Student musicians' self- and task-theories of musical performance : the influence of primary genre affiliation

165 undergraduate music students studying in Scotland completed a 30-statement Q-sort to describe their self and task-theories of musical performance. Statements reflected the importance of effort, confidence, technical ability, significant others and luck/ chance in determining a successful performance. The Q-sorts were reduced to six underlying sorting patterns, or viewpoints. The relationship between sorting patterns and participants' primary genre affiliation was explored in order to identify whether self and task-theories were a function of genre affiliation. Some intuitive hypotheses of what performers of particular musical genres might think were supported by the data. However, results suggested that there was considerable diversity in self and task-theory of performance within each of the genre affiliation groups, which supports previous research. Other background factors, such as gender, years of playing, chronological age and type of institution, were not significant predictors of self or task-theory of musical performance

Eficiencia de la gestión municipal en el gasto público de la Municipalidad Distrital de Pinto Recodo periodo 2011 - 2014

This research entitled “Demonstrate how it influences the efficiency of municipal management in the quality of public expenditure in the District Municipality of Pinto Recodo period 2011 - 2014" The research was descriptive - explanatory, for which a sample of 86 people was obtained both citizens and workers of the municipality of the district for the respective survey. For the data was used as an instrument self-directed survey which collected information about variables Efficiency of Municipal and Public Expenditure, where the questions were aimed at identifying the reason for the excess spending admiring Management; the weighted average of the last two years in office was used as indicator. For statistical data analysis Excel for tabulation and percentage we were used. Likewise, the independence of the variables significantly with chi-square test, read 95% reliability was observed. Furthermore, the objective of this research is to "determine why the efficiency of municipal management is not helping to reduce public spending of the District Municipality of Pinto Recodo period 2011 - 2014". The research findings through the survey and document analysis, shows how it influences the efficiency of municipal management in the quality of public expenditure in the District Municipality of Pinto Recodo period 2011 - 2014 " , this mean that the municipality It has no specific for the management of its budget outline guidelines , so it has to make a feedback of their management tools to use and good management of their income and to reduce their costs , as this would benefit both citizens better basic services and better quality of life among others.La presente investigación titulada “Eficiencia de la Gestión Municipal en el Gasto Publico de la Municipalidad Distrital de Pinto Recodo periodo 2011– 2014” El tipo de investigación fue de carácter Descriptivo – explicativa, para la cual se obtuvo una muestra de 86 personas tanto ciudadanos y trabajadores de la municipalidad de dicho distrito para la respectiva encuesta. Para obtener los datos se empleó como instrumento la Encuesta auto dirigida la que obtuvimos información sobre las variables Eficiencia de la Gestión Municipal y Gasto Público, donde las preguntas estuvieron dirigidas a identificar el porqué del exceso del gasto admirativo; se usó como indicador el promedio ponderado de los dos últimos años de gestión. Para el análisis estadístico de los datos se utilizó el programa Excel para la tabulación y su porcentaje. Así mismo se observó la independencia de las variables significativamente con la prueba de Chi cuadrado, leída al 95% de confiabilidad. Además el objetivo de la presente investigación consiste en “Demostrar cómo influye en la eficiencia de la gestión municipal la calidad del gasto público de la Municipalidad Distrital de Pinto Recodo periodo 2011 - 2014”. Los resultados de la investigación a través de la encuesta y el análisis documental, demuestra cómo influye en la eficiencia de la gestión municipal la calidad del gasto público de la Municipalidad Distrital de Pinto Recodo periodo 2011 - 2014”., esto quieres decir que la municipalidad no cuenta con lineamientos específicos para el manejo de su esquema presupuestario, para eso tiene que hacer una retroalimentación de sus instrumentos de gestión para el uso y el buen manejo de sus ingresos y poder reducir sus gastos, ya que esto beneficiaria tanto a los ciudadanos a mejores servicios básicos y mejor calidad de vida entre otros.Tesi

Causality

Making correct causal claims is important for research and practice. This article explains what causality is, and how it can be established via experimental design. Because experiments are infeasible in many applied settings, researchers often use "observational" methods to estimate causal models. In these situations, it is likely that model estimates are compromised by endogeneity. The article discusses the conditions that engender endogeneity and methods that can eliminate it

Validation of the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6™) across episodic and chronic migraine

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess psychometric properties of the six-item Headache Impact Text (HIT-6™) across episodic and chronic migraine

Stop smoking practitioner consensus on barriers and facilitators to smoking cessation in pregnancy and how to address these: A modified Delphi survey.

Introduction Pregnant women can experience barriers and facilitators towards achieving smoking cessation. We sought consensus from smoking cessation practitioners on how influential pre-identified barriers and facilitators can be on pregnant women's smoking behaviour, and how difficult these might be to manage. Suggestions for techniques that could help overcome the barriers or enhance the facilitators were elicited and consensus sought on the appropriateness for their use in practice. Methods Forty-four practitioners who provided cessation support to pregnant women completed a three-round modified Delphi survey. Round one sought consensus on the ‘influence’ and ‘difficulty’ of the barriers and facilitators, and gathered respondents' suggestions on ways to address these. Rounds two and three sought further consensus on the barriers and facilitators and on ‘appropriateness’ of the respondent-suggested techniques. The techniques were coded for behaviour change techniques (BCTs) content using existing taxonomies. Results Barriers and facilitators considered to be the most important mainly related to the influence of significant others and the women's motivation & self-efficacy. Having a supportive partner was considered the most influential, whereas lack of support from partner was the only barrier that reached consensus as being difficult to manage. Barriers relating to social norms were also considered influential, however these received poor coverage of respondent-suggested techniques. Those considered the easiest to address mainly related to aspects of cessation support, including misconceptions surrounding the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Barriers and facilitators relating to the women's motivation & self-efficacy, such as the want to protect the baby, were also considered as being particularly easy to address. Fifty of the 54 respondent-suggested techniques reached consensus as being appropriate. Those considered the most appropriate ranged from providing support early, giving correct information on NRT, highlighting risks and benefits and reinforcing motivating beliefs. Thirty-three BCTs were identified from the respondent-suggested techniques. ‘Social support (unspecified)’, ‘Tailor interactions appropriately’ and ‘Problem solving’ were the most frequently coded BCTs. Conclusions Involving partners in quit attempts was advocated. Existing support could be potentially improved by establishing appropriate ways to address barriers relating to pregnant smokers' ‘social norms’. In general, providing consistent and motivating support seemed favourable

Political ideology and American intergroup discrimination: A patriotism perspective

In this research we take the theoretical approach advocated by Greenwald and Pettigrew (2014) and demonstrate the powerful role of ingroup favoritism, rather than hostility, in American intergroup biases. Specifically, we take a novel perspective to understanding the relationship between political ideology and discrimination against ethnic-minority Americans by focusing on the role of patriotism. Across three studies, we show that political ideology is a strong predictor of resource allocation biases and this effect is mediated by American patriotism and not by prejudice or nationalism. Conservatives report greater levels of patriotism than liberals, and patriotism is associated with donating more to American, as opposed to ethnic-minority American, organizations. We further show that the link between patriotism and partiality to the national group is mediated by stronger ‘American=White’ associations. These findings have important implications for intergroup relations and diversity-related policy issues in the United States

Maximising response to postal questionnaires – A systematic review of randomised trials in health research

Background Postal self-completion questionnaires offer one of the least expensive modes of collecting patient based outcomes in health care research. The purpose of this review is to assess the efficacy of methods of increasing response to postal questionnaires in health care studies on patient populations. Methods The following databases were searched: Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, CDSR, PsycINFO, NRR and ZETOC. Reference lists of relevant reviews and relevant journals were hand searched. Inclusion criteria were randomised trials of strategies to improve questionnaire response in health care research on patient populations. Response rate was defined as the percentage of questionnaires returned after all follow-up efforts. Study quality was assessed by two independent reviewers. The Mantel-Haenszel method was used to calculate the pooled odds ratios. Results Thirteen studies reporting fifteen trials were included. Implementation of reminder letters and telephone contact had the most significant effect on response rates (odds ratio 3.7, 95% confidence interval 2.30 to 5.97 p = <0.00001). Shorter questionnaires also improved response rates to a lesser degree (odds ratio 1.4, 95% confidence interval 1.19 to 1.54). No evidence was found that incentives, re-ordering of questions or including an information brochure with the questionnaire confer any additional advantage. Conclusion Implementing repeat mailing strategies and/or telephone reminders may improve response to postal questionnaires in health care research. Making the questionnaire shorter may also improve response rates. There is a lack of evidence to suggest that incentives are useful. In the context of health care research all strategies to improve response to postal questionnaires require further evaluation

Self-esteem in students of 3th to 8th grade: A review by school grade and gender

La autoestima es una de las áreas más significativas para el bienestar emocional, la adaptación social y la productividad. Se reportan resultados de un estudio cuyo objetivo fue evaluar la autoestima de estudiantes de enseñanza básica (3º a 8º), a través del instrumento estandarizado en Chile TAE-Alumno (Marchant, Haeussler y Torretti, 2002) y profundizar en las diferencias por nivel de escolaridad y género. Participaron 5161 niños chilenos de 3º a 8º básico, pertenecientes a 10 colegios particulares subvencionados de la Región Metropolitana. Se encontraron diferencias significativas en los niveles de autoestima entre los nivel de escolaridad evaluados, observándose una baja a medida que aumenta la escolaridad. También se encontraron diferencias significativas por género, apareciendo en 6º básico y acentuándose en 7º y 8º básico a favor de los hombres. Se reconoce la necesidad de que las comunidades educativas estén atentas a las diferencias por nivel de escolaridad y por género haciendo intervenciones en los períodos que resultan más críticos en la construcción de la identidad. Se argumenta que los colegios, desde su influencia en la socialización de los estudiantes, están en una posición privilegiada para favorecer el desarrollo de una autoestima positivaSelf-esteem is one of the most significant areas for emotional well-being, social adaptation and productivity in life. The results of this study, whose goal was to evaluate the self-esteem of elementary and middle school students, with a standarized test of self-esteem TAE-Alumno (Marchant, Haeussler y Torretti, 2002) and to analize the sample stratified by school grade and gender, are reported. Participants were 5161 Chilean children of 3th to 8th grade, who belong to 10 schools in the Metropolitan Region. Significant differences of self-esteem in the different school grades evaluated were found. A drop in self-esteem as school grades increase, was recorded. Gender differences were also significative from 6th grade and became more significant in 7th and 8th grade, on behalf of boys. The study recognizes the need for schools to be aware of the differences by school grade and gender, in order to intervene in critical periods of the construction of personal identity. Schools are a source of influence on student’s socialization, so they are in a unique position to promote the development of positive self-estee

Citizen-led assessment of achieve literacy and numeracy and performance factors analysis in Yucatán, Mexico

Introducción: No se cuenta con suficiente información respecto del nivel de competencias básicas de lectura y aritmética en el estado de Yucatán, a pesar del desarrollo de las evaluaciones de logro educativo en México. Tampoco existen análisis sobre factores individuales, familiares y sociales asociados a la adquisición de estas competencias en esa entidad. Método: se entrevistaron 1397 sujetos entre 5 y 16 años en una muestra representativa de hogares en Yucatán (N=1009). Se aplicó el instrumento Medición Independiente de Aprendizajes y una encuesta sobre variables asociadas con tres apartados: 1) datos socioeconómicos y capital cultural educativo; 2) discapacidad y síntomas de salud mental; 3) datos generales y escolares de niños, niñas, adolescentes y preguntas sobre motivación. Resultados: existe alta cobertura escolar, pero se encuentra un porcentaje importante de sujetos con problemas de comprensión inferencial, dificultades en la resolución de problemas matemáticos básicos y uso de operaciones como la resta y la división. Condiciones de discapacidad, motivación escolar, la lengua materna, el capital cultural escolar y acceso a bibliotecas públicas se asocian con estos resultados. Discusión y conclusiones: es necesario implementar políticas específicas para fortalecer las competencias básicas de lectura y aritmética en Yucatán, así como fomentar la medición de estas competencias usando evaluaciones alternativas y ciudadanas como las presentadas aquíIntroduction: We do not have specific information about the level of literacy and numeracy in the state of Yucatan, despite the development of educational evaluation in Mexico and analysis of individual, family and social factors that influence these results in these State were not found. Method: 1397 subjects between 5 and 16 years were interviewed in a representative sample of households in Yucatan (N=1009). We applied the “Independent Learning Measurement” (MIA); a questionnaire related with demographic and socio-economic data and educational cultural capital; and a disability and mental health symptoms survey, a motivation's questions and a survey related with school behavior. Results: High school coverage exists. There is a significant percentage of subjects with inferential comprehension problems, in solving problems and use basic mathematical operations such as subtraction and division. Similarly, there are individual, family, and social influences, such as motivation and different languages influences. Cultural-School capital and access to public libraries associated significantly with results identified. Discussion and conclusions: it is necessary to implement specific policies to strengthen basic skills of literacy and numeracy in Yucatan, and promote measurement of these competencies using alternative assessments such as Citizen-Led Assessments presented her