Using the Good Behavior Game to Decrease Disruptive Behavior While Increasing Academic Engagement with a Headstart Population

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) has been widely supported as an effective intervention to alter a variety of target behaviors, in various settings, with varying age groups; however, there are areas warranting further investigation. Prior to the present study, no study has examined the GBG’s effectiveness in decreasing disruptive behaviors while increasing appropriate academic behaviors within a preschool population. The present study adds to the literature base by investigating the GBG’s effectiveness in simultaneously decreasing classroom disruptive behaviors while increasing appropriate behaviors. A multiple baseline design across three Headstart classrooms was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the GBG on decreasing disruptive behavior while increasing academic engagement. Findings showed that the GBG decreased disruptive behaviors and increased academic engagement within three Headstart classrooms. Additionally, the GBG decreased disruptive behavior for three target students and increased academic engagement for two target students. Therefore, the study demonstrated that the GBG could be successfully used with a preschool population to decrease disruptive behavior while increasing academic engagement

The Impact of Trajectory Prediction Uncertainty on Reliance Strategy and Trust Attitude in an Automated Air Traffic Management Environment.

Future air traffic environments have the potential to exceed human operator capabilities. In response, air traffic control systems are being modernized to provide automated tools to overcome current-day workload limits. Highly accurate aircraft trajectory predictions are a critical element of the automated tools envisioned as part of the evolution of today\u27s air traffic management system in the United States, known as NextGen. However, automation accuracy is limited due to the effects of external variables: errors such as wind forecast uncertainties. The focus of the Trajectory Prediction Uncertainty simulation at NASA Ames Research center were the effects of varied levels of accuracy on operator\u27s tool use during a time based metering task. The simulation\u27s environment also provided a means to examine the relationship between an operator\u27s reliance strategy and underlying trust attitude. Operators were found to exhibit an underlying trust attitude distinct from their reliance strategies, supporting the strategic use of the Human-Automation trust scale in an air traffic control environment

Fidelity Assessment of the Hillsborough County South Drug Court

This study details the application of the Utilization Focused Evaluation model (Patton, 2012) to the Hillsborough County South Drug Court (HCSDC) program evaluation. The program requested an evaluation as part of the National Adult Drug Court model and expressed a desire to better understand their fidelity to the established model. Drug courts across the United States are required to base their programs on the Ten Key Components and the Best Practice Standards. I used this model to evaluate the extent to which the HCSDC team has utilized these concepts in their planning and execution of their drug court. The study begins with some background about drug court and an overview of the Key Components and Best Practice Standards. I discuss program evaluation, process evaluation, and Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE) and describe my evaluation tools. I describe my methods which involved direct observation of the program’s activities, collaboration with the team, as well as definition of participant and non-participant characteristics. Analyses included calculating means, recording frequencies of events, and comparing participant and non-participant demographics. This evaluation procedure was also compared to the evaluation guidelines by the national drug court model. Qualitative data were derived from themes derived during HCSDC team member interviews. Results include areas of strength, such as providing a variety of treatment options for many levels of care, collaboration between staff, including the typically adversarial defense and prosecution, as well as mental health and recovery-focused training for all team members. Challenges included having a participant population that is representative of the local county prison, promptly admitting participants to the program, and ensuring cross-training for mental health professionals in legal matters

Blended online learning in initial teacher education: A Professional Inquiry on preservice teachers’ inquiry projects

Online and blended learning bring opportunities and challenges, including more opportunities for authentic activities (Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis, 2011). Blended online environments are now a common mode for pre-service teacher education, providing interesting opportunities to develop and showcase alternative approaches that blend with practice in the field. This paper presents a case study of an online course that supported 55 student teacher inquiries into the practice of teaching. The author describes some successful strategies, using a range of e-learning tools, including the university’s Moodle learning management system, in the professional inquiry focused course that she led. The study informs course and programme redesign to encourage student teachers to develop their own networks of practice during pre-service tertiary education.

The nurses' role in intra-abdominal pressure monitoring in the critical care setting

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Health.This thesis provides a unique contribution to the science of IAH and ACS management. Firstly, it has described the state of the science on accepted intra-abdominal pressure measurement techniques, IAH and ACS. Secondly, it has identified that there is a gap in critical care nurses’ knowledge in the topic area. Thirdly it has identified that trauma patients are at risk of developing IAH and ACS, particularly in the presence of massive fluid resuscitation. Fourthly, this thesis has challenged current guidelines on intra-abdominal pressure measurement techniques. Fifthly, this thesis has identified the need for standardised practice guidelines and education to strengthen critical care nurses knowledge, skills and competence in assessing and recognising intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome. Future research regarding the effects of intra-abdominal pressure and IAH in discrete patient populations, including post-operative cardiothoracic surgery and type II respiratory failure patients, as well as alternative routes of measurement such as nasogastric measurement are needed. Nurses are well situated to diagnose IAH and management of ACS. Advancing the science of assessment, measurement and management are essential to improving outcomes for individuals with IAH and ACS

The Effect Of Gender And Knowledge On Students Impressions Of Accountants In The Post-Enron Era

This study examines college students’ impressions of accountants from various sources. It extends previous research on students’ impressions of accountants by analyzing impressions after Enron, gender differences in impressions, and the effect of knowledge on impressions and adding news reports as an impression source. Students rated their impressions of accountants when they selected a major on each of 30 characteristics (such as ethical, versatile, and exciting) from each of four sources, plus a general rating. When qualities were combined into two factors, Professionalism and Personability, accountants were seen as professional, but not particularly personable. In many areas, finance majors had impressions of accountants equal to or higher than those of accounting students, while other majors had significantly lower impressions of accountants. News reports did not significantly influence students’ views of accountants. Knowledge was strongly correlated with impressions. Accounting students had the lowest knowledge of accountants from news reports and movies/TV of any major. Females held more positive impressions of accountants than did males. Implications for various groups, including college and high school accounting education and the accounting profession, are discussed

Detecting spatiotemporal clusters of accidental poisoning mortality among Texas counties, U.S., 1980 – 2001

BACKGROUND: Accidental poisoning is one of the leading causes of injury in the United States, second only to motor vehicle accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rates of accidental poisoning mortality have been increasing in the past fourteen years nationally. In Texas, mortality rates from accidental poisoning have mirrored national trends, increasing linearly from 1981 to 2001. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are spatiotemporal clusters of accidental poisoning mortality among Texas counties, and if so, whether there are variations in clustering and risk according to gender and race/ethnicity. The Spatial Scan Statistic in combination with GIS software was used to identify potential clusters between 1980 and 2001 among Texas counties, and Poisson regression was used to evaluate risk differences. RESULTS: Several significant (p < 0.05) accidental poisoning mortality clusters were identified in different regions of Texas. The geographic and temporal persistence of clusters was found to vary by racial group, gender, and race/gender combinations, and most of the clusters persisted into the present decade. Poisson regression revealed significant differences in risk according to race and gender. The Black population was found to be at greatest risk of accidental poisoning mortality relative to other race/ethnic groups (Relative Risk (RR) = 1.25, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.24 – 1.27), and the male population was found to be at elevated risk (RR = 2.47, 95% CI = 2.45 – 2.50) when the female population was used as a reference. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study provide evidence for the existence of accidental poisoning mortality clusters in Texas, demonstrate the persistence of these clusters into the present decade, and show the spatiotemporal variations in risk and clustering of accidental poisoning deaths by gender and race/ethnicity. By quantifying disparities in accidental poisoning mortality by place, time and person, this study demonstrates the utility of the spatial scan statistic combined with GIS and regression methods in identifying priority areas for public health planning and resource allocation

Réflexions critiques sur les dimensions éthiques des pratiques de la réadaptation

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Pragmatic inferences modulate N400 during sentence comprehension: evidence from picture-sentence verification

The present study examines the online realization of pragmatic meaning using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants read sentences including the English quantifier some, which has both a semantic meaning (at least one) and a pragmatic meaning (not all). Unlike previous ERP studies of this phenomenon, sentences in the current study were evaluated not in terms of their truth with respect to the real world, but in terms of their consistency with a picture presented before the sentence. Sentences (such as “The boy cut some of the steaks in this story”) were constructed such that either 1) both the semantic and pragmatic interpretations were true with respect to the preceding picture (when the boy in fact cut some but not all of the steaks); 2) neither interpretation was true (when the boy in fact cut none of the steaks); or 3) the semantic interpretation was true but the pragmatic interpretation false (when the boy in fact cut all of the steaks). ERPs at the object word, which determined whether the sentence was consistent with the story, showed the largest N400 effect for objects that made the sentence false, whereas they showed an intermediate effect for objects that made the sentence false under the pragmatic interpretation but true under the semantic interpretation. The results suggest that this pragmatic aspect of meaning is computed online and integrated into the sentence model rapidly enough to influence comprehension of later words

XMM-Newton Observation of an X-ray Trail Between the Spiral Galaxy NGC6872 and the Central Elliptical NGC6876 in the Pavo Group

We present XMM-Newton observations of a trail of enhanced X-rayemission extending along the 8'.7 X 4' region between the spiral NGC6872 and the dominant elliptical NGC6876 in the Pavo Group,the first known X-ray trail associated with a spiral galaxy in a poor galaxy group and, with projected length of 90 kpc, one of the longest X-ray trails observed in any system. The X-ray surface brightness in the trail region is roughly constant beyond ~20 kpc of NGC6876 in the direction of NGC6872. The trail is hotter (~ 1 keV) than the undisturbed Pavo IGM (~0.5 keV) and has low metal abundances (0.2 Zsolar). The 0.5-2 keV luminosity of the trail, measured using a 67 X 90 kpc rectangular region, is 6.6 X 10^{40} erg/s. We compare the properties of gas in the trail to the spectral properties of gas in the spiral NGC6872 and in the elliptical NGC6876 to constrain its origin. We suggest that the X-ray trail is either IGM gas gravitationally focused into a Bondi-Hoyle wake, a thermal mixture of ~64% Pavo IGM gas with ~36% galaxy gas that has been removed from the spiral NGC6872 by turbulent viscous stripping, or both, due to the spiral's supersonic motion at angle xi ~ 40 degrees with respect to the plane of the sky, past the Pavo group center (NGC6876) through the densest region of the Pavo IGM. Assuming xi = 40 degrees and a filling factor eta in a cylindrical volume with radius 33 kpc and projected length 90 kpc, the mean electron density and total hot gas mass in the trail is 9.5 X 10^{-4}*eta^{-1/2} cm^{-3} and 1.1 X 10^{10}*eta^{1/2} Msolar, respectively.Comment: typos corrected in Eq. 7 & 8, figures and discussion unchanged, 39 pages, 11 postscript figures, submitted to Ap