The status of current events in the sixth grades of selected cities and towns of eastern Massachusetts

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

The status of current events in the sixth grades of selected cities and towns of eastern Massachusetts

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Analysis of Sales and Use Tax Exemptions -- With Comment as to More Uniform Applications

There are, generally speaking, three broad areas of exemption understatutes imposing sales and use taxes in the United States. These are: (a) Exemptions arising out of the immunities of governmental agencies and instrumentalities, or out of the exercise of governmental functions (b) Exemptions arising under the commerce clause of the federal constitution (c) Specific exemptions created out of governmental taxing policies or social economic considerations Each of these areas of exemption has grown up somewhat haphazardly over a substantial period of time, and very largely as the result of shifting judicial opinion, rather than as a matter of consistent legislative policy. As a consequence it may be said that the whole body of exemptions rests upon premises that have somewhat dubious legal foundation and somewhat incongruous legal concepts. For example, the concept of states rights from the extremist point of view, which prevailed during the first half century of our Republic, underwent a drastic and startling revision as the result of the Civil War and the revolutionary change in public sentiment which followed it. In that process a large body of judicial opinion dealing with the immunity of the federal government from any encroachment whatever by the several states and based largely on the bold opinions of Chief Justice Marshall, began to give way to the stronger demands of an economic system based upon the nineteenth century industrial revolution

Exploring Staff Turnover in a Large-Scale EBT Implementation Initiative

Staff turnover in the behavioral health field is a substantial and chronic problem with implications for both agencies and clients (Ben-Dror, 1994). Increased focus on the implementation of evidence-based treatments (EBT) has further highlighted the problems associated with turnover, as EBT trainings are particularly costly and time-consuming for clinicians and their agencies (Cook, Biyanova, & Coyne, 2009). The current study examined rates and predictors of turnover within an EBT implementation initiative designed to assess the effectiveness of three different training models. Data was collected from 110 families, 100 clinicians, 50 supervisors, and 50 administrators involved in the state-wide implementation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Overall, rates of staff turnover (8% at 12 months, 30% at 24 months) were less than typically reported by community behavioral health organizations (50% or greater at 12 months). In addition, organizational climate was a significant predictor of supervisor and administrator turnover, with different rates of turnover noted across different training conditions. Evidence also suggested that clinician turnover may be associated with poor client outcomes, although for a limited proportion of families. Implications for behavioral health agencies and future directions for research are discussed

Examining the Use of mHealth Technology for Weight Management: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial in Family Medicine

Overweight and obesity are prevalent and problematic conditions in the United States and worldwide, and effective weight management interventions are underutilized. Efforts to improve weight management practices have focused almost exclusively on changing physician behavior, without considering the larger healthcare context or the reciprocal patient-physician relationship. The current study explored the possibility of leveraging technology to improve the implementation of weight management clinical practice guidelines and increase patient-physician weight management discussions. 100 patients of five family medicine physicians were randomly assigned to either complete a weight management mobile application (app) prior to their primary care visit (app condition), or to undergo their primary care visit as usual (control condition). Findings suggested that patients largely viewed the app as an acceptable use of their time in the waiting room and they were able to complete the app with moderate fidelity prior to meeting with their physicians. Consistent with hypotheses, patients in the app condition were statistically more likely to initiate discussions about weight status than patients in the control group. However, contrary to hypotheses, these discussions did not occur at a statistically higher rate in the app condition than in the control condition. Overall weight status conversations were low relative to patient need, occurring in 42.7% of total visits, though 82.5% of the total sample was classified as overweight or obese. Also contrary to hypotheses, patients in the app condition did not demonstrate statistically improved BMI at follow-up than the control condition. Strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed

Impacts of Intermediate Water Formation in the North Pacific on Indonesian Throughflow and Equatorial Thermocline Depth: A High Latitude Control for ENSO Variability?

Long-term variability in the strength and frequency of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) may be attributable to changes in background climatology. During times of cold climate events in the high latitudes, El Niño conditions may have been more persistent in the equatorial Pacific. In this study, a numerical ocean model was used to examine the role oceanic circulation may play in linking these two regions. The simulation of an intermediate body of water of 10 Sv in the North Pacific results in an overall decrease in flow of 29% across the Indonesian Seaways. No change in the overall structure of the thermocline was observed; however the model predicted warming of the surface water in the western and eastern tropical Pacific. It is, therefore hypothesized that a sinking water mass in the North Pacific could have fueled either more permanent El Niño - like conditions or more frequent/intense ENSO events

Mechanisms of the f0(980)f_0(980) production in the reaction π−p→π0π0n\pi^-p\to\pi^0 \pi^0n

The model of the pure one-pion exchange mechanism, which gives a good description of the GAMS results on the alteration of the $S$-wave $\pi^0\pi^0$ mass spectrum in the $f_0(980)$ region in the reaction $\pi^-p\to\pi^0\pi^0n$ with increasing $-t$, is compared with the recent detailed data on the $m$ and $t$ distributions of the $\pi^-p\to\pi^0\pi^0n$ events obtained by the BNL-E852 Collaboration. It is shown that the predictions of this model are not confirmed by the BNL data. Therefore the observed phenomenon should be explained by the different exchange mechanism. It is most likely to be the $a_1$ exchange mechanism.Comment: 11 pages including 3 figure

Web-Based Training Methods for Behavioral Health Providers: A Systematic Review

There has been an increase in the use of web-based training methods to train behavioral health providers in evidence-based practices. This systematic review focuses solely on the efficacy of web-based training methods for training behavioral health providers. A literature search yielded 45 articles meeting inclusion criteria. Results indicated that the serial instruction training method was the most commonly studied web-based training method. While the current review has several notable limitations, findings indicate that participating in a web-based training may result in greater post-training knowledge and skill, in comparison to baseline scores. Implications and recommendations for future research on web-based training methods are discussed