained to recognise and manage the most common AAS-HC and help users improve their RMS. Further studies should investigate the efficacy of AAS-related RMS and the subpopulations of AAS users more likely to experience AAS-HC and less likely to engage with health services.<br/

    Developing International Mindedness through the Arts in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP): An International Survey Design Conducted across all Continents

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    One distinct purpose of international education is to develop greater international understanding and intercultural competences. For the International Baccalaureate, this translates into students developing international mindedness throughout its programmes and courses. However, international mindedness is not measured and the impact of the programmes on the development of international mindedness remains mainly anecdotal. Furthermore, in the Diploma Programme, the choice of Arts courses is optional and the value of an Arts education, or specifically the value of taking a Diploma Programme Arts course in developing international mindedness, is equally unclear. This study investigated the development of international mindedness in students who opted for a Diploma Programme Arts course versus those who did not. The study followed a repeated measures, comparative and mixed-methods research design using a survey tool for data collection. The survey consisted of a quantitative section based on existing surveys and a qualitative section with six open-ended questions. The quantitative data showed an increase in intercultural knowledge and behaviours, while no change in attitudes, and a decrease in values was identified for both student groups, Diploma Programme Arts and Non-Arts-students. Furthermore, there was an increase in intercultural communication skills particularly in Diploma Programme Arts-students. Qualitative data analysis revealed a spectrum of categories of responses. The qualitative data also identified themes in addition to those identified in International Baccalaureate documentation and literature. Recommendations include for the International Baccalaureate Organization to integrate some of the emerging themes in their documentations, for example themes relating to adaptability and interconnectedness, which may also provide an interesting focus for curriculum design. Furthermore, curriculum and programme design should place a greater focus on the development of attitudes and values in the Diploma Programme and a reconsideration of the optionality of the Arts in this context

    Measuring the impact of COVID-19 on hospital care pathways

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    Care pathways in hospitals around the world reported significant disruption during the recent COVID-19 pandemic but measuring the actual impact is more problematic. Process mining can be useful for hospital management to measure the conformance of real-life care to what might be considered normal operations. In this study, we aim to demonstrate that process mining can be used to investigate process changes associated with complex disruptive events. We studied perturbations to accident and emergency (A &E) and maternity pathways in a UK public hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-incidentally the hospital had implemented a Command Centre approach for patient-flow management affording an opportunity to study both the planned improvement and the disruption due to the pandemic. Our study proposes and demonstrates a method for measuring and investigating the impact of such planned and unplanned disruptions affecting hospital care pathways. We found that during the pandemic, both A &E and maternity pathways had measurable reductions in the mean length of stay and a measurable drop in the percentage of pathways conforming to normative models. There were no distinctive patterns of monthly mean values of length of stay nor conformance throughout the phases of the installation of the hospital’s new Command Centre approach. Due to a deficit in the available A &E data, the findings for A &E pathways could not be interpreted

    Dominican Republic Greenhouse Automation

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    The development process involved meticulous engineering and integration of the electrical components, ensuring seamless functionality and performance. The AGS was designed to be affordable, scalable, and easily replicable, with the intention of expanding its implementation beyond the DR to other underserved communities globally. By optimizing resource management, conserving energy, and minimizing the carbon footprint, the AGS promotes environmental sustainability in food production. Overall, this senior design capstone project successfully developed a cost-effective and user-friendly Automated Greenhouse System, addressing food insecurity challenges in the DR. The project demonstrated professional excellence, fulfilled the mission of SCU\u27s School of Engineering, and strengthened the partnership between SCU and LU. The scalable and replicable nature of the AGS opens doors for potential global impact, with the project serving as a foundation for further refinement and expansion to other regions facing food insecurity

    A Provident Mindset to Impostor Phenomenon of In-Service Music Educators

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    Impostor Phenomenon (IP) is a psychological construct that affects many high-achieving professionals to doubt their competence, intelligence, and self-worth. As a result, many with IP will overwork and self-sabotage as they constantly feel like a fraud within their profession or daily lives. Despite previous literature and research with pre-service and graduate students in music education, more data on the IP of In-Service Music Educators still needs to be collected. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine the provident mindset of IP among In-Service Music Educators. A quantitative MANOVA design method evaluated this phenomenon. The study collected quantitative data from (N = 5000 / n = 100), in-service kindergarten through twelfth-grade music educators from institutions across the United States, determining the extent to which they experience IP. Participants completed the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), the In-Service Music Educator Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (IME CIPS), and accompanying demographics to determine IP experiences. The causal-comparative quantitative method studied participants using both surveys to gain an in-depth understanding of their IP experiences as In-service Music Educators. The study used quantitative CIPS and IME CIPS findings to demonstrate the impact of IP within In-Service Music Educators and establish similarities between general and domain-specific IP within in-service music teaching. The analysis results indicated that the combination of general IP (as measured by the CIPS) and In-Service Music Educator domain-specific IP (measured by the IME CIPS) was a significant predictor of IP. Moreover, implications from this study demonstrated that In-Service Music Educators have a higher provident mindset of IP based on demographic variables, such as race, gender, age, teaching placement, area of specialty, and earned degree level
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