Developing evidence-based interventions for deployment into school settings: A case example highlighting key issues of efficacy and effectiveness

This paper describes the development of an after-school program for middle-school students that simultaneously addressed issues of efficacy and effectiveness in an effort to create an evidence-based intervention (EBI) that can be implemented in school settings. The topics highlighted in this case example are intended to address the growing concern that over-focusing on efficacy in well-controlled, grant-funded studies has resulted in a generation of EBI that are not acceptable, feasible, or sustainable in the majority of applied settings. Our case example focuses on six key issues highlighted in the published research literature: sustainability, recruitment, methodological design, flexibility, training, and meaningful outcomes. We briefly summarize each of these issues and relate them to our experiences conducting a successful pilot study. A summary of the pilot study results is also presented to lend support for the utilization of the EBI model of dissemination described in this paper.     

Assessment of workplace product accessibility: a human factors perspective

This paper illustrates the advantages of using human factors evaluation techniques as a method of informing rehabilitation service provider decisions about client care and assistive technology selection. Successful integration of accessibility evaluation techniques can strengthen an evidence based service program and offer service providers another tool for providing efficient, effective, and rapid services to individuals in need. With accessibility evaluation data showing the functional abilities required to operate a given product or set of products, it is possible to empirically demonstrate that an individual has the potential to successfully utilize the provided workplace equipment. Conversely, if the accessibility evaluation data reveal that the functional capabilities required to use a product exceed the capabilities of a given user, it would be possible to demonstrate the need for particular interventions or accommodations. With accessibility evaluation data, service providers can make better informed decisions about client care.     

‘Ethnicity’: The Irish in Scotland‐football,politics and identity

One of the central arguments of this paper is that football in Scotland has acquired characteristics which make it a nationalistic, political and cultural repository. An examination of football allows us to examine characteristics of identity in Scotland otherwise unclear. These identities have their origins in the post‐Reformation period in Scotland, Irish immigration into Scotland and Scotland/Britain's historically contentious relationship with Ireland. This paper examines some of the mainfeatures of these identities.     

Inference for nonconjugate Bayesian Models using the Gibbs sampler

A Bayesian approach to modeling a rich class of nonconjugate problems is presented. An adaptive Monte Carlo integration technique known as the Gibbs sampler is proposed as a mechanism for implementing a conceptually and computationally simple solution in such a framework. The result is a general strategy for obtaining marginal posterior densities under changing specification of the model error densities and related prior densities. We illustrate the approach in a nonlinear regression setting, comparing the merits of three candidate error distributions.     

Sociological Perspectives in Bernstein's Sociolinguistics*

An interpretation of selected portions of Bernstein's sociolinguistics is presented. The interpretation suggests that linguistic performance intervenes between social structure and self-concept. The theory is specified through a research application. The specification holds that two views of social structure are implicit within the theory: one micro-cosmic and the other macrocosmic. For Bernstein these views are linked to Mead and Durkheim, respectively. However, the present analysis attempts to show that both are properly understood as Meadian. Linguistic performance is related to self-derogation within a strict Meadian interpretation. The contribution of the theory seems to lie in a specification of a Meadian view of self relative to selected aspects of language.     

Monitoring proteins in intact cells

In the past decade, tremendous progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie many neurodegenerative disorders, and common aspects of the pathological processes that lead to neuronal cell death have emerged. Nearly all of these advances have come from genetic, molecular, and biochemical studies that point to alterations in protein folding or protein-protein interactions as the fundamental mechanism behind these disorders. New microscopy/imaging technologies for detecting protein-protein interactions are now poised to contribute to progress in this field. Here we describe a novel technique based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer, called fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), which allows monitoring of protein conformation and protein-protein interactions in intact cells. For example, using FLIM, we have studied the interaction of two proteins related to Alzheimer's disease: amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin (PS-1). By measuring the lifetime of a donor fluorophore linked to PS-1, we show, with high subcellular resolution, localization of the PS-1-APP interaction within neurons. This approach may have widespread applicability in studies of neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.     

Inequality/difference in education: is a real explanation of primary and secondary effects possible?

The persistence of social disparities in educational achievement in contemporary societies is a matter of concern to social theory. Sociology of education has distinguished between the primary and secondary effects of socialization in order to construct explanatory theories of inequality of educational opportunity. Empirical evidence from the recent OECD PISA research is analysed to suggest that causes of the primary effect are the most important. The case is made with close reference to Goldthorpe's attempt to provide a rational action model of social disparities in education. An approach informed by scientific realism is held to offer a more adequate explanation.     

The use of economic appraisal in transportation analysis

This paper surveys the use of economic appraisal techniques in the field of transportation. After surveying the history of such approaches, a critical assessment is offered of the most recent contributions to the debate, centering on the 1977 Leitch Report. The limited room for manoeuvre in making local assessments is highlighted: national policy considerations are seen as frequently dominating the local choice. While most of the debate on the ‘inadequacies’ of cost-benefit have focussed on ‘intangible’ items, the author argues for a much closer look at the ‘hard’ data on the value of time-savings and accident costs. Some of the Leitch committee's proposals are found wanting in this respect. In the wider context, a plea is made for the use of common criteria for assessing projects throughout the entire transport sector. Only in this way can misallocation of resources be minimised.     

Differences in university students’ motivation between a required and an elective physical activity education policy

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine differences in students’ physical activity motivation, competence, and weekly exercise metabolic equivalent units (METs) between universities with different physical activity education (PAE) policy arrangements (ie, a required PAE vs. an elective PAE). Participants: Participants (N?=?953) were purposefully recruited from two universities with different PAE policies 1 week before the start of fall term 2015. Methods: Participants completed questionnaires assessing their physical activity motivation, competence, and weekly exercise METs. Results: The results of this study suggest that having a required PAE policy allows for more students with lower self-determined forms of motivation (ie, amotivation) to be reached in comparison to the elective PAE policy. Conclusions: This finding highlights that a primary value of having a required PAE policy is its ability to reach less motivated students.     

The travail of Delaware slave families in the early republic

Largely ignored in histories of the American slave trade, Delaware provides a unique case study of a state that attempted to carve out its identity as the notions of a free North and a slaveholding South emerged in early America. Delaware’s small slaveholdings and relatively small geographic area created unique challenges for its enslaved population. Aided by Quaker and Methodist abolitionists, slaves fought against kidnappers, slave sales, and distance to build and maintain families. Using heretofore unexamined tax records, the travail of enslaved families in Delaware at the close of the eighteenth century is analyzed in great detail.