Effective Practices for Reducing the Use of Restraint and Seclusion

Restraint and seclusion are harmful practices that are often imposed upon vulnerable student populations. This literature review examines the prevalence of such practices, the ethical considerations associated with their use, and effective strategies for limiting their use. The research reveals the importance of evidence-based approaches in reducing restraint and seclusion practices. Models that utilize compassionate, trauma-informed care and promote emotional regulation strategies are shown to be the most successful in reducing the use of these detrimental behavior management practices. One specific approach, Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), was found to incorporate each of these elements into a model that minimizes the use of restraint and seclusion

Influences to Post-graduation Career Aspirations and Attainment in STEM Doctoral Candidates and Recipients

As the realities of the academic job market have forced some PhD recipients to accept less-preferable position types, there has been increasing concerns that these students are not prepared for their careers, especially in STEM fields. However, aside from the labor market, few studies have explored the influences on career aspiration and attainment among doctoral degree holders. This study utilized the socialization theory framework to identify aspects of the doctoral education process that are predictive of the likelihood of certain career aspirations among science and engineering doctoral candidates and career attainment among STEM doctoral recipients by utilizing nationally representative datasets: The National Research Council\u27s Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs student questionnaire and the National Science Foundation\u27s Survey of Earned Doctorates. This study identified field of study, research productivity rank of doctoral programs, primary type of finding doctoral students received, level of satisfaction with research experiences, and their sense of belonging within their doctoral program as factors that predict the likelihood of certain career aspirations compared with a career in education. Doctoral candidates\u27 background characteristics that were significant predictors of career aspirations were gender, marital status, dependent status, race, age, and citizenship status. Further, this study identified participant\u27s field of study, the Carnegie Rank of institutions attended, primary type of funding received, length of time to PhD, gender, marital status, dependent status, race, citizenship stats, and age as factors that predict the likelihood of the career outcomes investigated in this study, including doctoral recipients\u27 employment field and primary work activity

Compensation for Environmental Services and Rural Communities: Lessons from the Americas

In principle, payments for environmental services – such as watershed management, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration – can advance the goals of both environmental protection and poverty reduction. A review of recent initiatives in the Americas suggests, however, that this desirable combination is not automatic. If payments for environmental services (PES) schemes are to be an effective vehicle for strengthening livelihoods in poor rural communities, they must be designed with that objective firmly in mind. This paper draws key lessons from diverse experiences in Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, and New York.

Student conceptions of employability: a phenomenographic study

Despite its everyday use in the higher education discourse, there is still ubiquity around the concept of employability where it continues to be used in a number of contexts and with reference to a range of meanings that include skills, knowledge and attributes in varying degrees of importance (Knight & Yorke, 2002; Moreland, 2006) to a multi-dimensional psycho-social construct based upon career identity, personal adaptability and social and human capital (Fugate, Kinicki & Ashworth, 2004). Although HEIs have placed a greater emphasis on developing employability support for students (Rae, 2007), employers are still finding graduates lack appropriate skills, aptitude and behaviours for the workplace (Tymon, 2013). Despite this extensive discussion, there is little that considers how well students understand the concept of employability and how this affects their job seeking behaviour. To investigate this understanding a sample of 35 undergraduate business students from a range of levels and programmes took part in an online survey asking them to reflect on their employability. These written accounts were then analysed phenomenographically to investigate the qualitatively different ways that business students conceive of employability. To maximise variation in the sample, participants were first to final year students, including some on placement, and were following a mixture of generalist business and specialist programmes, including accounting, marketing and IT. The responses were analysed in three phases (Marton & Säljö, 2005); sorting quotes into groups oriented around the meaning of employability, examining each group further as a decontextualized set of responses and then determining categories of description to represent the outcome space. This methodology was selected to fully appreciate the variety and breadth of conceptions students held, and identified a hierarchy of five distinct ways of understanding employability. The results of this study should be of value to educators and career support professionals in facilitating interventions that move students’ conceptions of employability from that of a possession, to one they must participate in, encouraging students to be more self-aware when entering the employment arena

Web-Based vs. Face-To-Face MBA Classes: A Comparative Assessment Study

The challenges of online learning include ensuring that the learning outcomes are at least as robust as in the face-to-face sections of the same course. At the University of Baltimore, both online sections and face-to-face sections of core MBA courses are offered. Once admitted to the MBA, students are free to enroll in any combination of web-based or face-to-face courses. This provides a unique laboratory to assess comparative learning outcomes

Development of a rapid UHPLC method for the in-process determination of coupling reagents used in peptide synthesis

The following thesis details the extensive development of a rapid liquid chromatography method for the in-process determination of peptide coupling reagents used in peptide synthesis. The determination of peptide coupling reagents, additives and associated by-products is important during peptide synthesis to ensure the concentration of these products are below the threshold of toxicological concern in the final peptide. A number of column technologies and mobile phases were evaluated for the separation of the analytes using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography system and, a 15 minute method for the simultaneous determination of fourteen peptide coupling reagents, additives and by-products was established. This method was determined to be selective and capable of accurately quantitating the amount of TMU, HOBt, HCTU, HBTU, 6-ChloroHOBt, TBTU, Oxyma Pure, COMU, DIU, DIC, PyBOP, and TCTU in the presence of two peptides from Ipsen Manufacturing Ireland LTD. Analytical method validation was performed as per ICH guidelines for specificity, accuracy, linearity, precision, detection limit, quantitation limit and robustness. This rapid UHPLC method is directly transferable onto LC-MS and the intended application of this method is for evaluation of development peptides in Ipsen Manufacturing Ireland LTD

Compensation for Environmental Services and Rural Communities: Lessons from the Americas

In principle, payments for environmental services – such as watershed management, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration – can advance the goals of both environmental protection and poverty reduction. A review of recent initiatives in the Americas suggests, however, that this desirable combination is not automatic. If payments for environmental services (PES) schemes are to be an effective vehicle for strengthening livelihoods in poor rural communities, they must be designed with that objective firmly in mind. This paper draws key lessons from diverse experiences in Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, and New York