A formative evaluation of the Silence The Violence programme : a school-based violence prevention programme

Includes summary.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-68).This report presents the findings of a formative evaluation of the Silence The Violence (STV) programme, a school-based violence prevention initiative. The programme is implemented by an organisation known as Khulisa Services, which has service points in all nine provinces of South Africa. The main objective of the STV programme is to reduce verbal, emotional and physical violence in schools

Undergraduate nursing student situation awareness during simulation

Graduate nurses encounter complex and rapidly changing patient care situations that require attentiveness, careful surveillance, and the recognition of subtle changes and patterns that will lead to appropriate decisions. Many researchers concur that new graduates are ill-equipped to meet these challenges, resulting in significant risk to patient safety. Situation Awareness (SA) is a skill that has been taught in the field of aviation to facilitate decision-making in complex, dynamic situations; however, there is little known about how nursing students develop SA. This mixed methods explorative study contrasted sophomore and senior nursing students’ (n=33) measured levels of SA during simulations of deteriorating patients, and gathered information from the students regarding how they came to be aware of changes. The results indicate students do not have complete SA (avg. score 69%). There is also evidence of significant differences between sophomore and senior nursing students’ scores on the comprehensive scale (F(1,31) = 10.394, p = .002) with senior scores significantly higher than sophomore scores. Students described how they became aware of the situation through developing expectations, determining salience and processing the information to create a meaningful whole. These themes support the proposed definition of situation awareness specific to nursing. This study found that nursing students develop Situation Awareness during the course of their nursing program indicating the necessity for deliberate development of this important skill. These study results can be also used to improve nursing education by teaching students specific skills including recognition of changes in respiratory rate and habits of frequent reassessment for patients whose condition is changing. Together these skills will help address the lack of SA which impairs clinical judgment and contributes to unsafe nursing care. Recommendations include further study and measurement of nursing student SA as well as teaching strategies aimed at developing SA

EXAMINING FLOW STATES AND MOTIVATIONAL PERSPECTIVES OF ASHTANGA YOGA PRACTITIONERS

Flow state refers to an optimal psychological experience and is associated with a number of experiential qualities one of which is complete absorption in the task at hand. Self-determination theory provides a framework for examining the relation between different types of motivation and flow because it distinguishes among different forms of motivation based on the degree that they can be considered self-determined. Although flow has been studied among athletes and, to a lesser degree, exercisers, no studies have focused on the flow experiences of yoga practitioners. Yoga, which originated in India, has been gaining popularity in the United States. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the flow experiences and motivational perspectives of ashtanga yoga practitioners. Five specific aims were addressed. A sample of 127 ashtanga yoga practitioners were recruited from six yoga studios in various locations across the United States. Participants completed a series of questionnaires related to flow experiences, motivational orientation, yoga practice characteristics, and sociodemographic information. The majority of the participants of the study were women, highly educated, and approximately 40 years old. The participants demonstrated a strong commitment to yoga practicing on average 4 times per week for over 1.5 hours. The majority had more than 2.5 years of ashtanga yoga experience. They reported strong intrinsic and selfdetermined extrinsic motivation to practice ashtanga yoga. They reported experiencing flow during ashtanga yoga practice and at least moderately endorsed all nine dimensions of flow state. Higher scores on the EMS subscales of intrinsic motivation (IM) to accomplish things and IM to experience sensation were predictive of higher flow state for the practitioners. The respondents yoga flow scores were significantly higher than the flow scores associated with a comparison other physical activity participated in currently or in the past. Finally, age (inversely) and years of ashtanga yoga experience were predictive of flow experiences for this group of yoga practitioners. For those interested in the study of motivation, these findings contribute to the understanding of the relation between flow and motivation and how enjoyment may be manifested within the context of physical activity

An Application of Ridge Regression and LASSO Methods for Model Selection

Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models are popular tools among field scientists, because they are easy to understand and use. Although OLS estimators are unbiased, it is often advantageous to introduce some bias in order to lower the overall variance in a model. This study focuses on comparing ridge regression and the LASSO methods which both introduce bias to the regression problem. Both approaches are modeled after the OLS but also implement a tuning parameter. Additionally, this study will compare the use of two different functions in R, one of which will be used for ridge regression and the LASSO while the other will be used strictly for the LASSO. The techniques discussed are applied to a real set of data involving some physiochemical properties of wine and how they affect the overall quality of the wine

Land use controls, equine landscapes and the role of political culture in managing sprawl development.

This dissertation is a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of land development growth management programs at two communities that are thoroughbred horse centers - Ocala/Marion County, Florida and Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky. The study period was 1970 to 2010. Marion County has had a state-mandated growth management program in place since 1985 and Fayette County has had an urban growth boundary since 1957. The agricultural use of the thoroughbred horse industry was selected because it is known to be highly sensitive to sprawl-type development and the long-term economic strength of each location is dependent upon a strong thoroughbred industry as it contributes more than $3 billion dollars a year to Florida and has a$2.4 billion economic impact on Fayette County, Kentucky. The study evaluated the spatial extent of population growth using the US Census of Population. Using GIS, sprawl was quantified in several ways: through density gradients\u27 regression analysis, and through measurement of the linear miles of built streets per square mile in each county. Fayette County was found to have sprawled less during the study period. The next step involved investigation into the political culture to ascertain why stricter growth controls were implemented in one locale and not the other. Political culture, defined as the attitudes, values, beliefs, and orientations that individuals within a society hold regarding their political system. Following Ingelhart (1990), political culture is operationalized through analysis of educational attainment and income levels. The role of the growth machine (Molotch, 1976) was also explored. In Florida, growth machine elites included developers and retirees, largely due to the economic model of retirement/second home development and tourism that has grown the Florida economy since the 1960s. Through participant-observer analysis, it is determined that the growth machine in Lexington seems to be the thoroughbred industry, which maximizes its interests through controlling the incursion of incompatible land uses onto the thoroughbred farms. Therefore, the growth machine may not always be interested in more development. In this case study, it is demonstrated that the growth machine is anti-development, in order to maximize its own profits

The Persistence Of Traditional Gender Stereotypes: Evidence From The Distribution Of Academic Honors At A Female-Majority University

A shift from male-majority to female-majority university campuses has opened up new areas for research on gender bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. At one large state university on the west coast, there were more female than male graduates in Spring, 2008 in 7 out of 8 colleges, including the traditionally male-majority areas of business and science.  Relative probabilities for men and women of receiving honors in each major field of study at this school, compared to national data of gender breakdowns by field in 1980, showed that men and women were still relatively more likely to receive honors in fields that were traditionally male and female, respectively. Findings also cast doubt upon Kanter’s tokenism hypothesis. Curiously, it was traditionally female, not male, fields that had the highest levels of gender inequity, though gender inequity overall may be on a decline. More research is needed to identify why this difference between gender and honors still exists. Universities should also be aware of the continuing potential for subtle gender discrimination, even in fields where equal numbers of men and women participate

What’s Good in Theory May Be Flawed in Practice: Potential Legal Consequences of Poor Implementation of a Theoretical Sample

This article discusses the problems with the use of statistical sampling in litigation. Sample-based research is increasingly used in a diverse array of cases including products liability, antitrust, intellectual property, and criminal law. Sample-based research provides objective evidence upon which decisions, damages, and liability may rest. Despite its importance, however, statistical evidence is often misused and misunderstood by attorneys unfamiliar with the underlying form of analysis. This article explores common errors when using litigative samples, comments upon best practices for the use in law of sample-based research, and demonstrates the importance of sound statistical sampling and data collection in a recent case

Shelley Lynn Phillips in a Mezzo-Soprano Senior Voice Recital

This is the program for the senior mezzo-soprano recital of Shelley Lynn Phillips, accompanied by pianist, Terri Lucas, and organist, Dr. Russell Hodges. The recital was held on February 5, 1991, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall