Precision teaching and fluency: the effects of charting and goal-setting on skaters’ performance

This research involved three successive studies where precision teaching methods were used to increase roller skaters performance rates of basic skating skills. The first study compared precision teaching methods both with and without the use of charting in a group design, and compared both within-subject and betweensubject differences for 12 skaters. Results showed that charting did not increase performance rates over that seen when charting was not used. The second study was a group design which compared two different types of goals, or performance aims, on skaters‟ performance. No difference was found between the two groups of 5 skaters when one group used a fixed, difficult goal and a second used a flexible, easier goal. In the final study, a single-subject design was used and 8 skaters completed a control condition where no goals were set before a goal was introduced for 4 skaters. It was found that an immediate increase in performance rates occurred following the introduction of the goal. Overall these three studies showed that skaters improved their performance rates over sessions, even in the absence of charting and/or goals, demonstrating that precision teaching can be applied to the sport of roller skating

A public dialogue on child sexual abuse: Hope for healing and prevention

This paper describes the problem of child sexual abuse (CSA), including the prevalence, associated outcomes for survivors, and the importance of prevention in addition to treatment. The author reviews the current literature on three types of child sexual abuse prevention programs: criminal justice initiatives, educational programs for children, and community-based programs. The author examines a public dialogue approach that aims to engage adults in the prevention of child sexual abuse. An analysis of one dialogue project is provided, including the history of the panel and evaluation information. The author discusses the value of the project in terms of both prevention and healing, drawing on qualitative feedback from the panel members. Finally, theoretical and clinical implications for counselors are discussed, including recommendations for integrating CSA prevention into practice and professional identity

The young people's consultation service: An evaluation of a consultation model of very brief psychotherapy

The Young People's Consultation Service (YPCS) is a four‐session, self‐referral, psychodynamically‐oriented psychotherapeutic consultation service for young people aged between 16 and 30, at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London. Aim: It was hypothesized that clients would show an improvement on outcome measures at the end of the four sessions. It was also hoped that the data would identify characteristics of the clients who show the most benefit. Method: A review of the case‐notes of all clients attending the service between January 2003 to April 2006 was carried out, and details were entered into a database, including demographic information, presenting issues and attendance. Clients were given the Youth Self‐Report form (YSR) (Achenbach, 1991) or the Young Adult Self Report form (YASR) (Achenbach, 1997), according to age, before the start of the intervention and at the end of the four sessions. Outcome data were analysed, comparing pre‐ and post‐treatment scores on the YSR/YASR. Results: A total of 236 clients attended the service during the study period. Pre‐ to post‐comparison data on the YSR/YASR was available for 24 clients. Of those, YSR/YASR scores reduced significantly on all subscales and severity reduced over time in all cases. In addition, there was a trend towards moving from the clinical to the non‐clinical range, reaching statistical significance on the Internalizing and Total subscales. A number of YPCS clients showed both statistically significant and clinical improvement on the Internalizing and Externalizing scales of the YSR/YASR, with a greater number showing improvement on the Internalizing scale. Conclusions: Improvements were found on all subscales of the YSR/YASR at the end of the four session intervention. A greater number of clients showed improvement on the Internalizing subscale, suggesting that this form of very brief psychotherapy is most effective for clients with emotional problems

Portland State University School of Business Administration (SBA) Renovation + Personal Comfort Investigation

This poster discusses the results of a field study about indoor thermal comfort, based on investigations in Portland State University`s School of Business (SBA) classrooms. The field study was conducted by physical parameter monitoring and questionnaires. Both field monitoring and occupant surveys were performed at the same time during the regular class period.The measurement campaign consisted of measuring the environmental parameters such as temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), CO2, and sound levels. The outdoor air temperature, humidity, and sound were registered every 2 hour period during class time. The intention for this project is to investigate thermal comfort of occupants by survey and compare that with the monitored indoor thermal comfort of the occupants. This could assist designers in measuring the energy needed to provide adequate thermal comfort. The results show that classrooms are nearly in a comfort zone and based on the location of the classrooms in the SBA the comfort level is different and students responds differently. The first significant goal in this project is to use these data to decrease the amount of energy that is used in this building by applying new methods in the renovation of these classrooms. The design group intends to execute passive strategies to reach this goal. The second goal is to enhance the educational environment, in terms of thermal conditions, to help students to be more focused on the subjects in the classrooms

Nurses' career choice and satisfaction with mental health transition-to-practice programs : A cross sectional study

Introduction: Globally, there are consistent issues recruiting staff into the mental health nursing workforce. In Australia, recent efforts to expand the workforce include recruitment of a wider range of nurses in addition to new graduates into mental health transition-to-practice programs. Understanding the career motivations of nurses entering the field is an important element of recruitment and retention. Aim: To describe nurses' satisfaction with their mental health transition program and identify factors influencing their choice of mental health as a career. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey with questions on program satisfaction and career choice was responded to by n = 55 enrolled and registered nurses in a mental health transition program. Results: Nurses reported overall high satisfaction with their program and identified increased time release for professional development and being supernumerary as necessary to support role development. Almost 25% of nurses reported personal experience of mental illness as an influence in choosing a mental health career. Discussion: Mental health transition programs are important in recruitment and retention and need to be tailored to the needs of a wide range of nurses and include support for staff wellbeing. Implications for Practice: Tailored transition programs can help strengthen role clarity, and support staff retention

An investigation into the impact of dementia on couples and how they cope with this

Research into the lived experience of dementia, which has tended to focus on people with dementia and their spouses (carers) separately, has identified that that spousal relationships play a crucial role in this experience. However, there is a lack of knowledge as to how the dyadic interactions in spousal relationships affect the experience of dementia for couples. This thesis aimed to address this gap by exploring how couples in which one partner had mild dementia described the impact of dementia and their attempts to cope with it. It was a qualitative study which followed the theoretical and methodological stance of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve couples, with each partner interviewed separately. Results illustrated that couples’ reported their experience as a chronological process and were motivated to get on with their lives by maintaining a sense of normality. This study contributed to the literature by revealing how both partners experienced and coped with dementia, and the impact that their actions had on their spouse. Couples maintained normality through developing positive cognitions, keeping active, lessening the load and direct discussion and support. It was clear that couples’ (particularly carers’) awareness of dementia and its implications, combined with their knowledge of their spouse, affected how they experienced and coped with dementia. It was also clear that couples had different expectations about what constituted an acceptable level of communication, which thereby affected choice of coping strategy. The idea of a Relationship Continuum as a way to consider the impact of pre-morbid relationship styles on couples’ responses to dementia was explored. Results were discussed in terms of existing knowledge and ways in which this thesis has added to the literature were highlighted. Professional and practice implications, limitations and future research were discussed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A history of future-thinking initiatives in New Zealand, 1936–2010: How New Zealand measures up against international commitments

The purpose of this report is threefold: (i) to learn lessons from the past and present a useful model for emerging initiatives in the future; (ii) to provide greater access to the existing knowledge established by these initiatives (so that earlier contributions can be built on), and (iii) to provide a repository for this information.&nbsp

The microencapsulation and transplantation of fetal pig islet-like cell clusters: a potential therapy for type 1 diabetes

Diabetes can be considered to be one of the main health epidemics of the 21st century. Studies conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that the number of people with diabetes in the year 2000 was 171 million and this is projected to increase to 366 million by 2030 (Wild et al. 2004). The increasing incidence of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is due to population growth, aging, urbanisation, obesity and physical inactivity. The current treatment by insulin injections for individuals with Type 1 diabetes fails to overcome the long term microvascular and macrovascular complications associated with the disease. A major challenge in the treatment of diabetes is to provide patients with an insulin source that is capable of regulating blood glucose levels (BGL) on a minute to minute basis. Advances in medical research have enabled the investigation of a variety of potential alternative therapies that may provide Type 1 diabetic patients with a more superior control of BGL and consequently minimise complications. The utilisation of pancreases obtained from fetal pigs offers potential therapeutic value in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. Islet-like cell clusters (ICCs) are obtained from such tissue following partial mechanical and enzymatic digestive procedures. ICCs are primarily composed of immature duct cells which, when transplanted, will mainly differentiate into insulin producing β cells. Such cells are able to normalise BGL in immunodeficient diabetic recipients and in immunocompetent recipients when anti-rejection drugs are administered. This study investigates microencapsulation as an immunoprotective strategy that has the potential to remove the need for immunosuppression when such cells are transplanted. A review of the literature related to current medical research in the field of diabetes is presented in Chapter 1. In order to achieve the aims of the study, an understanding of how fetal pig ICCs behave when placed within a barium alginate microcapsule both in vitro and in vivo is essential and this data is presented in Chapter 3. This chapter demonstrates that ICCs will survive and differentiate in their typical manner when enclosed within microcapsules and transplanted. Such encapsulated cells will function to normalise BGL when transplanted into diabetic immunodeficent mice for at least 25 weeks and the animals exhibit increased bodyweight. Microcapsules retrieved at this time point were observed to be intact with no breakages or evidence of cellular overgrowth. Transplantation of encapsulated insulin-producing cells into immunocompetent mice are described in Chapter 4. Allotransplantation of a microencapsulated mouse insulin-producing cell line into these diabetic mice also exhibited graft function, resulting in normal BGL in recipients. Large animal experiments are described in Chapter 5. Allotransplantation of microencapsulated fetal pig ICCs into diabetic pig recipients displayed evidence of transient graft function in terms of lower BGL and reduced exogenous insulin requirements. The xenotransplantion of encapsulated fetal pIg ICCs into diabetic immunocompetent mice described in Chapter 4 proved to be more challenging. The transplantation of such cells in this environment did not yield particularly positive results. BGL remained elevated in these recipients and the animals lost bodyweight post transplantation. This area of research warrants further investigation as it is likely that further measures such as transient immunosuppression in combination with microencapsulation will allow fetal pig ICCs to function in a xenograft setting

Reconstructing mid-late Holocene climate and environmental change in Antarctica using Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs) and pigments in lake sediments

Phd ThesisAssessing the impact of past phases of natural warming on climatically sensitive areas, such as Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, will help us better understand the impact that climate warming may have in the future. In recent decades, the Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, warming at a rate of 3.4 °C per century, five times the global mean. Several phases of marked environmental change have occurred on the Antarctic Peninsula during the mid-late Holocene nonetheless, to date quantitative temperature reconstructions of terrestrial climates are not possible. GDGTs are one of few existing quantitative temperature proxies and recent developments of their use in lakes indicates their potential as a temperature proxy. Prior to application the relationship between GDGT-composition and several environmental factors, such as temperature, pH and conductivity, in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic lakes was assessed. Temperature explained a statistically significant independent control on the composition of branched GDGTs in the lakes and a new regional Antarctic and sub-Antarctic GDGT-temperature calibration was developed. Within this calibration, GDGT-IIIb was a statistically significant component indicating its importance in these environments. Applying the new GDGT-temperature calibration to sediment cores from Fan Lake, South Georgia and Yanou Lake, South Shetland Islands allowed the quantitative reconstruction of past temperatures during the Mid to Late-Holocene. The reconstructions showed varied temperatures throughout the records, evidencing the mid-Holocene warm period, and potentially the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age. Neither record, however, reconstructed the recent rapid warming seen in the glacial meltwater and instrumental records. A comparison of Fan Lake and Yanou Lake with other records from Antarctica and Chile showed periods of coherence between records alongside periods of inconsistency. This comparison also enabled potential changes in the PFZ to be considered, suggesting a more poleward position of the PFZ during warmer climates