Women's solidarity – and divisions among women

SUMMARY This article highlights the importance of understanding the dynamics of commonality and conflicts of interest among women for researchers grass roots activists and policy makers. Women do not constitute a homogeneous category and class divisions as well as defferences arising from hierarchy in kinship networks may in certain contexts be crucial perimeters for both research and development project design. RESUMEN Solidaridad y divisiones entre las mujeres Este articulo destaca la importancia de la comprensión de la dinamica de los conflíctos e intereses comunes existentes entre las mujeres, por parte de investigadores, activtivistas de base y elaboradores de politica. Las mujeres no constituyen una categoria homogènea y en ciertos contextos las divisiones de clase y la jerarquía imperante en las redes de relaciones pueden ser ámbitos cruciales, tanto para los investigadores como para los diseñadores de proyectos de desarrollo. RESUMES La Solídarité entre les femmes — et les divisions parmi les femmes Cet article souligne l'importance de comprendre, pour les chercheurs, les activistes de base et les políticiens, la dynamique de la communauté et les conflits d'intérét parmi les femmes. Les femmes ne constituent pas une catégorie homogéne et les divisions de classe aussi bien que les différences provenant de la hiérarchie dans les réseaux de parenté peuvent étre dans certains contextes des perimètres cruciaux pour les chercheurs et les projets de développement

Investigatory study into the supply chain voids of Welsh industrial sectors

This study explores 'immediate' and 'potential' supply chain voids (SCVs) in capability within three Welsh priority sectors and is sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The research design employs a multiple case study strategy targeting Biosciences, Financial and Unmanned Systems utilising instruments such as secondary data, semi-structured and telephone interviews. The findings from this study demonstrate that SCVs are contingent upon different sectors, supplier search and the behaviour of searchers, organisational size and structure, technology, markets and the nature of supply and demand at the macro level, the lack of suitable suppliers, poor quality standards and high prices. The moderate development of Pare Aberporth and Unmanned Systems operations is impeding progress in the Welsh SME base owing to the lack of locally based customers with 'home base' capabilities, the early life-cycle position of the cluster, motivations of companies to move to the area, a deficiency of competition and the efficacy of economic development methods. The key contribution is the development and pilot testing of a 'Hoshin Kanri' policy deployment framework for operation by the WAG (and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)) whilst investigating 'immediate' and 'potential' SCVs across different sectors and firms. The study was limited to the deployment of WAG strategies and companies operating in Wales therefore, in order to position it within a wider United Kingdom (UK) context, other RDAs were consulted. In addition, the literature was used to compare Wales to other regions in the UK and elsewhere. Policy recommendations for the sponsors are identified and the findings are likely to be of interest to RDAs, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and UK Trade and Investment. The results have interest in relation to the framework and its application through aligning regional strategies to target SCVs using sustainable development and regional embeddedness criteria.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Transition to Emergency Remote and Hybrid Instruction

There is a gap in understanding challenges rural high school teachers faced when adapting to remote and hybrid instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate challenges that teachers faced when implementing strategies, curriculum, and technology during the transition to remote and hybrid learning because of the pandemic. The conceptual framework of self-efficacy guided this qualitative case study. The research question addressed challenges that professional teachers at a rural public 9-12 grade high school faced regarding strategies, technologies, and curriculum as they transitioned to remote and hybrid instruction in the 2020-2021 school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven educators who taught at a rural high school during the 2020-2021 school year were interviewed. Data was analyzed through inductive coding, sorted into categories, and revealed five themes related to challenges including continuously changing expectations, lack of student engagement at home, discrepancies between structured curriculum and freedom to choose curriculum, and mixed feelings involving technology self-efficacy. The fifth theme was that teachers felt pride and demonstrated resilience as they struggled through the pandemic. Results indicate that clearer expectations, technology training, and colleague collaboration might help educators with remote and hybrid teaching in the pandemic. Knowledge and understanding related to teaching in the pandemic can lead to positive social change in that high school and district leadership can better help teachers to guide students through remote and hybrid instruction, therefore molding learners into citizens of the future

Investigatory study into the supply chain voids of Welsh industrial sectors

This study explores 'immediate' and 'potential' supply chain voids (SCVs) in capability within three Welsh priority sectors and is sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The research design employs a multiple case study strategy targeting Biosciences, Financial and Unmanned Systems utilising instruments such as secondary data, semi-structured and telephone interviews. The findings from this study demonstrate that SCVs are contingent upon different sectors, supplier search and the behaviour of searchers, organisational size and structure, technology, markets and the nature of supply and demand at the macro level, the lack of suitable suppliers, poor quality standards and high prices. The moderate development of Pare Aberporth and Unmanned Systems operations is impeding progress in the Welsh SME base owing to the lack of locally based customers with 'home base' capabilities, the early life-cycle position of the cluster, motivations of companies to move to the area, a deficiency of competition and the efficacy of economic development methods. The key contribution is the development and pilot testing of a 'Hoshin Kanri' policy deployment framework for operation by the WAG (and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)) whilst investigating 'immediate' and 'potential' SCVs across different sectors and firms. The study was limited to the deployment of WAG strategies and companies operating in Wales therefore, in order to position it within a wider United Kingdom (UK) context, other RDAs were consulted. In addition, the literature was used to compare Wales to other regions in the UK and elsewhere. Policy recommendations for the sponsors are identified and the findings are likely to be of interest to RDAs, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and UK Trade and Investment. The results have interest in relation to the framework and its application through aligning regional strategies to target SCVs using sustainable development and regional embeddedness criteria.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Development and Testing of an Instrument to Measure Informatics Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Among Entry-Level Nursing Students

Informatics competencies in nursing education have long been and continue to be a concern. This article reports on the development and psychometric testing of the Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes towards Nursing Informatics (KSANI) Scale to measure these constructs among entry-level nursing students. A measurement instrument was developed based on the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute informatics competencies for pre-licensure students (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Survey data were collected from a convenience sample of 300 undergraduate nursing students attending the 2014 Florida Student Nurses Association’s annual convention. The data were subjected to Cronbach’s test to estimate the level of reliability as internal consistency. At 0.90, the alpha for the overall scale exceeded the 0.70 benchmark for acceptability. The scale items were clustered into the intended three factors – knowledge, skills and attitudes – as well as into the added factor of opportunities. The instrument was found to be sound and appropriate for the target population. Nursing informatics combine the disciplines of nursing science, information science, and computer science (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). Ever since the time of Florence Nightingale, one of the critical roles of the registered nurse (RN) has been to collect and interpret data to provide safe and effective patient care. Since the early 1980s, informatics competencies in nursing education have been discussed in nursing literature (Staggers, Gassert, & Curran, 2001). In 1992, the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2015) recognized the importance of technology to nursing practice, identifying nursing informatics as a specialty practice. The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report calling for a safer health care system identified the use information technology (IT) as a key factor toward meeting this goal. In 2010, the IOM published The Future of Nursing, which recommended making technology an essential component of nursing education. Both the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2008) and the National League for Nursing (NLN, 2008) emphasized that knowledge and skills in information management and patient care technology are critical components in nursing education and accreditation. Skiba, Connors, and Jeffries (2008) identified a lack of informatics competencies in nursing education prior to 2008. Since that time, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have partnered to support the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Initiative (AACN, 2016). One of the components of the QSEN Initiative was the development of competencies in various areas including informatics. This research contributes to the development of a reliable and valid instrument based on the QSEN competencies to test the informatics knowledge, skills, and attitudes of current RN students in Florida

Development and Testing of an Instrument to Measure Informatics Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Among Entry-Level Nursing Students

Informatics competencies in nursing education have long been and continue to be a concern. This article reports on the development and psychometric testing of the Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes towards Nursing Informatics (KSANI) Scale to measure these constructs among entry-level nursing students. A measurement instrument was developed based on the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute informatics competencies for pre-licensure students (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Survey data were collected from a convenience sample of 300 undergraduate nursing students attending the 2014 Florida Student Nurses Association’s annual convention. The data were subjected to Cronbach’s test to estimate the level of reliability as internal consistency. At 0.90, the alpha for the overall scale exceeded the 0.70 benchmark for acceptability. The scale items were clustered into the intended three factors – knowledge, skills and attitudes – as well as into the added factor of opportunities. The instrument was found to be sound and appropriate for the target population. Nursing informatics combine the disciplines of nursing science, information science, and computer science (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). Ever since the time of Florence Nightingale, one of the critical roles of the registered nurse (RN) has been to collect and interpret data to provide safe and effective patient care. Since the early 1980s, informatics competencies in nursing education have been discussed in nursing literature (Staggers, Gassert, & Curran, 2001). In 1992, the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2015) recognized the importance of technology to nursing practice, identifying nursing informatics as a specialty practice. The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report calling for a safer health care system identified the use information technology (IT) as a key factor toward meeting this goal. In 2010, the IOM published The Future of Nursing, which recommended making technology an essential component of nursing education. Both the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2008) and the National League for Nursing (NLN, 2008) emphasized that knowledge and skills in information management and patient care technology are critical components in nursing education and accreditation. Skiba, Connors, and Jeffries (2008) identified a lack of informatics competencies in nursing education prior to 2008. Since that time, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have partnered to support the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Initiative (AACN, 2016). One of the components of the QSEN Initiative was the development of competencies in various areas including informatics. This research contributes to the development of a reliable and valid instrument based on the QSEN competencies to test the informatics knowledge, skills, and attitudes of current RN students in Florida

Distributional Effects of Cash Crop Innovation: The Peripherally Commercialised Farmers of North East Ghana

Summary This is a case study of rural producer households in the savannah farming area of North East Ghana where an increasing amount of cash cropping as an integral part of the domestic economy has coincided with increasingly widespread famine and chronic food shortages. The article emphasises just how complex particular historical experiences of cashcrop development may be, so that it is not easy to disentangle the effects of cash cropping from other economic changes as market relations come to characterise rural society. Specifically, it examines one of the assertions of the Food First lobby — namely that there is competition for scarce rural resources between food crop production and cash crop production. It suggests that if such competition exists it is not at the household level, but is rather filtered through the significant relations of inequality which develop between households. Resumé Les Effets de la Répartition des Innovations en matière de Culture destinée à l'Exportation: Les Cultivateurs, Commercialisés Périphériquement dans le Ghana du Nord?Est Cet article est une étude de cas des ménages de producteurs des regions rurales de la Savane du Ghana du nord?est, òu l'augmentation de la culture de produits destinés à l'exportation dans le cadre de la production domestique a coincidé avec une augmentation d'une pénurie chronique de produits agricoles destinés à la consommation et aussi à une famine largement répandue. L'article met l'accent sur la complexité que peuvent présenter des expériences historiques spécifiques dans le développement de la culture de produits agricoles pour l'exportation, de manière à dégager les effets que peut avoir la culture en vue d'exportation, de ceux provoqués par d'autres changements économiques, étant donné que les rapports commerciaux sont devenus caractéristiques de la société rurale. Resumen Efectos distributivos de la introducción de cultivos comerciales. Los granjeros periféricos en esta actividad en el nordeste de Ghana Este es un estudio de caso de productores domésticos rurales del área granjera del sabana del nordeste de Ghana, donde el aumento de cultivos comerciales, como parte integral de la economía doméstica, ha coincidido con una creciente y ampliamente difundida hambruna y con escaseces crónicas de alimentos. El artículo enfatiza la complejidad que puede alcanzar el desarrollo de cultivos comerciales en experiencias históricas concretas, resultando difícil aislar su efecto del de otros cambios económicos debido al desarrollo de las relaciones mercantiles en la sociedad rural. Específicamente, examina una de las afirmaciones de la consigna alimentos primero, es decir que la producción de alimentos y de cultivos comerciales compiten por los escasos recursos rurales. Sugiere que si tal competencia existe, ésta no se encuentra en el nivel hogareño, sino que más bien se filtra a través de las significativas relaciones de desigualdad que se desarrollan entre hogares