A boredom theory of youth criminality

Boredom, although a regular occurrence among the general youth population of the modern society and a possible causal factor of truancy, drug use, suicide and crime, has been widely neglected within the fields of education, psychology, sociology, and criminology. Since it is the intention of this thesis to show that boredom is a causal factor of youth criminality which must be recognised and studied further, it is essential that boredom is thoroughly researched for both theoretical and practical reasons within the field of criminology. In a two part documentary analysis on boredom and youth criminality, this thesis demonstrates what makes an activity or situation boring, what causes a person to experience boredom, and how boredom is connected to youth criminality and crime. Conceptually, boredom has been described variously as a transitory negative state, an emotion, and an adverse drive, and has been shown to be more prevalent among males than females. Younger members of society are also found to be more susceptible to boredom than older individuals. It is well documented that youth crime is predominantly committed by males, increases significantly during adolescence, and peaks between the ages of 18 and 20. It will therefore, be postulated in this thesis that boredom may explain both the predominance of adolescent male offenders and the reason for their offending. Empirical research will, however, be necessary to test this hypothesis. In connection with youth criminality, high sensation seekers and some extroverts are also more likely to experience both boredom and crime. Interestingly, as a result of socialisation, males from an early age are more likely than females to be sensation and thrill seekers. However, since gender roles are becoming more androgynous, this thesis also suggests that more females will begin to experience boredom similar to their male counterparts which may result in further increases in female offending. It therefore will be important to also test this hypothesis in the near future

Sexual Trauma, Psychosis, and Betrayal in Antonia White's Autobiographical Fiction: A Critical Examination of the Freudian Perspective

In Catholic writer Antonia White’s series of autobiographical novels, Frost in May, The Lost Traveller, The Sugar House, and Beyond the Glass, readers are presented with a Freudian Oedipal drama that sends the main protagonist spiraling into psychosis and then back into her father’s arms upon recovery. This trajectory draws a parallel with White’s history. Literary critics and biographers on White have suggested that she was a victim of father-daughter incest. My aim in this thesis, however, is not to prove that White was a victim of sexual abuse. I seek to illustrate the limitations and possibilities of validating sexual trauma in autobiographical fiction using White’s diaries as scaffolding for this examination. This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is an analysis of a problematic Oedipal drama in White’s autobiographical fiction that leads to a proposed theoretical conundrum in psychoanalytical concepts of sexual trauma and psychosis. Chapter Two is a study of the form and theory of the autobiographical novel and the author-protagonist relationship. Also, at the intersection of psychoanalytic and literary theoretical paradigms, I explore the extent to which White’s metaphorical descriptions of psychosis generate a coherent depiction of self and lived traumatic experience within the confines of an Oedipal narrative. In so doing, I propose a space be carved for White’s experiences to be taken seriously as authentic expressions of trauma. Chapter Three explores larger socio-cultural patriarchal attitudes of women’s sexuality in which I draw parallels between Freud’s construction of the incest barrier and religious notions of female sexuality. In Chapter Four I juxtapose literary and clinical writings of contemporary trends on sexual trauma, memory, and betrayal to illustrate the shifts in focus and yet subtle presence of Freud’s Oedipus complex theory in Western society today

Mother Knows Better: The Donna Reed Show, The Feminine Mystique and the Rise of the Modern Maternal Feminist Movement

In 1958, actress Donna Reed formed her own production company to create The Donna Reed Show, which ran successfully until 1966. One of only two female television producers working in Hollywood, Reed’s show foreshadowed much of the discontent illustrated in Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The series explored Donna’s frustrations with housework, her interest in professional activities outside the home, and her determination to be an equal in her marriage. However, The Donna Reed Show also diverged from Friedan on key issues by elevating the housewife and establishing her moral authority, thus foreshadowing more conservative “maternal” feminism as identified by Christina Hoff Sommers. The Donna Reed Show has been falsely grouped with other family sit-coms as conformist and has been largely overlooked for its contributions to the feminist movement by scholars, when in fact Reed created the most complex mother character on television at the time

Increasing Instructional Leadership: An Applied Research Study on the Effects of Developing Principals as Instructional Leaders in the Magnolia County School District

This applied research study seeks to improve principal capacity as instructional leaders. The need for principals to increase their instructional leadership capacity became evident with the ever-changing requirements of state accountability and student achievement. Using four elements in this study, cohort-based professional development for principals, principal PLCs, data meetings, and consultant and district administrator campus visits, the program sought to develop and grow principal leadership. Surveys, focus groups, and interviews were used in the study. The findings reveal improvement in instructional leadership capacity in the district and can provide educators with information, including an action plan, to implement instructional leadership development

Quantum Secrecy in Thermal States

We propose to perform quantum key distribution using quantum correlations occurring within thermal states produced by low power sources such as LED's. These correlations are exploited through the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect. We build an optical central broadcast protocol using a superluminescent diode which allows switching between laser and thermal regimes, enabling us to provide experimental key rates in both regimes. We provide a theoretical analysis and show that quantum secrecy is possible, even in high noise situations.Comment: This version includes revisions prompted by referees comments, and some other small editorial comment

Valuing the scholarship of integration and the scholarship of application in the academy for health sciences scholars: recommended methods

In the landmark 1990 publication Scholarship Reconsidered, Boyer challenged the 'teaching verses research debates' by advocating for the scholarship of discovery, teaching, integration, and application. The scholarship of discovery considers publications and research as the yardstick in the merit, promotion and tenure system the world over. But this narrow view of scholarship does not fully support the obligations of universities to serve global societies and to improve health and health equity. Mechanisms to report the scholarship of teaching have been developed and adopted by some universities. In this article, we contribute to the less developed areas of scholarship, i.e. integration and application. We firstly situate the scholarship of discovery, teaching, integration and application within the interprofessional and knowledge exchange debates. Second, we propose a means for health science scholars to report the process and outcomes of the scholarship of integration and application with other disciplines, decision-makers and communities. We conclude with recommendations for structural and process change in faculty merit, tenure, and promotion systems so that health science scholars with varied academic portfolios are valued and many forms of academic scholarship are sustained. It is vital academic institutions remain relevant in an era when the production of knowledge is increasingly recognized as a social collaborative activity

The relation of perceptual factors and speed of handwriting to spelling ability.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A Qualitative Study of Tobacco Dependence Treatment in 19 US Dental Hygiene Programs.

INTRODUCTION: The US Public Health Service calls for health professionals to provide tobacco dependence counseling for patients. The purpose of this study was to understand how dental hygiene programs make decisions about and provide training for tobacco dependence counseling to help them graduate more fully competent hygienists. METHODS: We conducted interviews (N = 32) with mainly program and clinic directors from 19 US dental hygiene education programs for this qualitative case study. We explored fluoride therapy training and tooth whitening training for comparison. Two analysts summarized the transcripts into a case study for each program. RESULTS: All programs reported a similar process of learning about and choosing a method for teaching the topics explored. The programs used a common process, ADPIE (assess, diagnose, plan, implement, evaluate), to structure students\u27clinical encounters. Almost all programs train students to ask about tobacco use and to advise quitting, but few programs train students to effectively help patients to quit and only 2 programs evaluated the competence of all students to provide such training. ADPIE shows promise for integrating tobacco dependence treatment more fully into the clinical training of dental hygiene students. Comparison to tooth whitening and fluoride therapy training indicated that complexity of the treatment and alignment with dental hygiene\u27s mission were themes related to training decisions. CONCLUSION: Full implementation of tobacco dependence counseling into dental hygiene education requires a commitment by dental hygiene educators to train students and faculty in counseling techniques and their evaluation. We identified an existing clinical structure as showing promise for facilitating improvement

Preliminary investigation into the use of Micro-CT scanning on impact damage to fabric, tissue and bone caused by both round and flat nosed bullets

Firearm offences in the UK, though not as high as in the USA, are increasing year upon year within both countries (Office for National Statistics, 2018 & Mervosh, 2018). This preliminary study looked into using Micro-CT scanning as a method to visualise impact damage and spray patterns caused by 12 test firings of both round and flat nosed bullets to porcine bone (shoulder and leg) suspended in ballistic gelatine and left with no covering, covered with a skin substitute, or covered with fabric (cotton or denim). Micro-CT scanning alongside VG Studio Max showed that overall, in the case of the shoulder bones the round nosed produced longer spray patterns (35.37 mm) within the gelatine blocks compared to the flat nosed bullet (27.33 mm); while with the leg bones the spray patterns were shorter, round nosed bullet (15.64 mm) and the flat nosed bullet (20.78 mm). These initial results showed that both bullet types produced considerable damage, from splitting to full penetration, which in turn illustrates how Micro-CT scanning has benefits within forensic ballistics, which should be further investigated

Advances in the radiocarbon analysis of carbon dioxide at the NERC radiocarbon facility (East Kilbride) using molecular sieve cartridges

Radiocarbon (14C) analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) provides unique information on the age, turnover and source of this important greenhouse gas, raising the prospect of novel scientific investigations into a range of natural and anthropogenic processes. To achieve these measurements, cartridges containing zeolite molecular sieves are a reliable and convenient method for collecting CO2 samples. At the NERC Radiocarbon Facility (East Kilbride) we have been refining our molecular sieve methods for over twenty years to achieve high-quality, reproducible and precise measurements. At the same time, we have been developing novel field sampling methods to expand the possibilities in collecting gas from the atmosphere, soil respiration and aquatic environments. Here, we present our latest improvements to cartridge design and procedures. We provide the results of tests used to verify the methods using known 14C content standards, demonstrating reliability for sample volumes of 3 mL CO2 (STP; 1.6 mg C) collected in cartridges that had been prepared at least three months earlier. We also report the results of quality assurance standards processed over the last two years, with results for 22 out of 23 international 14C standards being within measurement uncertainty of consensus values. We describe our latest automated procedures for the preparation of cartridges prior to use