Constructive Peer Evaluations: The Toilet Paper Stuck to My Shoe Lesson

Peer evaluation is a useful learning tool that provides students with a holistic view of their work. However, getting students to provide quality feedback to their peers can be a struggle. The purpose of this activity is to make students realize that constructive criticism, when given tactfully, is the only polite option so that they will share thorough, useful feedback throughout the semester

Theoretical Implications of French Nuclear Diphthongisation

This article examines morphophonemic alternation between the high vowels Ii y u/ and their glide counterparts Ij II wI. By their very nature glides lend themselves to two possible analyses: the glide can appear either as a semiconsonant associated with onset position, or as a semi-vowel associated with a syllabic nucleus (as part of a diphthong). Since the formation of nuclear diphthongs is no longer an active process in French, recent phonological treatments prefer the first of the proposed analyses. The active nuclear diphthongization hypothesis in Modem French has significant implications for phonological theory, yet empirical data from Verlan, from Spanish, and from non-standard varieties of French, strongly support such a hypothesis. Even though Phonological Government (PG) provides great insights into morphophonemic alternation, it nonetheless lacks the ability to explain adequately various aspects of medial glide formation in French

Taste responsiveness and beer behaviour

Orosensory perception strongly influences food and beverage liking and consumption. Variation in the perception of these oral sensations presents an opportunity to conceptualise and commercialise products based on consumers’ taste responsiveness. This thesis investigates the role of orosensory responsiveness in alcoholic beverage behaviour. Specifically, examining the role of thermal tasting in beer and cider liking and consumption. 60 participants (31 thermal tasters (TTs) and 29 thermal non-tasters (TnTs) rated the intensity of aqueous solutions of beer- and cider- relevant tastants: iso-α-acid (bitterness), ethanol (irritation, bitterness, sweetness), dextrose (sweetness) and citric acid (sourness) at concentrations typically found in commercial beers on generalised labelled magnitude scales (gLMS). Taste intensities (gLMS) and liking (9-point hedonic scale) of eight beer and cider samples differing in iso-α-acid and ethanol content were also rated. Participants self-reported on their beer and cider consumption. They also rated the importance of select factors when purchasing beer. TTs experienced the bitterness of ethanol more intensely than did TnTs (p(t)<0.05), they also rated the bitterness, sourness, astringency, and overall taste intensity of sampled beers and ciders higher than TnTs (p(F)<0.05). Agglomerative hierarchical and k-means clustering of liking scores revealed 3 clusters of consumers, characterized as ‘bitter dislikers’, ‘beer likers’, and ‘alcohol lovers’. ‘Taste’ was the most important factor consumers used when purchasing beer. It can be concluded that thermal taster status is an important determinant in the perception of beer and cider flavour. These results should assist product developers in designing beers and ciders targeted for specific segments of the population

Reducing the Risks of Wrong Site Surgery Using the Joint Commission’s Targeted Solutions Tool for Safe Surgery

The purpose of this project was to utilize the ‘Institute for HealthCare Improvement’s Model of Improvement as a consultation framework to facilitate improvement in core processes for the prevention of wrong site surgery (WSS) using The Joint Commission Targeted Solutions Tool for Safe Surgery© Program at a surgery center in Mississippi. The TST Program was conducted across 6 months and had 6 phases: 1) Getting Started, 2) Training Data Collectors, 3) Measuring Risk Factors, 4) Analyzing Data, 5) Implementing Solutions, and 6) Sustaining the Gains. A convenience sample of 47 surgical staff participated and 8 data collectors observed behaviors. The nurse consultant, using the TST program assisted staff in reducing the risk of WSS from 16% to 9% in surgical booking, 86% to 53% in pre-op/holding, and 73% to 25% in the OR and empowered them to make 9 practice decisions (just-in-time coaching; improved communication between scheduling and pre-admissions; OR schedule fax back; primary documents within 48 hours before surgery; standardized patient verification; set up regional block time-out (TO) and role-based TO; standardized surgical site marking, and adoption of a surgical checklist). WSS is an avoidable event. Nurse consultants play a powerful role in enabling surgical staff to reexamine existing practice, change behavior, and create a culture of safety in reducing the risks of WSS and promoting patient safety

Variable Glide Formation in Hexagonal French

This thesis examines phonetic and phonological aspects of gliding in Hexagonal French. In particular, we ask: Are glide phenomena as predictable as portrayed in modern descriptions? Do all three glides /j, w, ɥ/ or corresponding high vowels /i, u, y/ behave alike in all potential glide contexts? Given the duality of French glides (vowel and consonant), we use the term vocoid and the archiphoneme convention /I, U, Y/ in our discussion of glide contexts and glide phenomena. Our historical survey shows the glides of French (/j, ɥ, w/) evolve separately and during this period the high front vocoid /I/ occurs early and is involved in greater variety of contexts showing considerable variability. The other two glides emerge later, primarily through diphthongisation, and show less variability. In a study of glide contexts in the spontaneous speech of native speakers from three regions of France (data from the Phonologie du Français Contemporain project), we examine the distribution of all three high vocoids and their surface realisations. For 3415 tokens identified, we determine if HVV (high vocoid plus vowel) tokens are realised with dieresis, with syneresis, or with the high vocoid deleted. Our findings show glide contexts are consistently distributed at a rate of about 85% lexicalised and 15% derived. The limited variability in lexicalised contexts involves mainly the non-round vocoid /I/ realised with dieresis. Distribution across the three-glide inventory of French shows that lexicalised glide contexts follows a general markedness hierarchy: I ⨠ U ⨠ Y. Tokens involving the front non-round vocoid /I/ are most prevalent followed by the back rounded vocoid /U/ and finally the front rounded /Y/. Derived contexts include word medial tautomorphemic high vowel + vowel /HV+V/ sequences resulting from suffixation or inflection, and also cross-word-boundary /HV+V/ sequences which have very rarely been studied before; we show that cross-word-boundary data largely follow the same phonological constraints as derivational data. In each of these contexts the general markedness hierarchy observed above is changed, giving preference to the front rounded /Y/ over the back rounded /U/ while /I/ remains most prevalent

Alberta School Principals’ Use of Professional Portfolios in Teacher Hiring

Creating a professional portfolio is a requirement for most pre-service teachers in Alberta. Little is known, however, about principals’ use of applicant portfolios in hiring. In response, researchers conducted an online survey of principals throughout the province. Findings indicate a preference for traditional job application items (e.g., a resumé, reference letters, and letter of introduction) and teacher competence indicators (e.g., teacher mentor and school administrator assessments, student assessment methods, and a classroom management plan). Examining attitudes and hiring practices provides direction for creating portfolios that attend to the actual needs and interests of principals in the province, thereby enhancing the employment prospects of new teachers.La création d’un portefeuille professionnel est une exigence pour la plupart des enseignants étudiants en Alberta. On sait peu, toutefois, à propos de l’utilisation des portefeuilles de candidats par les directeurs dans le processus d’embauche. En réponse, les chercheurs ont mené une enquête en ligne auprès des directeurs d’écoles de l’ensemble de la province. Les résultats indiquent une préférence pour les éléments traditionnels d’une demande d’emploi (p. ex., un curriculum vitae, des lettres de références, et une lettre d’introduction) et les indicateurs de compétence des enseignants (p. ex., les évaluations du mentor d’enseignant et de l’administrateur scolaire, les méthodes d’évaluation des élèves, et un plan de gestion de classe). L’examen des attitudes et pratiques d’embauche fournit une orientation pour créer des portfeuilles qui répondent aux besoins et aux intérêts réels des directeurs d’école dans la province, améliorant ainsi les perspectives d’emploi des nouveaux enseignants

Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network (IMAGEN): Adapting the Girl Roster™ for Lakota communities

This brief reports on a first-of-a-kind meeting between the Population Council’s GIRLCenter and organizations such as the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society (WBCWS) that work locally with Native American communities to understand the specific needs of adolescent girls in Indian Country. This followed an inaugural meeting of the Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network (IMAGEN) with its wealth of insight concerning the needs of the Native communities they serve, and the GIRL Center’s myriad programmatic tools and resources that have been tried and tested in global settings for several decades. The IMAGEN Approach is an adaptable process that links these two worlds, with the overarching goal of helping those organizations that are ready to incorporate girl-centered programming do so in a sustainable and impactful way. The brief describes workshops held on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, community insights and lessons learned, and next steps in girl-centered program design

Indigenous Adolescent Girls\u27 Empowerment Network (IMAGEN)

The Population Council has developed and tested a cache of tools—which can be modified by and for Native communities—for organizations seeking to more intentionally serve girls. The tools allow programs to systematically gauge within their own communities the barriers and opportunities that exist for Native adolescent girls. This realization and opportunity sparked the creation of the Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network (IMAGEN). The Network was conceived as a means of bringing together Native American–serving organizations that have the enthusiasm and capacity to adopt, document, and share evidence from programs that build on Native girls’ innate talents, while addressing the multiple challenges they face. The first steps toward building this network were taken during IMAGEN’s inaugural workshop at the Population Council headquarters in New York City in March 2017, attended by nine participants from six organizations covering different parts of Indian Country