Macro Determinants of Individual Income Poverty in 93 Regions of Europe

The analysis of the at-risk-of-poverty determinants can be improved by taking into account factors at macro (regional) level. This hypothesis has already been made in previous research, at country-level, on cross-sectional data. We use longitudinal data in this analysis in order to get more precise estimated parameters, and we test if the regional unemployment rate and the regional GDP affect the individual at-risk-of-poverty status. The countries taken into account are those present in the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) dataset.income poverty; EU-SILC; multilevel models; longitudinal data

PhD

dissertationCaring is central to the profession of nursing, and cross-cultural caring is central to the sub-field of transcultural nursing. This study is an analysis of the meaning of caring expressions and behavior, principally those which are related to nurses within a hospital culture in the United States. Caring was investigated by primarily an inductive research approach through participant observation techniques. Comparative data of different social units (persons, roles, clinical units, and documents) formed the basis from which conceptual categories of caring (a classification system), and theoretical frames of reference were discovered. A classification system founded on 1362 caring responses of 192 participants consisting of four categories with their respective subsets was developed. They are as follows: Psychological (Cognitive and Affective); Interactional (Social and Physical); Practical (Technical and Social Organization); and Philosophical (Spiritual, Ethical, and Cultural). The Psychological category received the largest number of responses, followed by the Practical, the Interactional, and lastly, the Philosophical categories. The classification system reflected the current shift from humanistic-religious dimensions of caring to practical dimensions influenced by the relationship of caring to the bureaucratic dominant American social structures. In an analysis of caring within the hospital clinical units, data reinforced the existence of a logical connection between caring behaviors and the bureaucratic social structure. Contrasting examples of differential caring patterns emerged. A substantive theoretical frame of reference of differential caring was identified. The pattern of differential caring, coupled with the patterns discovered in the cognitive analysis were abstracted into a formal theoretical frame of reference, bureaucratized caring. The theoretical frames of reference of differentiation and bureaucratization demonstrated the complex meaning and structure of caring in a contemporary hospital culture. Ideal nursing models of caring were replaced by a bureaucratic model which produced professional conflict for the majority of nurses. The future of nursing now depends on how well the nature of bureaucratic caring is understood. To help in the development of transcultural nursing awareness and caring knowledge, a list of recommendations for research, education, and practice was suggested

An Analysis of How Consumers Use Best-if-Used-By Dates As a Cue for Evaluating Food Products

Food waste is a significant problem in the United States with over 133 billion pounds of food that goes unused or neglected by consumers every year. Consumers use best-if-used-by dates (BUBDs) as a cue in evaluating food and deciding when to throw away food. Using an experimental sensory approach, 183 consumers evaluated the appearance and taste of salads and lunch meat with varying BUBDs. After completing sensory evaluations, participants were then asked to state their willingness to pay (WTP) for each of the varying BUBDs and the percentage of the food product their household would consume, based on their recent consumption habits and its associated BUBD. On average, consumers were willing to pay $0.76 to$1.38 per bag for the varying bagged salads and $1.78 to$2.31 per package for the varying lunch meats. Consumers stated their household would consume on average 57 to 75% of the varying bagged salads and 67 to 75% of the varying lunch meats. Tobit regressions were used to examine factors influencing WTP and household expected consumption of the food products. BUBDs and taste and appearance ratings were significant in determining bagged salad and lunch meat WTP and anticipated consumption. The bagged salad lunch meat nearby and middle BUBDs were discounted significantly when compared to the furthest away BUBD. The furthest away BUBDs increased anticipated consumption compared to the nearby BUBDs. As consumers rated the taste and appearance of the salads and lunch meat higher, they stated they would consume more of the food products. Results provide insight into how BUBDs and sensory evaluation of foods influence expected food waste of lunch meat and salads. Sensory evaluations are preferred to BUBDs to evaluate food; however, consumers will use BUBDs when sensory evaluations are not available

WHAT NURSES SAY: COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPETENT NURSING HANDOFF

Communication competence and medical communication competence served as the theoretical framework for this research that seeks to identify specific communication behaviors associated with what nurses say constitute a communicatively competent patient handoff at the nursing change of shift. Data collected from 286 nurses responding to an online modified Medical Communication Competence Scale posted at www.allnurses.com supported the hypotheses that information exchange (information giving, seeking and verifying) and socioemotional communication behaviors are rated more highly in the best patient handoffs than in the worst ones. Research questions found that the incoming nursing role rated behaviors associated with information verifying and socioemotional communication higher than did the outgoing nursing role, and that the worst handoffs were those in which the incoming nursing role gave the lowest ratings for information-giving behaviors. Additional insight into other communication-related characteristics associated with quality handoffs were provided as well, including location, tools/type and environment for the patient handoff at the nursing change of shift. These findings offer a foundation for future research into development of communication-based standardized patient handoff processes and training that ultimately may reduce patient care errors caused by communication failures during the patient handoff at the nursing change of shift

Opportunity and Equity: Enrollment and Outcomes of Black and Latino Males in Boston Public Schools

Boston Public School (BPS) leaders commissioned this study to examine patterns of enrollment, access, engagement, and performance of Black and Latino males from School Year 2009 to School Year 2012. This quantitative analysis constitutes Phase I of a larger study that will ultimately include qualitative case studies examining promising practices in BPS schools in which Black and Latino males perform well

Reviews

Brian Clegg, Mining The Internet — Information Gathering and Research on the Net, Kogan Page: London, 1999. ISBN: 0–7494–3025–7. Paperback, 147 pages, £9.99