A Needs Assessment Method for Extension Educators

This article offers a methodology Extension educators can use for conducting a needs assessment. It uses existing data and key informant interview responses. Results of the interviews were shared with individuals and agencies that work with children and families. An evaluation showed that 61% intended to use the information to plan for future programs, services, or activities that their organization may provide. Educators from other program areas could easily adapt this methodology to conduct a local situational analysis

Adding Bricks to Clicks: The Contingencies Driving Cannibalization and Complementarity in Multichannel Retailing

This paper empirically explores the contingencies that drive cannibalizing and complementary effects across channels to provide sales forecasting, promotion planning, and customer relationship management guidance to multichannel managers. We investigate three contingencies in a sales analysis of a leading U.S. retailer who adds a new retail store channel to existing catalog and online channels. We show that the emergence and strength of cannibalizing and complementary effects varies over time, across type of channel, and by type of customer, and provide insight into when and where managers can expect these effects to dominate and how to counter cannibalization and promote complementarity across channels. We find that opening retail stores cannibalizes sales in the catalog and online channels in the short term, but produces complementary effects in both channels in the long term; cannibalization is magnified in the catalog channel, while complementarity is magnified in the online channel. Customer analysis suggests that opening retail stores paves the way for higher rates of customer acquisition and higher rates of repeat purchasing among existing customers in the direct channels in the long term.Multichannel Retailing, Channels of Distribution, Direct Marketing, E-commerce, Channel Management

Conversation: Then & Now

This teaching strategy is designed for high school or college level. During this lesson, dramatization is utilized to help students examine health issues that occurred in the 1900 as compared to those of today. Additionally, students will explore their own health status and work to develop a plan to promote or enhance their own lifestyle behaviors

L'enfant atteint de cancer en phase terminale: quels facteurs amènent les parents à choisir des soins infirmiers à domicile et quelles prises en charge peuvent être offertes en Suisse ? : une revue de littérature étoffée

En Suisse, les soins palliatifs pédiatriques à domicile ne sont que très peu développés. Cette prise en charge s’inscrit pourtant dans la politique actuelle qui vise à diminuer les temps d’hospitalisation et promouvoir le maintien à domicile. De plus, garder l’enfant à la maison pendant la phase palliative de la maladie est le souhait de la majorité des parents

Hybrid Maritime Microgrids: A Quest for Future Onboard Integrated Marine Power Systems

The following is a comprehensive analysis which details potential ways for the maritime industry to begin to phase out AC power generation and distribution on new vessels over a short period of time. Therefore, the vessels of the future should consider transitioning into DC power generation and distribution. During the transition from AC shipboard systems to DC shipboard systems, there will be a time during which the vessels will be run by “hybrid” shipboard power systems, which utilize a mixture of AC and DC power. These systems are known as integrated marine power systems (IMPS) or hybrid maritime microgrid architectures, since they represent a distribution system or a part thereof. This study presents a state of the art of maritime systems, emphasizing on the design aspects of hybrid maritime microgrids, summarizing the advantages, disadvantages, and the challenges that planners may face when it comes to the vessels of the future. This study also reviews remedies that have been recently proposed in the literature to overcome such challenges. In addition, this work reports on the problem of service restoration of shipboard power systems and introduces directions on how to enhance the survivability of maritime power systems using techniques based on distribution system reconfiguration

Predicting Change in Autism Symptomatology in Young Children at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Fragile X Syndrome, Down Syndrome and Non-Syndromic ASD

This dissertation is comprised of two manuscripts which examine the longitudinal development of autism symptomatology in young children at risk for developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD); individuals with Fragile x syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS). The first study is a within group analysis of the longitudinal development of ASD symptomatology in young children with FXS, and how diagnostic stability, language and non-verbal cognitive functioning may predict these trajectories. This paper provides insight into ASD diagnostic stability patterns within FXS, and how symptoms change over time across these groups. The second paper will extend this work by presenting a pilot cross-syndrome comparison, which includes young children with FXS, DS and non-syndromic ASD to examine hypothesis of unique ASD symptom trajectories between the disorders. This pilot examination will set the stage for future larger scale cross syndrome comparisons to target these important questions. Together, the findings presented here inform the theoretical understanding of ASD within FXS, as well as support clinical recommendations for screening, monitoring and diagnosing ASD within FXS

Reducing Stress and Enhancing the General Well-Being of Teachers Using T’ai Chi Chih® Movements: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of T’ai Chi Chih® (TCC) discipline on the physical symptoms of stress and the general well-being of 35 teachers. Teachers completed 15 hours of instruction and practice in a two-day format with four additional weeks of practice. The 23 teachers who completed pre-posttests showed significant improvement of their general well-being and reduction in perceived stress symptoms. Qualitative data from the teachers supported these results. Within the limitations of the study design it was concluded that this relatively new, easy to learn method of T’ai Chi has potential to enhance well-being and reduce stress symptoms of teachers. Teachers and other educational professionals may want to learn more about T’ai Chi Chih® discipline for its stress reducing benefits and enhancement of general well-being

Electrostatics and packing in biomolecules : accounting for conformational change in protein folding and binding

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-205).This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.The role of electrostatics and packing in protein folding and molecular association was assessed in different biomolecular systems. A continuum electrostatic model was applied to long-range electrostatic effects in the binding of human carbonic anhydrase II to a sulfonamide inhibitor. The effect of chemically modifying lysine e-amino groups was computed, and the average calculated value showed good agreement with experimental results determined by capillary electrophoresis. In a second study, the continuum model was used to analyze all the electrostatic interactions in the Zif268 protein-DNA complex. The net electrostatic effect was unfavorable to binding, although many individual groups or group pairs had a favorable effect, and the residues most unfavorable to binding correspond to those thought to be important for specificity. Also, a measure of electrostatic complementarity was developed and applied to myoglobin-both to known sequences and to hypothetical chimeric myoglobin sequences. The complementarity measure rated the correct myoglobins higher than chimeric myoglobins when crystal structures were used, and performed better than other readily available measures of complementarity when myoglobin homology models were evaluated. In the second part of the thesis, methods for repacking proteins were presented and applied to Arc repressor. Sequence variants that are predicted to fold as heterodimers preferentially and variants that favor a switch-Arc structure over wild-type were found.(cont.) In a final set of calculations, the search algorithms for repacking were combined with electrostatic effects predicted from an approximate continuum model. The structure of Zif268 zinc finger 1 complexed to DNA was predicted when limited docking and side chain flexibility were allowed. The predicted structure shows good agreement with the x-ray crystal structure. A second repacked structure provides insight into how sequence changes affect structure and hence binding specificity in the zinc finger protein.by Justin Andrew Caravella.Ph.D

Comparing client and staff reports on tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and services provided in substance use treatment

INTRODUCTION Smoking is highly prevalent in substance use disorder (SUD) programs, but few studies have explored the tobacco-related attitudes of staff and clients in the same program. The aim of this study was to compare staff and client reports on 10 tobacco-related items and associate them with tobacco measures implemented in the programs. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 18 residential SUD programs from 2019 to 2020. Overall, 534 clients and 183 clinical staff self-reported their tobacco use, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices/services regarding smoking cessation. Ten comparable items were asked of both clients and staff. Differences in their responses were tested using bivariate analyses. We examine the association between selected tobacco-related items on making a quit attempt and planning to quit in the next 30 days. RESULTS In all, 63.7% of clients were current cigarette users versus 22.9% of staff. About half of clinicians (49.4%) said they had the skills to help patients quit smoking, while only 34.0% of clients thought their clinicians had these skills (p=0.003). About 28.4% of staff reported encouraging their patients to use nicotine replacement treatment (NRT), and 23.4% of patients said they had been encouraged to use these products. Client reports of planning a quit attempt were positively correlated with whether both staff and clients reported that the use of higher percentage of smokers planned a quit attempt. Tobacco-related training among staff, and communication about tobacco use with clients, should be improved to make tobacco services more visible and accessible in SUD treatment