Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre: Internship Report

The following report documents my internship with Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre (SLT) during the summer of 2012. Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre was established in 1968. It is beloved by many faithful patrons in the New Orleans community. During my internship, I worked with the administrative staff and box office manager to focus on box office operations and volunteer oordination. My primary goals were to sell tickets for the upcoming season and to obtain volunteers for purposes of ushering the shows, and keeping patrons happy. This internship report provides an overview of Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre based on observational research and thorough analysis. The report examines organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, internal/external issues, and provides best practices of a similar organization and recommendations for organizational improvement

Physicians' role in patient ergonomics: a pilot study

With the ever-increasing rate of the integration of technology, and office workers making up the largest single sector of occupations, many workers are spending an increasingly large portion of their work time in the prolonged sitting or standing position and while on computer-based systems. Evidence-based research suggests that increased sedentary time is associated with diabetes, hypertension and other mortality causing diseases such as cardiovascular disease. There is a lack of occupational medicine considerations, specifically ergonomics, incorporated into the patient plan of care in the primary care setting. This is likely due to the decreased number of physicians specializing in occupational medicine (OM), and the lack of OM education in medical school curriculum. The current time constraints of the medical system may make the integration of additional screening seem unreasonable. With the introduction of occupational therapy as a contributing member of the primary care team, the burden of ergonomic training and education for at-risk patients can be reduced. Through participation in the Physicians’ Role in Patient Ergonomics workshop, a 20-minute online video aimed at explaining the connection between occupational risks and common health issues seen in the primary care setting, physicians can learn about the implications of occupational risks on patient health, and how to utilize brief screening questions and decision trees to efficiently determine which patients may benefit from ergonomic education and training

The Library Consortium of New Zealand's Shared IRR Infrastructure

The Library Consortium of New Zealand has run an Institutional Research Repository Project for three universities and one institute of technology in New Zealand since 2006. After a brief introduction to the context in which the project operates, this document describes the Institutional Research Repositories that are part of this project and their shared infrastructure. Particular emphasis is placed on advantages and challenges created by the shared infrastructure

Women and the press in British India, 1928-34: a window for protest?

Second prize winner of the Emerald Publishing Best Article of the Year award for 2011. Purpose: to understand how, in tough economic times, British-owned, English-language newspapers such as The Pioneer received and filtered news, especially gender-related and nationalist-related events and thinking. Design/methodology: using qualitative and quantitative methods to assess communications by and about pro - nationalist women, coverage of female activities was categorised into two groups: firstly educational, social and peaceful campaigns and secondly direct action such as strikes, burning of British cloth and business /land rent boycotts. Findings: direct action provided ‘bad news’ coverage, but it simultaneously gave a small window for publicity. Less threatening peaceful campaigns provided a bigger window – enhanced by the novelty value of female activism. Research limitations/implications: Historians need to look specifically at Indian newspapers during the struggle for independence for a counter-hegemonic discourse that reached a wide public. When evidence of women's activism is paired with financial news, it becomes clear that women had a negative impact on British business. Furthermore The Pioneer’ s own business dilemmas made the paper part of the economic and ideological maelstrom that that it reported on. Originality/value: this is the first time that the colonial press in India itself has been scrutinised in detail on the subject of the rising nationalist movement and women. Findings underline female influence on both economics and ideology – a neglected aspect of Indian gender scholarship and economic history

Evaluating socioeconomic status using food utility indices in historical faunal assemblages /

Evaluating socioeconomic status in complex societies using zooarchaeological data has been the focus of several studies in the past two decades. Taking a novel approach that uses a theoretically informed model and food utility indices to facilitate interpretation of frequencies of skeletal parts in zooarchaeological collections, this project establishes a new method for interpreting the socioeconomic meaning of faunal material in complex societies. Newly developed food utility indices for pigs (Sus scofa) and cattle (Bos taurus) operationalize the model. The Roman site of Maasplein, Nijmegen, the Netherlands is used as a case study to evaluate the new method. A discussion of recovery methods and impacts on interpretations of diet are included in addition to a faunal report on Maasplein. When applied to the pig remains from Roman villa at San Giovanni di Ruoti, Italy (1st-6th century CE), model results indicate that for the early phases of the villa, as predicted, there are relatively more high-yield parts, reflecting high status, while the last phase contains relatively more low-yield parts. This supports conclusions of the original excavators that in later phases of the site, it was operating as a commercial farm. Roman Maasplein is a low-status urban site and matching the model's prediction, the assemblage of cattle remains included relatively high frequencies of low-yield skeletal parts. These tests of the model demonstrate that food utility indices in conjunction with other contextual data can be used to identify socioeconomic status and suggest reasons for deviations from expectations of skeletal part frequencies.Dr. R. Lee Lyman, Dissertation Supervisor.|Dr. Todd VanPool, Dissertation Supervisor.Includes bibliographical references

A comparative study of the Boer War conveyed in the 1901 political cartoons of Edward Linley Sambourne in Punch and Jean Veber in L’Assiette au Beurre.

Political cartoons as headline representation are in effect a combination of artistic licence and a critical version of the truth. Linley Sambourne and Jean Veber’s 1901 cartoons on the Boer War for Punch and L’Assiette au Beurre create tensions and dialectic not only on British and French feeling about foreign policy in South Africa and at home, but also indicate fine points on each publication’s editorial remit. This comparative study is a mirroring synthesis of these approaches that sets the Boer War forty five cartoons in context. Whereas Punch’s cartoons are set within a text layout and L’Assiette’s are the text themselves, both transmit set ideas on The Boer War as ‘sight bite’ news and opinion pieces. Veber’s cartoons offered swift knee-jerk reactions against the ruling elite and the horrors of British cruelty toward Boer prisoners as coverage of the war escalated in 1901. His extreme capturing of the zeitgeist followed the magazine’s editorial bent, but they also reflected his brave counter-hegemonic stance towards a French government seeking an alliance with its British counterpart. With this in mind, Antonio Gramsci’s theory on hegemony as applied to journalism allows the scholar to look at the media from a cultural perspective. This focus is used to show cartoons as representative of conflicts in the fight for power, but this time publicly conveyed to the readership. Thus, types of truth enhancements in each set of cartoons indicate the cartoonists’ respective entrenchment with, or detachment from, Imperial institutions, thereby signalling emerging attempts of the attitudinal persuasion of the reader toward Punch or L’Assiette’s political leanings. The inclusion of political cartoons in editorial pages was part of the cult of visual attention-grabbing news values that had become professionalised, industrialised and popularised by the early Twentieth Century. Cartoons can be decoded using Ernst Gombrich’s six-point filter in order to identify the cartoonist’s method of compressing messages about people and events. A publication’s politics are reflected in the telescoping of exaggerated opinions – an effective way to pass on an authoritatively saturated message to the readership. Gombrich recognised the power of conveying messages to the audience through seemingly incongruous placement of figures in odd situations within cartoons. His methodology acts as visual shorthand for images designed to elicit a desired response to a reported situation as the publication saw it. In the context of the history of journalism, his psychologically analytical approach is appropriate in the appreciation of cartoons’ extremes, often made more acute by the partisan politics of war

Implementation of Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment in nursing homes in California: evaluation of a novel statewide dissemination mechanism.

BackgroundImplementing Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms aims to improve communication of life-sustaining treatment preferences across care venues. California enabled this clinical tool in 2009, and a novel intervention of community coalitions was undertaken to advance POLST in localities around the state. Coalitions engaged facilities, including nursing homes (NHs), to foster POLST adoption. Eighteen months after introduction of POLST, we studied POLST implementation in California NHs.MethodsNHs randomly selected in coalition and non-coalition areas were mailed surveys about POLST preparation and use in 2010. Coalitions identified which NHs they worked with.ResultsOf 546 NHs surveyed, 143 (52 %) in coalition areas and 141 (52 %) in non-coalition areas responded. In 82 % of responding NHs, staff received POLST education and 59 % of NHs reported having a formal policy on handling POLST. Two-thirds of NHs had admitted a resident with a POLST, and 15 % of newly admitted residents over the past month had a POLST (range 0-100 %). Eighty-one percent of NHs had completed a POLST with a resident. Fifty-four percent of residents were estimated to have a POLST (range 0-100 %) (coalition area NHs 60 % vs. non- coalition area NHs 48 %, p = 0.02). Within coalition areas, NHs that had worked with coalitions were more likely to have completed a POLST with a resident after admission than NHs that had not worked with coalitions. Few NHs (7 %) reported difficulty following POLST orders, but 38 % noted difficulty involving physicians in POLST completion.ConclusionLess than 2 years after introduction, many California nursing homes report using POLST, although some NHs reported no experience. A novel community coalition intervention facilitated POLST implementation

An evaluation of tablet-based apps for maths learning in young children with Down's Syndrome

Raising mathematical attainment in primary school education is important nationally, particularly for students who have Special Educational Needs (SEN). Tablet technology is an accessible and practical platform to provide additional teaching and raise learning outcomes (Haßler, Major & Hennessy, 2015). A literature review, including a systematic search of the use of tablet-based apps in raising maths attainment for children with SEN, provides a critical review of the existing theory and evidence base. The present study evaluates the impact of tablet-based maths applications (apps) for children in Key Stage One of mainstream school who have Down’s Syndrome (DS). A case study methodology, with embedded single case experimental designs (SCEDs), was implemented to explore the effects of daily fifteen-minute use of the onebillion maths apps supported by a teaching assistant (TA), on maths attainment and engagement with maths learning. The learner’s level of functioning and pre and post measures of maths attainment were triangulated. Qualitative data from interviews with the facilitators was used to explore their perceptions of the intervention’s effects for children with DS, as well the factors affecting its implementation and accessibility. Outcomes varied across participants, with three out of four cases engaging well the intervention and displaying a positive effect size in one of two repeated measures, analysed using visual analysis and effect size; maths attainment or engagement. Relationships within the data were observed that suggested the outcomes of the intervention were influenced by the child’s pre-requisite skills and level of functioning. Facilitators’ perceptions of the app were positive, sharing views that children had enjoyed their time spent learning on the app and reporting gains in a range of skills including maths knowledge, confidence and patience in the children. A discussion of factors affecting outcomes identifies a range of individual and environmental aspects; and features of the intervention. Results are considered in relation to existing research and its theoretical explanations. A review of the design and analysis used, acknowledges design threats which influence the conclusions that can be drawn. Implications for the use of tablet-based maths learning for children with SEN, future research and educational psychology are outlined

Effects of Climate Change on Tourism in the Mid-Atlantic

Climate change is having significant impacts to many facets of everyday life, and the commercial recreation and tourism fields are many times at the forefront of these impacts as consumers are faced with making difficult decisions with discretionary income. Understanding how these impacts are changing the way people engage in recreation and tourism activities is essential to maintaining successful business and providing satisfying opportunities for consumers. This paper will provide information from surveys with commercial recreation and tourism providers across the mid-Atlantic region. Summary information will describe their perceptions of how climate change is: affecting their business; having significant impacts; affecting economic outcomes; changing visitor behaviors; and what future trends in the discipline can be expected as a result of climate change