Criminological Self-Efficacy: Increased or Hindered From Crime TV Shows

There is an age-old question that surrounds whether or not media have an effect on its viewers. There is substantial evidence that supports the claim that violent content in media may increase relational, physical, and/or overall aggression levels. The aim of the current study is to explore the relationship between several factors that may be related to one’s belief in one’s ability (self-efficacy) to commit and get away with murder. These factors are the amount of crime TV a person watches, aggressive tendency, recklessness tendency, and potential protective factors. It is hypothesized that the more crime TV watched, the higher aggressive and recklessness tendencies and fewer protective factors, the higher their self-efficacy will be in committing and getting away with murder. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression with amount of crime TV watched, their basic aggression level, recklessness tendencies and potential protective factors as predictors of their belief in their self-efficacy to commit and get away with murder. The results showed that the only significant predictor was amount of crime TV watched in a week, meaning people who report higher amounts of crime TV per week have higher self-efficacy scores in committing and getting away with murder. The implications of this result will be discussed

Comparison of Extension Junior 4-H club programs in Tennessee Counties with varying patterns of 4-H leadership organizations

This study was concerned with how various leadership organizations are related to junior 4-H membership. Data were collected from county Extension personnel in 72 counties in Tennessee by use of the Junior 4-H Audience Information Summary Survey. For purposes of analysis, data were classified into six sections according to the kind of volunteer leadership organizations and the numbers of leaders in each county. One purpose was to compare counties having selected types of volunteer leadership organizations with counties which did not have these leadership organizations as to differences in junior 4-H member enrollment, participation, leadership, sponsorship and recognition. Another purpose was to determine the relationship between the number of organizational leaders, project leaders and activity leaders for junior members and junior 4-H member enrollment, participation, leadership, sponsorship and recognition. Thirty-six independent variables were identified and used as a basis for determining the influence of volunteer leadership organizations on junior 4-H member enrollment, participation, leadership, sponsorship and recognition. Statistical tests used were the t-test and the Pearson\u27s (r) correlation coefficient. The .05 level was accepted as being statistically significant. Computations were done by the University of Tennessee computing center. Major findings of the study were: 1. Counties with a volunteer 4-H leaders’ organization had a larger number of clubs, total number of junior 4-H members and total number enrolled in 4-H. 2. More junior members participated in the breadbaking contest in counties that had a volunteer leaders organization. 3. More money was spent at the county level for junior members in counties that had a volunteer leaders organization. 4. Junior 4-H participation in the county public speaking contest, the demonstration contest and the district horse show was greater in counties that had a county 4-H council. 5. Counties with a citizens committee had more project leaders for junior members and more project leaders attending project leaders training meetings. 6. Counties with a citizens committee had more sources of funds for junior 4-H work. 7. Counties with a citizens committee recognized more teen and junior leaders. 8. Counties with project groups had more junior 4-H clubs. 9. Counties with project groups had a larger number of junior members participating in the public speaking contest, the demonstration contest, the breadbaking contest, and district 4-H camp. 10. Counties with project groups had spent more money at the local level for the junior 4-H members. 11. Counties wil project groups presented a larger number of awards on the local level to junior 4-H members. 12. Counties with a larger number of organizational, project and activity leaders also had a larger total enrollment, activity enrollment, project enrollment and total number of clubs. p\u3e13. Counties with a larger number of organizational, project and activity leaders also had higher junior 4-H participation in selected county events and activities. 14. Counties with a larger number of organizational, project and activity leaders also had a larger number of leader training meetings and had more leaders attending these training meetings. 15. Counties with a larger number of organizational, project and activity leaders also spent a higher amount of money for sponsorship of the total county program than did counties with a smaller number of leaders. 16. Counties with a larger number of organizational and activity leaders also provided more recognition for junior members and leaders. 17. Counties holding a larger number of leader training meetings also had greater participation in local, county, district and state 4-H events and activities. 18. Counties holding a larger number of leader training meetings also had a larger number of organizational, project and activity leaders. 19. Counties holding a larger number of leader training meetings also provided more recognition for junior members and leaders. Implications and recommendations were included

The Impact of Surface Normals on Appearance

The appearance of an object is the result of complex light interaction with the object. Beyond the basic interplay between incident light and the object\u27s material, a multitude of physical events occur between this illumination and the microgeometry at the point of incidence, and also beneath the surface. A given object, made as smooth and opaque as possible, will have a completely different appearance if either one of these attributes - amount of surface mesostructure (small-scale surface orientation) or translucency - is altered. Indeed, while they are not always readily perceptible, the small-scale features of an object are as important to its appearance as its material properties. Moreover, surface mesostructure and translucency are inextricably linked in an overall effect on appearance. In this dissertation, we present several studies examining the importance of surface mesostructure (small-scale surface orientation) and translucency on an object\u27s appearance. First, we present an empirical study that establishes how poorly a mesostructure estimation technique can perform when translucent objects are used as input. We investigate the two major factors in determining an object\u27s translucency: mean free path and scattering albedo. We exhaustively vary the settings of these parameters within realistic bounds, examining the subsequent blurring effect on the output of a common shape estimation technique, photometric stereo. Based on our findings, we identify a dramatic effect that the input of a translucent material has on the quality of the resultant estimated mesostructure. In the next project, we discuss an optimization technique for both refining estimated surface orientation of translucent objects and determining the reflectance characteristics of the underlying material. For a globally planar object, we use simulation and real measurements to show that the blurring effect on normals that was observed in the previous study can be recovered. The key to this is the observation that the normalization factor for recovered normals is proportional to the error on the accuracy of the blur kernel created from estimated translucency parameters. Finally, we frame the study of the impact of surface normals in a practical, image-based context. We discuss our low-overhead, editing tool for natural images that enables the user to edit surface mesostructure while the system automatically updates the appearance in the natural image. Because a single photograph captures an instant of the incredibly complex interaction of light and an object, there is a wealth of information to extract from a photograph. Given a photograph of an object in natural lighting, we allow mesostructure edits and infer any missing reflectance information in a realistically plausible way

A Supervisory and Remedial Reading Program in a Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School

Abstract Not Available. Digital copy of page 1 missing

Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in the ED: Are Nurses SBIRT-Ready?

Emergency department (ED) Registered Nurse (RN) understanding of chronic pain management is critically important. By some estimates, 30% of all opioid pain medications in the United States (US) are prescribed from EDs. At the same time, prescription drug abuse is America’s fastest growing drug problem. While RNs have significant contact time with chronic pain patients who may also be drug abusers, RNs often use the stigmatizing label, “drug-seeking” for certain key patient behaviors and may not feel confident intervening constructively with these patients. This project reviews literature pertaining to SBIRT use for substance abuse in the ED and surveys ED nurses at one large, urban Northern California ED. The survey and accompanying discussion examines the relationship between RN professional insecurity in managing chronic pain patients and the tendency to stigmatize such patients. This project provides insight to one little-studied aspect of the complex topic of managing chronic pain patients in the emergency room—RN practice and attitudes towards the chronic, non-cancer pain patient and provides a needs assessment of RN readiness for SBIRT training

Commentary: Are Emergency Nurses SBIRT-Ready to Assist Vets and other Chronic Non-Cancer Pain Patients?

Emergency Department (ED) Registered Nurses (RNs) spend significant time treating chronic pain patients. Chronic pain affects up to 100 million Americans (Simon, 2012) and as much as 30% of all opioid pain medications in the United States (US) are prescribed from EDs (Todd, Cowan, Kelly, & Homel, 2010). Abuse of these prescription drugs is America’s fastest growing drug problem (Paulozzi, Jones, Mack, & Rudd, 2011). For veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND), chronic non-cancer pain is the most frequent diagnosis (Higgins et al., 2014), and it is closely associated addiction disease. RNs often use the stigmatizing label “drug-seeking” for certain key patient behaviors and may lack confidence to constructively intervene with these patients (McCaffery, Grimm, Pasero, Ferrell, & Uman, 2005). Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is a successful evidence-based, non-stigmatizing approach for managing patients with substance abuse issues (Agerwala & McCance-Katz, 2012) that can be conducted by nurses (Finnell, 2012). In this commentary article, we advocate for RN-led SBIRT in both veteran and civilian EDs. Based on results of our SBIRT-readiness survey of ED nurses at one large urban Northern California ED, we found the need for increased RN training on addiction disease with 61% of nurses admitting to using stigmatizing terminology towards these patients, and 53.1% percent stating they given repeat chronic pain patients lower priority

Minority Supervisees’ Experiences with Parallel Processing in Counseling Supervision

The population of mental health counselors mirrors the diversity of the people served by the counseling profession. Becoming a professional counselor in the United States requires a designated number of clinical supervision hours. The supervision process is designed to ensure a supervisee is equipped with the skills and develops the professional identity to serve the public. Studies have explored the phenomenon of parallel processing (the processes at work between a supervisee and client reflected in their relationship) from clinical supervisors’ perspectives, yet researchers agree that the supervisee initiates the phenomenon, and the voices of supervisees have not been captured. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of minority supervisees during the phenomenon of parallel processing in clinical supervision. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted to collect data from six participants who worked in various therapeutic settings. The data analysis was consistent with Smith’s interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) a desire to help others, (b) supervisor’s contribution to the professional development of the supervisee, and (c) supervisee’s perception of the phenomenon of parallel processing. The results of the study expand the definition of the occurrence of the phenomenon of parallel processing and the impact of the supervisor’s response and provide data for the need of increased attention to intersectionality in training clinical supervisors. The findings of this study have potential implications for positive social change that include a greater commitment to social justice and congruence with the mission statement of the American Counseling Association