A Transcendental Phenomenological Study of Mental Health Symptoms and Awareness in the College Student Population

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand mental health concerns and the services provided within the college population located at an on-ground campus in the United States. The theories guiding this study were Schlossberg’s transition theory and self-efficacy theory, which play a major role in understanding the concerns and heightened symptoms students faced when transitioning into the college setting. The transcendental phenomenological study focused on gathering data from sophomore students enrolled at Rose College who have recently faced the transition from high school or undergraduate settings. The setting took place virtually due to restrictions and limitations of COVID-19. Student samples were collected by reaching out to students via an institutional research marketing platform where this researcher’s marketing flyer was posted throughout Liberty University’s campus. In addition, two rounds of marking e-mails were sent to students to request participation from sophomore students who endorsed the criteria for experiencing various mental health symptoms while enrolled in the higher education setting, such as: depression, anxiety, and general adjustment symptoms. The data collection process consisted of individual interviews with (N= 10) student participants, a student artifact collection questionnaire, a student letter to self, and a final focus group that allowed a space for all students willing to share their lived experiences regarding their transition into higher education. Research findings indicated students who utilized various support systems and artifacts as an added source of coping, benefitted from successfully finishing their first year of college

Media Tourism and Its Role in Sustaining Scotland’s Tourism Industry

Funding: This research is undertaken as part of the SPOT Horizon 2020 project funded by the EU under grant agreement 870644. SPOT: Social and Cultural Innovation Platform on Cultural Tourism and its Potential Towards Deepening Europeanisation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Data Note: People Served in Community Mental Health Programs and Employment

State mental health agencies provide a wide range of supports, including rehabilitation services and vocational and pre-vocational training, as well as supported and competitive employment supports. This Data Note explores how states vary in number and percentage of individuals who are employed among those served in Community Mental Health Programs (CMHPs), i.e., programs with all services provided in the community, rather than in an inpatient setting. It also explores national trends that occurred from 2002 to 2011

Bookmobile Service in Indiana: Its History, Its Present, and Its Future

Traditionally, the bookmobile has played an important role in meeting the needs of the reading public and in providing information to a broad segment of society. But in the past few years, bookmobiles have fallen on hard times, and their demise has long been predicted. They have fallen victim to such things as the gas crisis, construction of branch libraries, and automation

Media tourism and COVID-19 : An empirical investigation of the impact of COVID-19 on the Scottish tourism industry

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Making a market for Miscanthus: Can new contract designs solve the biofuel investment hold-up problem?

We present designs for optimal contracts to solve the investment hold-up problem for perennial crops for the biofuel industry. A fixed-price contract is ex-ante efficient but renegotiation-proof for a limited range of discount parameters. A perfectly- indexed contract is both renegotiation-proof and ex-post efficient. Provided long-run land prices are stationary, the expected cost for both contracts converges to the long-run expected price of land for a risk-neutral farmer.Biofuels, Miscanthus, contract theory, industrial organization, renegotiation-proof contract, Marketing,

Professional golf coaches’ perceptions of the key technical parameters in the golf swing

AbstractAssessing a coach's technical knowledge of a sporting technique can reveal measureable biomechanical parameters associated with successful performance. This assessment can provide new insights into technique, enhance a coach's technical knowledge or assist in optimising performance. Despite numerous golf instructional books, no scientific study has assessed a golf coach's technical knowledge of the golf swing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the key technical parameters that professional golf coaches associate with a top level golf swing; with the intention of using the results to guide future golf biomechanics research and coaching technologies. Initially, sixteen professional golf coaches were individually observed coaching a highly skilled golfer after which they participated in a semi-structured interview regarding their technical analysis of the golf swing. QSR-NVivo analysis software was used to inductively analyse the data using the grounded theory approach. Line-by-line coding was followed by comparison of ‘meaning units’ to form a coding hierarchy with several key technical parameters identified. A successful golf swing was defined through three elements, with “body motion” affecting “club motion” and resulting “ball flight”. Several terms described these parameters including “consistent”, “powerful”, “accurate”, “simple” and “controlled” with the most prevalent being “repeatable”. “Body motion” was influenced by five intrinsically linked key technical parameters: “posture”, “body rotation”, “sequential movement”, “hand and arm action” and “club parameters” which were further sub categorised. To conclude, the key technical parameters have been identified which will be used to support future biomechanical research in this area and to be used to direct new technologies to aid golf coaching

The impact of COVID-19 on cultural tourism. Introductory article for special issue of tourism culture and communication.

Peer reviewedPostprin

Topical decolonization does not eradicate the skin microbiota of community-dwelling or hospitalized adults

Topical antimicrobials are often employed for decolonization and infection prevention and may alter the endogenous microbiota of the skin. The objective of this study was to compare the microbial communities and levels of richness and diversity in community-dwelling subjects and intensive care unit (ICU) patients before and after the use of topical decolonization protocols. We enrolled 15 adults at risk for Staphylococcus aureus infection. Community subjects (n = 8) underwent a 5-day decolonization protocol (twice daily intranasal mupirocin and daily dilute bleach-water baths), and ICU patients (n = 7) received daily chlorhexidine baths. Swab samples were collected from 5 anatomic sites immediately before and again after decolonization. A variety of culture media and incubation environments were used to recover bacteria and fungi; isolates were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry. Overall, 174 unique organisms were recovered. Unique communities of organisms were recovered from the community-dwelling and hospitalized cohorts. In the community-dwelling cohort, microbial richness and diversity did not differ significantly between collections across time points, although the number of body sites colonized with S. aureus decreased significantly over time (P = 0.004). Within the hospitalized cohort, richness and diversity decreased over time compared to those for the enrollment sampling (from enrollment to final sampling, P = 0.01 for both richness and diversity). Topical antimicrobials reduced the burden of S. aureus while preserving other components of the skin and nasal microbiota