Summer Camp as a Force for 21st Century Learning: Exploring Divergent Thinking and Activity Selection in a Residential Camp Setting

This study investigated change in divergent thinking (DT), an indicator of creative potential, at two gender-specific residential summer camps. Additionally, this study examined whether the change in DT varied by gender and by the type of activities campers self-select. Quantitative methods, using a quasi-experimental design was used in order to understand differences in camper scores. A total of 189 youth, 100 girls, 89 boys, between the ages of 9 and 14 years participated in the current study. Participants were administered a modified version of Guilford\u27s (1967) alternate uses task, a measure of DT, in which respondents were asked questions such as name all of the uses for a brick or name all of the uses for a plate before the camp session started, and then again at the end of the two-week session. Results indicate overall mean significant increases in DT across all scoring methods of fluency, flexibility, and originality. Participants who self-selected one or more artistic activities (e.g., drama, arts and crafts, dance) had significant increases on the tasks as opposed to participants who did not select any artistic activities (e.g., basketball, baseball, archery). Finally, girls significantly increased across all scoring methods, whereas boys slightly increased in fluency and flexibility but not in originality. These results indicate residential summer camp may provide a creativity benefit for youth in attendance, especially those who participate in certain activities. Practitioners should use this study to understand their own programming in terms of creativity, activity offerings, and camp cultur

Engaging in hospitality and culinary research that makes a difference: The shape of things to come

Engaging in hospitality research that matters now takes a fresh approach as to how we can contribute to shaping the future of best practices in both hospitality education and management, while engaging with problems worth investigating, and publishing the results The domain of hospitality activities suggests the need to study both the social and the physical contexts within which particular hospitality activities take place. Current researches in the field of hospitality are relatively recent. In pre-industrial societies, hospitality occupied a much more central position in the value-system. In both contemporary and pre-industrial societies, as in earlier historical periods, hospitality included the fundamental moral imperative and duty to welcome neighbours, and begged the fundamental question “who is my neighbour”? The centrality of hospitality and culinary activities has been noted in a wide range of studies from Homeric Greece, to early Rome, to medieval Provence, the Maori, Indian tribes of USA and Canada, and finally to early modern England and Mediterranean societies. Whilst modern industrial economies no longer have the same apparently overt moral obligations to be hospitable, and much hospitality experience takes place in commercial settings in the context of world tourism, the study of the social and cultural domains provides a valuable set of insights with which to critically evaluate and inform the commercial provision of accommodation, food and beverages in a secure and safe environment.Keywords: hospitality, sciences, profession, research, critical thinkin

Antiphase dynamics in a multimode semiconductor laser with optical injection

A detailed experimental study of antiphase dynamics in a two-mode semiconductor laser with optical injection is presented. The device is a specially designed Fabry-Perot laser that supports two primary modes with a THz frequency spacing. Injection in one of the primary modes of the device leads to a rich variety of single and two-mode dynamical scenarios, which are reproduced with remarkable accuracy by a four dimensional rate equation model. Numerical bifurcation analysis reveals the importance of torus bifurcations in mediating transitions to antiphase dynamics and of saddle-node of limit cycle bifurcations in switching of the dynamics between single and two-mode regimes.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

The influence of magazines on men: normalizing and challenging young men’s prejudice with “lads’ mags”

Social psychologists have argued that popular UK and USA men’s magazines known as lads’ mags have normalized hostile sexism among young men. Three studies develop this argument. First, a survey of 423 young UK men found that ambivalent sexism predicted attitudes toward the consumption of lads’ mags, but not other forms of direct sexual consumption (paying for sex or patronizing strip clubs). Second, Study 2 (N = 81) found that young men low in sexism rated sexist jokes as less hostile towards women, but not as either funnier nor more ironic, when those jokes were presented within a lads’ mags context. These findings refute the idea that young men readily read lads’ mags’ sexism as ironic or ‘harmless fun.’ They show instead that placing sexist jokes in lads’ mags contexts makes them appear less hostile. The third study (N = 275) demonstrated that young men perceived lads’ mags as less legitimate after attempting to distinguish the contents of lads’ mags from rapists’ legitimations of their crimes. Implications for contemporary studies of masculinities and consumption are discussed

Relationship between Body Mass Index and the Sub-Dimensions of the Brief Pain Inventory in Chronic Pain Patients

Individuals with chronic pain find it hard to exercise which often results in an elevated Body Mass Index (BMI). Often these individuals only have mild to moderate structural or biomechanical reasons to explain their pain yet their fear of pain seems to influence their functional capacity before any biomechanical mechanism actually prevents them doing so.A retrospective analysis of 25 individuals with a diagnosis of chronic pain (>3 months duration) to establish anthropometric measures, pain severity and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) questionnaire including the affective sub-dimension score (REM: relations with others, enjoyment of life, and mood) and the activity subdimension score (WAW: walking, general activity, and work) were assessed.BMI was shown to have a significant effect on the overall daily functional BPI score as assessed using ANOVA, F (4,110) = 29.4, p<0.05, with an effect size w = 0.5. Turkey HSD tests to compare all groups identified a significant relationship between BMI and (i) pain (p<0.05), (ii) REM (p<0.05), and (iii) sleep (p<0.05).These results would suggest that individuals who are overweight and who show higher REM scores on the BPI assessment may benefit from early psychological counselling rather than physical therapy

Receiving care for intimate partner violence in primary care: barriers and enablers for women participating in the weave randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Interventions in health settings for intimate partner violence (IPV) are being increasingly recognised as part of a response to addressing this global public health problem. However, interventions targeting this sensitive social phenomenon are complex and highly susceptible to context. This study aimed to elucidate factors involved in women\u27s uptake of a counselling intervention delivered by family doctors in the weave primary care trial (Victoria, Australia). METHODS: We analysed associations between women\u27s and doctors\u27 baseline characteristics and uptake of the intervention. We interviewed a random selection of 20 women from an intervention group women to explore cognitions relating to intervention uptake. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded in NVivo 10 and analysed using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). RESULTS: Abuse severity and socio-demographic characteristics (apart from current relationship status) were unrelated to uptake of counselling (67/137 attended sessions). Favourable doctor communication was strongly associated with attendance. Eight themes emerged, including four sets of beliefs that influenced attitudes to uptake: (i) awareness of the abuse and readiness for help; (ii) weave as an avenue to help; (iii) doctor\u27s communication; and (iv) role in providing care for IPV; and four sets of beliefs regarding women\u27s control over uptake: (v) emotional health, (vi) doctors\u27 time, (vii) managing the disclosure process and (viii) viewing primary care as a safe option. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified factors that can promote the implementation and evaluation of primary care-based IPV interventions, which are relevant across health research settings, for example, ensuring fit between implementation strategies and characteristics of the target group (such as range in readiness for intervention). On practice implications, providers\u27 communication remains a key issue for engaging women. A key message arising from this work concerns the critical role of primary care and health services more broadly in reaching victims of domestic violence, and providing immediate and ongoing support (depending on the healthcare context)

Calibration of ultrasonic hardware for enhanced total focusing method imaging

Experimental variation from ultrasonic hardware is one source of uncertainty in measured ultrasonic data. This uncertainty leads to a reduction in the accuracy of images generated from these data. In this paper, a quick, easy-to-use and robust methodology is proposed to reduce this uncertainty in images generated using the total focusing method (TFM). Using a 128-element linear phased array, multiple full matrix capture (FMC) datasets of a planar reflection are used to characterise the experimental variation associated with each element index in the aperture. Following this, a methodology to decouple the time-domain error associated with transmission and reception at each element index is presented. These time-domain errors are then introduced into a simulated array model used to generate the two-way pressure profile from the array. The side-lobe-to-main-lobe energy ratio (SMER) and beam offset are used to quantify the impact of these measured time-domain errors on the pressure profile. This analysis shows that the SMER is raised by more than 6 dB and the beam is offset by more than 1 mm from its programmed focal position. This calibration methodology is then demonstrated using a steel non-destructive testing (NDT) sample with three side-drilled holes (SDHs). The time delay errors from transmission and reception are introduced into the time-of-flight (TOF) calculation for each ray path in the TFM. This results in an enhancement in the accuracy of defect localisation in the TFM image