Creating Hospitals’ Core Competencies with Lean Healthcare Strategies Entering the ASEAN Economic Community

This study aimed to evaluate the structural equation modeling of the influences between Lean healthcare strategies, internal quality management and hospitals’ core competencies as medical care centers entering the ASEAN Economic Community. The populations and sample groups in this study included 384 HA officers. The research was conducted from December 2012 to August 2013, and the research method involved purposive sampling through questionnaires. A statistical data analysis was performed using Structural Equation Modeling analysis. This study found that 1) Lean healthcare strategies indirectly influenced hospitals’ core competencies as medical centers entering the ASEAN Economic Community through internal quality management at the 0.01 significance level, 2) Lean healthcare strategies directly influenced hospitals’ core competencies as medical centers entering the ASEAN Economic Community at the 0.01 significance level; 3) Lean healthcare strategies directly influenced internal quality management at the 0.01 significance level; and 4) internal quality management directly influenced hospitals’ core competencies as medical centers entering the ASEAN Economic Community at the 0.01 significance level

Propaganda managed democracy: the UK and the lessons of Iraq

How does power shape ideas and ideologies today? Who controls the information on which public discussion rests? How is power used to exclude critical thought in politics, the media, universities, state policy-making? Has neo-liberal globalisation introduced a new era of state duplicity, corporate manipulation of truth and intellectual conformity? Are we entering a new age of unreason? The Socialist Register 2006 examines contemporary public debate and policy-making, scientific and social scientific research, statistics, the media, the business 'community', the World Bank, humanitarian 'aid', the role of the theatre. What standards of intellectual integrity exist today? After postmodernism, is it still possible for truth to prevail over half-truths and lies

The Rhetorical Goddess: A Feminist Perspective on Women in Magic

Although female magicians have existed since the rise of entertainment magic, women have faced difficulty in entering the “fraternity” of the magic community. As an art form largely based around persuasion, it is useful to study the performance of magic as a text. It is additionally useful to study female magicians within this context of rhetoric. Not only will examining the rhetoric of female magicians provide insights on the rhetoric of women in this unique arena, but also of women in a historically gendered and underrepresented field. Research into this area may disclose other details regarding the communicative differences between women and men and how communication is adapted within a gendered communication paradigm

A Blueprint for Youth Justice Reform

Each year, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable young people, primarily youth of color, are funneled into the justice system -- a system ill-equipped to meet their needs or foster their development. Study after study has proven that reliance on punishment and incarceration is harmful to young people and is associated with increased rates of reoffending, strained family relationships, lower educational and vocational attainment, and incarceration later in life. This updated report draws upon new research to provide concrete policy recommendations aimed at improving the well-being and life outcomes for young people up to age 25 who are involved in or at risk of entering our nation's juvenile and criminal justice systems.The Blueprint is a call to action to funders, policymakers, community leaders, system stakeholders, advocates, youth and families

Coordinating Summer Undergraduate Research Programs for Expanding Diversity and Impact: Opportunities and Challenges

During summers 2015-2017, we operated a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site, “Biomedical Engineering Community of Undergraduate Research Scholars for Cancer” (BME CUReS Cancer) at The University of Texas at Austin. The directors of the BME CUReS Cancer program have sought to multiply the impact of our Site by embedding students supported by other summer research experience grants, which we refer to here as Affiliated Scholars. In this paper, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges we encountered in coordinating these summer undergraduate research programs. CUReS Scholars were matched with a summer project from among a rich variety of research endeavors within strategic areas identified by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Each Scholar was part of a research team with both faculty and graduate student mentors, a mentoring system that is effective and widely employed. Scholars also benefited from: a research skills boot camp their first week; weekly educational seminars with fellow summer scholars led by the program directors; shared on-campus housing; and social events. Affiliated Scholars were supported by a variety of other funding mechanisms with a variety of research areas. By grouping these scholars into the CUReS structure with a shared scientific theme of engineering approaches to cancer research, regardless of their funding source, we sought to facilitate their identification with a larger, diverse student cohort. Criteria across the programs introduced challenges to establishing a shared community, such as subsets of Affiliated Scholars entering the summer program with existing social relationships. We will discuss specific challenges and opportunities we observed and provide recommendations for blending a primary REU with Affiliated Scholars based on our experiences.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Community-based initiatives for promoting school readiness: the story of celebrate liberty's children

Much evidence supports the theory that the early years of a child's development are crucial in determining future student achievement. This in-depth case study examines a community-based school readiness initiative that was launched in a rural area where high numbers of children were entering school with potential delays. This research serves to highlight how rural, limited resource communities can increase opportunities for children's experiences and access to services prior to school to enhance school readiness. Interviews, observations, and document reviews were conducted to gain insight into the development of this school readiness initiative and its impact on enhancing the school readiness of entering kindergarten students. Results show that transformational and participatory leadership; community collaboration across multiple sectors; and volunteer management, resource development, and marketing were key factors in the success of this rural school readiness initiative. In addition, surveys of community members indicate high awareness and usage of early childhood resources as well as heightened knowledge of the benefits of early childhood education

TOWARDS EMBRACING A CRITICAL LOVE ETHIC IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM NICARAGUA

This research is based on a community sanitation project from Cuajchillo Dos, Nicaragua, in which I served as a field volunteer for Walu International and simultaneously conducted interviews and focus groups with project participants.The goal of this research is to determine to what extent dialogues that took place in this project were based on an ethic of critical love, which is has two primary components: relationality and critical social consciousness. The main findings from this research were that the essential components of dialogue based on a critical love ethic are: listening deeply and sharing openly, building trust and relationships, entering into critical situational analysis and developing solidarity. Additional implications include the importance of a clearly defined community development model and time to develop relationships in community development

Shared voices, different worlds: Process and product in the Food Dignity action research project

Diversity of perspective makes for greater depth when painting a portrait of community life. But embracing the idea of representing true diversity in a formal research project is a whole lot easier than putting it into practice. The three dozen members of the Food Dignity action research team, now entering the fourth year of a five-year project, are intimately familiar with this challenge. In this article, four of the collaborators explore the intricacies of navigating what it means to bring together a genuine cross-section of community-based activists and academics in an effort to draw on one another’s professional and personal strengths to collect and disseminate research findings that represent the truth of a community’s experiences, and are ultimately disseminated in a way that brings tangible benefit to the heart and soul of that community. The authors include Food Dignity’s principal investigator (Porter) and three community organisers (Marshall, Herrera and Woodsum) in organisations that have partnered with Food Dignity. Two of the organisers (Herrera and Woodsum) also serve project-wide roles. These collaborators share their personal and professional hopes, struggles, concerns, successes and failures as participants in this cutting-edge effort to equalise community and university partnerships in research. Keywords: community-based participatory research (CBPR), food justice, equitable community-campus partnerships, food sovereignty, case study, action researc

Factors associated with engagement levels among entering and returning Hispanic college students

textThe purpose of this study was to explore the engagement levels among entering and returning Hispanic community college students. This study provides needed data focused specifically on Hispanic student engagement. Limited data exist on the persistence of community college students in general, and Hispanic students in particular. The data were collected using the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE). SENSE was administered as a pilot test to students at volunteer community colleges during the fourth and fifth weeks of the fall 2007 semester. These 22 colleges are located in eight states. This study consisted of two research questions: Are there significant differences in the engagement levels of entering and returning Hispanic community college students? Are there significant differences in engagement levels of entering Hispanic students when analyzed in terms of the following breakout variables: enrollment status (full-time and part-time); age (traditional and nontraditional; 18-19 years old and 20 years old and older); first-generation and non-first-generation status; developmental education status (enrollment in developmental writing course; developmental reading course; developmental math course); sex (male and female); academic goal aspiration (degree seeking and non-degree seeking). The results show that when there are significant differences in levels of engagement between entering and returning Hispanic students, returning students are consistently more engaged. This study also identifies the importance of collaborative learning in Hispanic student engagement. Full-time students reported higher engagement levels than part-time students. Nontraditional age students reported higher engagement levels than traditional age students. Students 20 years and older reported higher engagement levels than students 18-19 years old. First-generation students reported higher engagement levels than non-first-generation. Students enrolled in developmental reading reported higher engagement levels than students not enrolled in developmental reading. Students enrolled in developmental writing reported higher engagement levels than students not enrolled in developmental writing. Students enrolled in developmental math reported higher engagement levels than students not enrolled in developmental math in regards to use of skill labs. Females were more likely to report that they would prepare at least one draft of an assignment before turning it in. Degree-seeking students reported higher engagement levels than non-degree seeking students.Educational Administratio

Report to the New York City Housing Authority on Applying and Lifting Permanent Exclusions for Criminal Conduct

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is conducting an internal review of its policies related to permanent exclusions for criminal conduct on NYCHA property. Permanent exclusion (PE) occurs when a NYCHA tenant—rather than risk eviction—enters into a stipulation that those associated with the resident who have engaged in non-desirable behavior are barred from entering the apartment. It also occurs as a result of an administrative hearing where NYCHA seeks an eviction, but the hearing officer opts to preserve the tenancy and bars the offending person from the apartment.To inform this policy review, NYCHA partnered with the Vera Institute of Justice and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The review sought to understand how NYCHA could better balance its commitments to the safety of the community, the stability of its tenants' families, and the successful reentry of formerly incarcerated people. The following recommendations reflect an extensive review of existing policies and practices around PE, interviews with NYCHA staff, a meeting with NYCHA residents, and social science research on risk mitigation and future offending