02-01 "Economic Analysis in Environmental Reviews of Trade Agreements: Assessing the North American Experience"

Beginning in the late 1990s, Canada and the United States began requiring "Environmental Reviews (ERs)" of all trade agreements to be negotiated by each government. This paper, commissioned by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, outlines how ERs have evolved in North America, and evaluates the different methodological approaches that have been employed in ERs thus far. We show that the ERs conducted to date have an encouraging number of strengths that can be built upon. However, we also establish that the art of conducting ERs is still in its infancy. We identify four limitations with the methodological approaches that have been employed in the most recent ERs. Based on an analysis of these limitations, we propose four ways to improve how ERs are conducted in the future:

Implementation of a safety planning intervention on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

Background: In 2017, suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. There are multiple interventions used for individuals at risk for suicide. No-suicide contracts are commonly used by clinicians who treat individuals at high risk for suicide, but there is no evidence supporting this intervention in preventing suicides. A safety planning intervention has been shown to decrease the risk of suicide in individuals at high risk for suicide by helping individuals recognize warning signs of a suicidal crisis, use their internal coping strategies, and contact social network or community resources to assist in reducing suicidal thoughts. Safety plans provide individuals with tools to help manage crisis situations. Purpose: To address the risk of suicide in patients on an inpatient psychiatric unit at a community hospital, the focus of this DNP evidence-based practice (EBP) project was twofold: to implement a safety planning intervention for all patients found to be at high risk for suicide, and to evaluate the efficacy of the safety plan intervention among nurses (RNs and LPNs). Methods: An educational module was developed for this project on the use of safety plans and how to create individualized safety plans with patients. Nurses completed a demographic questionnaire and pre-test prior to receiving education on risks of suicide and safety planning, and post-test following the completion of educational module. The sample size consisted of 13 nurses. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess knowledge level of the nurses from pretest to posttest on suicide risk factors and use of safety plans. To evaluate the efficacy of the safety planning intervention, descriptive statistics (frequencies/percentages) were used to determine if all patients at high-risk for suicide completed safety plans; if safety plans were fully completed; and if the patients were given a copy of the safety plan at discharge. A post implementation questionnaire was provided to nurses at six weeks post intervention to elicit evaluative information on the effectiveness of the safety plan intervention from the nurse’s perspective. Findings: A Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test indicated that post-test scores (Mean= 66.15) were statistically significantly higher than pre-test scores (Mean= 87.69, Z=36, p=.011). There were 58 patients admitted to the psychiatric unit during this project, with 47% (n=27) found to be at high-risk for suicide per the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Of the 27 patients found to be at high-risk for suicide, 81% (n=22) completed a safety plan and 78% (n=21) had a safety plan included in their discharge instructions. Of the 13 nurses, 85% (n=11) strongly agreed that they felt confident in creating safety plans with patients at high risk for suicide and 77% (n=10) strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the practice change of implementing safety plans as part of their plan of care for patients at high risk for suicide. Implications: This project supports the implementation of an educational module to increase nurses’ knowledge of suicide risk and safety plan implementation on an inpatient psychiatric unit. Education of suicide risk and safety plan implementation is important to ensure nurses feel confident in using safety plans with patients at high-risk for suicide. Future studies should be done to evaluate the efficacy of safety plans on decreasing suicide risk

03-06 "Free Trade, Corn, and the Environment: Environmental Impacts of US – Mexico Corn Trade Under NAFTA"

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had a profound impact on corn trade between the United States and Mexico. Negotiated tariff reductions and the Mexican government’s decision not to charge some tariffs to which it was entitled resulted in a doubling of US corn exports to Mexico. This paper examines the environmental implications of this change on both sides of the border.

SAP - is it systematic research bias, which is to blame for such post implementation disappointment?

SAP is a major ERP Package that requires no introduction and research into the area is widespread and well reported. However, more and more reports are emerging of the failure of SAP as a package to meet the needs of business. This paper looks at the research of SAP for evidences of systematic research biases to see if that is the cause for such implementation failure being missed. A comprehensive literature search on SAP papers was undertaken with some alarming results showing a disturbing uncritical and possibly biased perspective from SAP Research literature