Child Sponsorship, Evangelism, and Belonging in the Work of World Vision Zimbabwe

This is a study of the paradoxical effects of Christian humanitarian programs of child sponsorship in Zimbabwe

Steven Bornstein, Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health and Human Services, Travels to Rusia

Professor Steven Bornstein traveled to Russia in November 2008 to present a paper at Mari-State University in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia, on the effects of hearing loss on oral language and speech development

The Potential for Telehealth Consultations in Cardiology and Dermatology in Newfoundland and Labrador: A Synthesis of Research Evidence

This report provides a synthesis of relevant research evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of telehealth technologies for specialist-patient consultations in the fields of cardiology and dermatology. The report is intended to inform and assist decision makers in the Labrador-Grenfell Regional Health Authority, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Health and Community Services and the province’s other Regional Health Authorities by providing research evidence surrounding the effectiveness of telehealth consultation as an intervention for cardiology or dermatology patients. The findings of our synthesis are specifically interpreted for the context of Newfoundland and Labrador. Decision makers from other jurisdictions, particularly those with similar features in terms of potential clients, geography and resources, may also find the content helpful. The report includes explanations of research terms and technical language; as such, there is no need to have a specialized medical or health background to understand its content

Mobile Mental Health Crisis Intervention in the Western Health Region of Newfoundland and Labrador

The impetus for this research is Recommendation #15 of the 2003 Luther Inquiry into the deaths of Norman Reid and Darryl Power: “IT IS FURTHER RECOMMENDED that the Regional Health Boards establish mobile health units to respond to mentally ill persons in crisis where no criminal offence is alleged. Each unit would be developed locally and based on local needs.” Our stakeholder partners in the Western Regional Health Authority asked us to identify a range of mobile crisis intervention service models, some of which may be better suited to lower-density, rural populations and some of which may be better suited to higher-density areas like Corner Brook. Our partners expressed a particular interest in models that can be implemented with minimal additional human resources, but that involve local, face-to-face contact rather than telephone, electronic, or clinic-based models of service delivery. The term “crisis intervention” generally refers to any immediate, short-term therapeutic interventions or assistance provided to an individual or group of individuals who are in acute psychological distress or crisis. The term encompasses a number of after-the-fact interventions – such as rape counseling and critical incident stress debriefing – that would not be relevant to the kinds of situations described in the Luther Report. Given the project parameters specified by our partners at Western Health, we formulated a research question and a literature search strategy that would enable us to focus specifically on forms of crisis intervention that are designed to manage potentially dangerous mental health crises on-site rather than to mediate their impacts after the fact. Our research question is as follows: “What models of mobile– i.e., face-to-face – crisis intervention have proven effective in managing potentially violent mental health crises occurring outside the hospital setting?

One-dimensional simulation of temperature and moisture in atmospheric and soil boundary layers

Meteorologists are interested in modeling the vertical flow of heat and moisture through the soil in order to better simulate the vertical and temporal variations of the atmospheric boundary layer. The one dimensional planetary boundary layer model of is modified by the addition of transport equations to be solved by a finite difference technique to predict soil moisture

The effect of intergroup competition on group coordination: An experimental study

We report an experiment on the effect of intergroup competition on group coordination in the minimal-effort game (Van Huyck et al., 1990). The competition was between two 7-person groups. Each player in each group independently chose an integer from 1 to 7. The group with the higher minimum won the competition and each of its members was paid according to the game’s original payoff matrix. Members of the losing group were paid nothing. In case of a tie, each player was paid half the payoff in the original matrix. This treatment was contrasted with two control treatments where each of the two groups played an independent coordination game, either with or without information about the minimum chosen by the outgroup. Although the intergroup competition does not change the set of strict equilibria, we found that it improved collective rationality by moving group members in the direction of higher-payoff equilibria. Merely providing group members with information about the minimal-effort level in the other group was not sufficient to generate this effect.Non cooperative games, coordination, minimum effort game, intergroup competition, Leex

Theoretical studies of the transport and removal processes of Sahara dust

The processes controlling the evolution of aerosol particles may be divided into dynamic processes concerned with the motions of air currents and microphysical processes concerned with the growth of the individual particles. The Ames planetary boundary layer model was modified to construct a subsynoptic scale aerosol model to study the long term fate of the Saharan dust. The transport model consists of a mixed layer, a convection layer, and free atmosphere. Conditions used for a preliminary test run and results obtained are described