A study of psychotherapy and divorced women\u27s object choice

Over the past two decades, termination of a marriage by divorce has become increasingly common in our society. However, little information is available concerning the impact of psychotherapy on the nature of post-divorce love relationships which people form. The primary intent of this research project was to examine whether divorced women who have been in insight-oriented psychotherapy were less likely than women who had not been in therapy to become seriously involved with men who possess personality characteristics that are similar to those of their ex-husbands. Two groups of 20 subjects each were interviewed and administered the Leary Interpersonal Adjective Checklist. All subjects were divorced women who were currently in serious relationships with men lasting at least six months. One group had not been in therapy, while the other had been in insight-oriented psychotherapy for at least six months prior to or after their divorce. A rater assessed personality characteristics of the boyfriend and ex-husband by performing Q-sorts on the interview data and completing an Overall Evaluation form. Nonparametric statistics were used in the data analysis. The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between participation in psychotherapy and choice of a mate unlike the ex-husband. However, certain patterns emerged during the data analysis: (1) The therapy group tended to have selected a boyfriend who was either very like or not at all like the ex-husband; whereas no such relationship was found for the nontherapy group; (2) For the therapy group, greater changes in self-maturity and maturity of the current relationship were associated with a greater dissimilarity between ex-husbands and boyfriends, while no such relationship was found for the nontherapy group; (3) The therapy group appeared to be less identified at a conscious level with their mothers than the nontherapy subjects; (4) Therapy subjects reported more similarity between their ex-husbands and boyfriends than the nontherapy groups. The potential significance of these findings, along with the methodological errors inherent in the study and future areas of research were discussed

Fatigue crack propagation in microcapsule toughened epoxy

The addition of liquid-filled urea-formaldehyde (UF) microcapsules to an epoxy matrix leads to significant reduction in fatigue crack growth rate and corresponding increase in fatigue life. Mode-I fatigue crack propagation is measured using a tapered doublecantilever beam (TDCB) specimen for a range of microcapsule concentrations and sizes: 0, 5, 10, and 20% by weight and 50, 180, and 460 micron diameter. Cyclic crack growth in both the neat epoxy and epoxy filled with microcapsules obeys the Paris power law. Above a transition value of the applied stress intensity factor, which corresponds to loading conditions where the size of the plastic zone approaches the size of the embedded microcapsules, the Paris law exponent decreases with increasing content of microcapsules, ranging from 9.7 for neat epoxy to approximately 4.5 for concentrations above 10 wt% microcapsules. Improved resistance to fatigue crack propagation, indicated by both the decreased crack growth rates and increased cyclic stress intensity for the onset of unstable fatigue-crack growth, is attributed to toughening mechanisms induced by the embedded microcapsules as well as crack shielding due to the release of fluid as the capsules are ruptured. In addition to increasing the inherent fatigue life of epoxy, embedded microcapsules filled with an appropriate healing agent provide a potential mechanism for self-healing of fatigue damage.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Pastors with Mission and Purpose Perceptions of Strategic Leadership for the Church--A Multi-Case Study

This qualitative multiple-case study aimed to explore pastors’ perceptions of strategic leadership at churches in Virginia. This researcher sought to understand the strategic leadership of pastors with mission and purpose ways of growing thriving churches. This research defined strategic leadership as “the capacity to learn, change, and have managerial wisdom” (Boal & Hooijberg, 2001, p. 515) based on the Strategic Leadership Theory (Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1996). Declining church membership, attendance at services, or even closures is alarming (Felicetti, 2021), and this research may help churches facing such problems. A rationale for this study was to explore pastors’ viable avenues that may help improve church membership or attendance at services for others growing God’s Kingdom. Christian universities train individuals who are: Champions for Christ (Liberty University); Strengthened for lives of purpose, services, and leadership (Pepperdine University). Some individuals plant and grow various membership-size churches in the United States. Why do some churches grow extremely large numerically, and others do not? What are pastors’ perceptions of strategic leadership for the church regarding membership growth and attendance at church services? This researcher conducted a study at 11 purposively selected churches to try to answer these questions and others. Within the population, 19 participants through face-to-face interviewing provided essential data. The analyzed data revealed five themes as beneficial for how pastors may improve church strategies to grow thriving churches. This study’s strategic leadership data analysis allowed for advancement to the leadership study field of churches and Strategic Leadership Theory

Bereavement in the Elective Abortion Patient

Currently in the United States, approximately 1.5 million elective abortions are performed annually. Despite the frequency in which abortions occur, little research has been done to document women’s experiences of voluntary perinatal loss. The purpose of this study was to examine the bereavement process as it occurred in rural women who elected voluntary termination of a pregnancy

Presidential and political perceptions of regional accreditation effectiveness and reform

Recently regional accreditation survived a major crisis during the fight over reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The crisis revealed an apparent gulf between how political leaders and the academy perceive regional accreditation. Thisstudy, which utilized a Likert-scale questionnaire analyzed with SPSS and three open ended questions, asked:1) Do the perceptions of regional accreditation effectiveness and reform by college presidents reveal significant variances when examined by: mission and classification of institution, experience level of the president,involvement of the president in accreditation, or by field in which the president earned his/her terminal degree? 2) Do the perceptions of regional accreditation effectiveness and reform by political leaders (executive and legislative) reveal significant differences when examined by: political party affiliation; experience level; involvement in accreditation; and profession/employment? 3) Do the perceptions of regional accreditation effectiveness and reform by college presidents reveal a significant variance from the perceptions of political leaders? 4) What themes emerge when presidents and legislators are given an opportunity to offer open-ended comments on regional accreditation strengths, weaknesses, and improvements?This study focuses on the perceptions of governors, state legislators and presidents of higher education institutions in the eleven-state region of the SouthernAssociation of Colleges and Schools (SACS). One of the six regional accreditation agencies, and the second oldest, SACS includes 772 accredited higher education institutions. The eleven states in the SACS region have a total of 379 legislators that serve as members of House and Senate education committees in their state.The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the responses of 438 college and university presidents, 83 state legislators, and five governors show that regional accreditation has the support of both presidents arid political leaders.However, the political leaders are less supportive of the existing process than the presidents are, somewhat more cynical about its effectiveness, and more supportive of potential reforms. It is recommended that regional accreditation agencies increase their efforts to inform and involve political leaders and the general public, and to consider some reforms that might increase public support and trust in the process

Application of receiver operating characteristic analysis to a remote monitoring model for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to determine utility and predictive value

This thesis was submitted for the degree of doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis is a foundational study that applies Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis to the evaluation of a chronic disease model that utilizes Remote Monitoring (RM) devices to identify clinical deterioration in a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) population. Background: RM programmes in Disease Management (DM) are proliferating as one strategy to address management of chronic disease. The need to validate and quantify evidence-based value is acute. There is a need to apply new methods to better evaluate automated RM systems. ROC analysis is an engineering approach that has been widely applied to medical programmes but has not been applied to RM systems. Evaluation of classifiers, determination of thresholds and predictive accuracy for RM systems have not been evaluated using ROC analysis. Objectives: (1) apply ROC analysis to evaluation of a RM system; (2) analyse the performance of the model when applied to patient outcomes for a COPD population; (3) identify predictive classifier(s); (4) identify optimal threshold(s) and the predictive capacity of the classifiers. Methods: Parametric and non-parametric methods are utilized to determine accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and predictive capacity of classifiers Saturated Peripheral Oxygen (SpO2), Blood Pressure (BP), Pulse Rate (PR) based on event-based patient outcomes that include hospitalisation (IP), accident & emergency (A&E) and home visits (HH). Population: Patients identified with a primary diagnosis of COPD, monitored for a minimum of 183 days with at least one episode of in-patient (IP) hospitalisation for COPD in the 12 months preceding the monitoring period. Data Source: A subset of retrospective de-identified patient data from an NHS Direct evaluation of a COPD RM programme. Subsets utilized include classifiers, biometric readings, alerts generated by the system and resource utilisation. Contribution: Validates ROC methodology, identifies classifier performance and optimal threshold settings for the classifier, while making design recommendations and putting forth the next steps for research. The question answered by this research is that ROC analysis can provide additional information on the predictive capacity of RM systems. Justification of benefit: The results can be applied when evaluating health services and planning decisions on the costs and benefits. Methods can be applied to system design, protocol development, work flows and commissioning decisions based on value and benefit. Conclusion: Results validate the use of ROC analysis as a robust methodology for DM programmes that use RM devices to evaluate classifiers, thresholds and identification of the predictive capacity as well as identify areas where additional design may improve the predictive capacity of the model.

A Study of Elementary Teachers\u27 Abilities, Attitudes, and Beliefs about Problem Solving

Problem solving has been alternately viewed as the justification for the study of mathematics or as the impetus and means for studying mathematics. This study examines characteristics—attitudes toward problem solving, beliefs about problem solving, and abilities to solve problems—of elementary teachers of grades three, four, and five that relate to problem solving. Participants completed a two-part survey to quantify their attitudes and beliefs and a problem-solving activity which quantified their problem-solving abilities. Four participants were subsequently interviewed. Analyses showed that these teachers had generally positive attitudes toward problem solving, generally positive beliefs about problem solving, and generally poor problem-solving abilities. The data showed significant (p \u3c .05) positive correlations between attitude and problem-solving ability and between attitude and beliefs (p \u3c .01). Analyses of variance showed a significant difference (p \u3c .05) in attitude for the three grades. The interview data added to the understanding of teacher attitudes and teacher beliefs and revealed that attitude was also reflected in the way problem solving was treated in their classrooms. Teachers with very positive attitudes involved their students in mathematical problem solving in their classrooms and viewed problem solving as a means for teaching and validating mathematics and regarded computational skills as an important goal but did not view the mastery of computation skills as a necessary prerequisite to problem solving. Teachers whose attitudes were not very positive never used problem-solving activities in their mathematics instruction and believed that mastery of computational skills was a necessary prerequisite for problem solving. Three of the four interviewees limited mathematical problem solving to what is more correctly known as a word problem—a computational exercise given in verbal language. Although certification requirements in Georgia have increased the number of mathematics courses that pre-service teachers must complete in their professional development, this study indicates that these increased requirements may not be enough. Teacher attitudes toward problem solving must also be addressed. Pre-service teacher preparation programs must address prospective teachers\u27 attitudes and focus on teaching these future teachers how to teach mathematics in addition to teaching them mathematics content. In-service elementary mathematics teachers must be involved in staff development based in dialogues about attitudes, pedagogy, and content. Interim and long-term solutions will require courage, dedication, conviction, and diligence

The Portrayal of Teachers in Children\u27s Popular Fiction

This study explores cultural messages about teachers and teaching, as delivered by current children\u27s literature. Our findings confirmed that teachers are still portrayed, in text and picture, as White, kind, conservative, women who teach for the love of children. More surprisingly, we also found that: 1) the stories conveyed strong themes of students acting as agents of teachers’ identity work, 2) that students often position teachers as sex objects, and 3) that teachers’ social class is characterized as working class. The results imply ambivalence about teachers’ identities and suggest that the teaching profession keeps women in a powerless and objectified job