Assessment of Management and Documentation Systems for the Bowling Green State University American Society for Quality Student Branch

The Bowling Green State University (BGSU) American Society for Quality (ASQ) student branch seeks to provide current and prospective students the opportunity to expand or build upon current and evolving quality principles. This project seeks to provide the ASQ student branch the opportunity to develop documented systems of daily operations and other activities in relation to the defined BGSU ASQ student branch organizational objectives. The research associated with this project will provide detailed information related to the organizational requirements to aid in the development of documented systemic procedures. The information also indicates what practices should be in place to ensure all documented procedures are utilized and maintained in a manner that allows the individuals involved the ability to review accurate information reflecting the current state and objectives of the organization. This project and all related research will publish the BGSU ASQ student branch documents that will outline all organizational activities and related functions. The information is intended to be accessible by leadership members and also faculty/advising individuals

Single-session psychotherapy for depression: is it better to focus on problems or solutions?

This study investigated the effect of a single session of either problem-focused or solution-focused psychotherapy on depressed mood, self-esteem, and perceptions of the counselor in female college students. Forty students scoring from 12 to 30 on the Beck Depression Inventory served as subjects. Twenty-one female counselors conducted the therapy sessions. A short follow-up occurred one week later to assess change, debrief participants, and refer them for further treatment if indicated;Problem-focused therapy consisted of assessing depressive symptomatology, exploring clients\u27 concerns, discussing causes for the difficulties, and pinpointing negative coping techniques. Solution-focused therapy was designed to greatly minimize talk about problems. Clients were encouraged to explore positive coping techniques they were already employing or had employed in the past and to construct a vision of life without the depression;Scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Depression Adjective Checklist Form E (DACL), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), were used to assess changes in mood and self-worth from pre-treatment to post-treatment within and across treatment conditions. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) using a repeated measures model, followed by paired-t comparisons when appropriate, revealed within subjects improvement on the BDI and the DACL but not on the SES. No between subjects differences in outcome were found on any of these measures;The Counselor Rating Form-Short Form (CRF-S) was used to assess post-treatment differences in perceptions of the counselors across conditions. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed no between subjects differences in perceptions of counselors on the dimensions of attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness;It was concluded that a single session of psychotherapy is associated with positive change in mood but not in self-esteem in female college students. It was also concluded that there is no overall difference in effectiveness between a single session of problem-focused and solution-focused therapy

Eating Competence and Dietary Intake of Sexual and Gender Minority College Students

Sexual and gender minority college students are underrepresented in nutrition research and may face unique challenges related to eating which impact their overall diet quality. We assessed the differences in eating competence and dietary intake between sexual and gender minority (SGM) and cisgender heterosexual (CH) college students. Participants (n = 2645) reported sexual orientation, gender identity and completed the Eating Competence Satter Inventory (ecSI 2.0™ through an online questionnaire. Three-day food records examined dietary intake. Intake was compared to recommendations for nutrients of public health concern. Chi-square and ANCOVA examined differences between eating competence and dietary intake. There were no differences in total ecSI 2.0™ scores. Subscale scores for Eating Attitudes and Contextual Skills were significantly higher in CH vs. SGM students (13.4 +/- 0.1 vs. 12.4 +/- 0.4 p = 0.01 and 10.7 +/- 0.1 vs. 9.9 +/- 0.3, p = 0.01, respectively). Most students (40.8%) met one nutrient recommendation. The proportion of students meeting nutrient recommendations were similar for SGM and CH. SGM populations may struggle with attitudes and eating behaviors. Dietary intake of SGM and CH students were similarly inadequate when compared to recommendations

Historical Dialogue and Memory in Policing Change: the Case of the Police in Northern Ireland

This article explores the complex relationship between organisational change and historical dialogue in transitional societies. Using the policing reform process in Northern Ireland as an example, the article does three things: the first is to explore the ways in which policing changes were understood within the policing organisation and ‘community’ itself. The second is to make use of a processual approach, privileging the interactions of context, process and time within the analysis. Third, it considers this perspective through the relatively new lens of ‘historical dialogue’, understood here as a conversation and an oscillation between the past, present and future through reflections on individual and collective memories. Through this analysis, we consider how members’ understandings of a difficult past (and their roles in it) facilitated and/or impeded the organisations change process. Drawing on a range of interviews with previous and current members of the organisation, this article sheds new light on how institutions deal with and understand the past as they experience organisational change within a wider societal transition from conflict to nonviolence.</jats:p

Authors Reply: Empathy and Creativity: Dangers of the Methodological Tail Wagging the Conceptual Dog

The three commentaries on “Why We Should Reject the Restrictive Isomorphic Matching (RIM) Definition of Empathy” mostly concurred with our critique of that widely adopted definition of empathy. Yet, commenters also raised important questions relating to the clarity and operationalizability of our recommended alternative: returning to a classical conceptualization of empathy as a dynamic, functionally oriented, multi-faceted unfolding process. To help contextualize these issues, we provide an extended analogy between empathy research and creativity research, areas of study which are conceptually linked and have faced similar conceptual and methodological obstacles. In doing so, we highlight the challenge of (a) distilling empathy down to a firm operationalizable definition without (b) losing sight of the general meaning and real-world value of the construct

Diffuse Interstellar Bands in z < 0.6 CaII Absorbers

The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) probably arise from complex organic molecules whose strength in local galaxies correlates with neutral hydrogen column density, N(HI), and dust reddening, E(B-V). Since CaII absorbers in quasar (QSO) spectra are posited to have high N(HI) and significant E(B-V), they represent promising sites for the detection of DIBs at cosmological distances. Here we present the results from the first search for DIBs in 9 CaII-selected absorbers at 0.07 < z_abs < 0.55. We detect the 5780Ang DIB in one line of sight at z_abs = 0.1556; this is only the second QSO absorber in which a DIB has been detected. Unlike the majority of local DIB sight-lines, both QSO absorbers with detected DIBs show weak 6284Ang absorption compared with the 5780Ang band. This may be indicative of different physical conditions in intermediate redshift QSO absorbers compared with local galaxies. Assuming that local relations between the 5780Ang DIB strength and N(HI) and E(B-V) apply in QSO absorbers, DIB detections and limits can be used to derive N(HI) and E(B-V). For the one absorber in this study with a detected DIB, we derive E(B-V) = 0.23mag and log[N(HI)] >= 20.9, consistent with previous conclusions that CaII systems have high HI column densities and significant reddening. For the remaining 8 CaII-selected absorbers with 5780Ang DIB non-detections, we derive E(B-V) upper limits of 0.1-0.3mag.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted to MNRAS Letter

The host galaxies of strong CaII QSO absorption systems at z<0.5

We present new imaging and spectroscopic observations of the fields of five QSOs with very strong intervening CaII absorption systems at redshifts z<0.5 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Recent studies of these very rare absorbers indicate that they may be related to damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs). In all five cases we identify a galaxy at the redshift of the CaII system with impact parameters up to ~24 kpc. In four out of five cases the galaxies are luminous (L ~L*), metal-rich (Z ~Zsun), massive (velocity dispersion, sigma ~100 km/s) spirals. Their star formation rates, deduced from Halpha emission, are high, in the range SFR = 0.3 - 30 Msun/yr. In our analysis, we paid particular attention to correcting the observed emission line fluxes for stellar absorption and dust extinction. We show that these effects are important for a correct SFR estimate; their neglect in previous low-z studies of DLA-selected galaxies has probably led to an underestimate of the star formation activity in at least some DLA hosts. We discuss possible links between CaII-selected galaxies and DLAs and outline future observations which will help clarify the relationship between these different classes of QSO absorbers.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 14 pages, 9 figures. Version with full resolution images available at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~bjz/papers/Zych_etal_2007a.pd

A Comparison of the BASC and CBCL with At-Risk Preschoolers

Behavior rating scales, such as the Behavior Assessment System for Children ([BASC] Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1998) and the Child Behavior Checklist ([CBCL] Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), are often used to assess social and emotional behavior problems. Although a substantial amount of research exists on the previous version of the BASC/6-18 and CBCL/4-18, little research exists on the latest preschool versions of the BASC/2.5-5 and CBCL/1.5-5. The current study examined the overall consistency between the revised BASC and CBCL preschool versions. A sample of 33 parents of preschool-aged children considered at-risk participated in this study by completing both the BASC and CBCL on their children. Mean scores, correlations, and standard score differences were examined for 13 corresponding scales on the BASC and CBCL. The results indicated that the BASC and CBCL produced fairly consistent results within a group of at-risk preschoolers. Both the BASC and CBCL identified more children with externalizing problems than with internalizing problems. However, the BASC identified more children as having externalizing problems and/or internalizing problems than did the CBCL. Overall, more research needs to be conducted as regards the reliability and validity of the preschool revisions of the BASC and CBCL