Predicting High School Truancy and Academic Performance Among Students in the Appalachian South

Truancy and academic underachievement are significant problems among adolescents. Considering the historical emphasis on studying delinquency in populated urban areas, a more concerted effort is needed to examine this issue in rural areas to determine the extent to which findings are culturally generalizable. As a move in this direction, truant behavior was examined in an East Tennessee county in the southern region of the Appalachian Mountains. The primary objective of this exploratory investigation was to assess personality, behavioral, religious, and environmental factors most associated with high school absenteeism and academic achievement in the Appalachian south. Participants were 374 adolescents in grades 9 through 12 who attended four different high schools in a rural county in East Tennessee. Results of the current study lend some support to the notion that problem behaviors tend to cluster within individuals and be inversely related to academic performance. Having set rules and boundaries within the home was found to be important in preventing truant behavior among this high school sample. Participation in prosocial activities was not supported as a protective factor against problem behaviors to the extent that has been found in other samples. Regression analyses indicate that alcohol use and increased sexual activity were especially strongly associated with truant behavior and academic underperformance, as well as the possibility of a cumulative negative effect of absenteeism on G.P.A. over time

“Street Cred” and the Executive Woman: The Effects of Gender Differences in Social Networks on Career Advancement

Drawing upon Cabrera and Thomas-Hunt\u27s (2006) theoretical framework for the advancement of executive women, we identify gender differences in social networks as an important determinant of the relative perceived credibility of men and women and the opportunities for hire and promotion available to them. A review of the existing research literature on gender and social networks is presented and several potentially fruitful avenues for future research in this area are discussed

Enduring principles in a changing world

I have spent a large part of my professional life working in the Children's Hearings System in Scotland. This piece is about how and why the Children’s Hearings System continues to be the way in which we try to improve the situation for children and young people who face adversity of different kinds. I look at the founding principles of the Children's Hearings System and how they have continued to be relevant in Scotland. The piece is also about the current challenges faced by the volunteers, professionals and families who are involved in the system and the work that is ongoing to address these challenges. The piece is a personal reflection – not a statement of the position of either the Children's Hearings System or the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. Some of the reflections also formed the basis for an opinion article by the Principal Reporter, Neil Hunter, titled "Agenda: The new dialogue around the Children’s Hearings system" which was published in Scotland in The Herald on 30th April 2018

The Effects of Sorority Recruitment on Psychological Wellbeing and Social Support

We explore the relation of deferred sorority recruitment and early membership to variables such as self-esteem, depressive and anxious symptoms, social support, and personality characteristics. Survey data were collected at four time points from 171 freshman women. Successful participants reported the highest levels of social support and wellbeing prior to recruitment. The recruitment process itself had negative effects on social support and mood, with all participants reporting an increase in anxiety during recruitment. The first few months of sorority membership did improve feelings of belonging, but this improvement was largely accessed by women who were already socially successful

PANEL DISCUSSION: IS LUCID DREAMING RELATED TO HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS?

This panel discussion took place at the July 1990 meeting of the Lucidity Association Conference in Chicago

Promoting rights : protecting and respecting children

This article explores the complex landscape of decision-making for children who are in need of care and protection. It sets out some of the challenges when ascertaining children's views and emphasises the importance of protecting children's rights by involving them meaningfully in all decisions that affect their family life; by recording their views, according these weight and by keeping a written record of what actions were taken and why throughout their involvement with statutory services. It sets out how we currently gather children's views and encourages the use of more creative approaches to ensure that children's voices are heard — and their rights respected — throughout all decision-making that affects them

An Examination of the Characteristics and Perceptions of School Resource Officers in Rural and Urban Oklahoma Schools

Fueled by concerns about school violence, the number of School Resource Officers (SROs) in the United States has soared. SROs are law enforcement officers who work in elementary and secondary schools and who are tasked to increase school safety. As of 2016, 48 percent of US public schools had SROs, compared to less than one percent in the 1970s, yet there are few studies that measure their effects. In particular, the literature largely ignores rural/urban differences. This study uses survey data from SROs working in public schools in Oklahoma to understand their roles and to determine if there are differences between rural and urban SROs. We look at jurisdiction and school characteristics as well as SRO perceptions of disciplinary practices, school climate, referrals, and community involvement. Identifying variability in these areas is a requisite first step in understanding the effect of the SRO on school safety

The feasibility of nurse-delivered, low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy for irritable bowel syndrome.

Introduction: This study assessed the feasibility of nurse-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Methods and analysis: A mixed-method design was used, and 20 participants were randomly allocated to high-intensity CBT (n=5), guided self-help (n=5), self-help only (n=5) or treatment as usual (n=5). Ten intervention participants completed semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics; qualitative data were analysed using group thematic analysis. Results: Barriers to the interventions were lack of therapist contact, negative preconceptions about treatment and factors relating to supporting materials. Treatment facilitators included therapist-facilitated relaxation, narratives located within self-help materials and social support mechanisms. Conclusion: Further development of the low-intensity interventions in collaboration with service users is required to improve intervention acceptability and relevance.N/

Infrared thermography can detect previsual bacterial growth in a laboratory setting via metabolic heat detection

Aims Detection of bacterial contamination in healthcare and industry takes many hours if not days. Thermal imaging, the measurement of heat by an infrared camera, was investigated as a potential noninvasive method of detecting bacterial growth. Methods and Results Infrared thermography can detect the presence of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus on solid growth media by an increase in temperature before they are visually observable. A heat decrease is observed after treatment with ultraviolet light and heat increased after incubation with dinitrophenol. Conclusions Infrared thermography can detect early growth of bacteria before they are detectable by other microbiology-based method. The heat observed is due to the cells being viable and metabolically active, as cells killed with ultraviolet light exhibit reduced increase in temperature and treatment with dinitrophenol increases heat detected. Significance and Impact of the Study Infrared thermography detects bacterial growth without the need for specialized temperature control facilities. The method is statistically robust and can be undertaken in situ, thus is highly versatile. These data support the application of infrared thermography in a laboratory, clinical and industrial setting for vegetative bacteria, thus may become into an important methodology for the timely and straightforward detection of early-stage bacterial growth

Session B8- Evaluating Diadromous Fish Passage at Lower Shannock Falls Dam Removal and Nature-like Weir Installation, Pawcatuck River, Rhode Island

The Lower Shannock Falls dam, a defunct, run-of-the river timber-crib dam situated on bedrock ledge, and located on the Pawcatuck River in southwestern Rhode Island, was removed in summer 2010. The target species for this fish passage restoration include river herring, American shad, American eel, and Atlantic salmon, as well as resident trout. Besides dam removal, additional construction work activities were completed for purposes of improving target species passage efficiency: three nature-like stone weirs were constructed for purposes of providing backwatering effects downstream of the dam removal; and bedrock ledge was modified to eliminate significant hydraulic drops. During construction, test flows were released through the weirs and restored river reach to evaluate hydraulics of the passage site. Based on test flows, several large boulders were installed as adaptive measures to improve upon site hydraulics. Post-construction velocity and depth measurements were completed in fall 2010 and spring 2011 to evaluate passage performance. This presentation will compare the results of the field monitoring with the as-built features and HEC-RAS and Fish Flow modeled hydraulic conditions for the site. Discussion will also include upstream passage conditions that resulted from impoundment drawdown and channel restoration. This project exemplifies Northeastern U.S. dam removals where underlying bedrock may have an effect on passage efficiency, and in-channel work activities may be beneficial to improving upon historic passage conditions. The project is being evaluated as a case study site for a web-based fish passage manual being developed jointly by NOAA-USGS-USFWS, scheduled for release in 2012