Can Clinical Skills Be Taught Online? Comparing Skill Development Between Online and F2F Students Using a Blinded Review

This study compared the development of clinical assessment and intervention skills between students enrolled in a face-to-face (F2F) or an asynchronous online clinical social work class. All students from three semesters of F2F (n = 74) and online (n = 78) sections of an MSW clinical class taught by the same instructor were included. Two assignments were used to compare students: an assessment and treatment plan of a fictional case and a digital role-play. A doctoral student who was blinded to the course delivery mechanism graded the role-play. After controlling for baseline differences in age, there were no differences between online and F2F students in skill demonstration. It appears clinical skills can be taught as effectively online as in F2F situations based on blinded review of role-plays.     

Marital Status and Problem Gambling Among Australian Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Loneliness

Problem gambling rates in older adults have risen dramatically in recent years and require further investigation. Limited available research has suggested that social needs may motivate gambling and hence problem gambling in older adults. Un-partnered older adults may be at greater risk of problem gambling than those with a partner. The current study explored whether loneliness mediated the marital status–problem gambling relationship, and whether gender moderated the mediation model. It was hypothesised that the relationship between being un-partnered and higher levels of loneliness would be stronger for older men than older women. A community sample of Australian men (n = 92) and women (n = 91) gamblers aged from 60 to 90 years (M = 69.75, SD = 7.28) completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Problem Gambling Severity Index. The results supported the moderated mediation model, with loneliness mediating the relationship between marital status and problem gambling for older men but not for older women. It appears that felt loneliness is an important predictor of problem gambling in older adults, and that meeting the social and emotional needs of un-partnered men is important.     

Assessing the contribution of fallen autumn leaves to airborne fungi in an urban environment

Urban Ecosystems - Many street trees in urban areas are deciduous and drop leaves during autumn. These leaves are a potential growing substrate for fungi, which when aerosolized and inhaled, can...     

Young people negotiating and maintaining boundaries in youth work relationships: findings from an ethnographic study of youth clubs

‘Professional boundaries’ set limits on appropriate behaviours in the relationship between the service users and practitioners. The professional literature often assumes boundaries are maintained by the practitioners, occupational bodies, or organisational policy. However in youth work this is under-researched. An ethnographic study of four youth clubs in the North East of England into ethical practice revealed that young people were surprisingly adept at maintaining boundaries with the youth workers. These boundaries were negotiated and maintained through the young people's use of space, their willingness to interact with the workers, the way they shared information with the workers, and their inclusion of youth workers into their social networking. Young people also showed a sophisticated awareness of the organisational boundaries youth workers were operating within, and often cooperated in maintaining them with the worker. The article concludes by arguing youth workers should take seriously young people's ability and willingness to set and work within boundaries, and see their negotiation and maintenance as a mutual endeavour. However, this may provide a challenge to organisations with rigid policy-defined boundaries.     

A ONE-PERIOD STOCHASTIC INVENTORY PROBLEM WITH A LUMP-SUM PENALTY COST

This paper presents an inventory problem related to the one-period stochastic inventory (or “newsboy”) problem. In this problem, the firm has to decide how much product to order to meet a random one-period demand. The version of the problem presented is novel in two respects. First, demand is explicitly permitted to be negative, and second, the penalty (or shortage) cost is assumed to be independent of the magnitude of the shortage. This situation is shown to change the form of the cost function and to complicate the determination of optimal policies. The form of the optimal policy is developed, and two example problems are presented in some detail.     

现代社会中的灵性

灵性(the spiritual)与世俗(the secular)在欧美现代性中同时被构建成为与制度性宗教(institutionalized religion)相关联的两个替代物.灵性的概念存在着矛盾,即:它既被视为具有普遍性的概念,又与民族认同相关联.再者,灵性的概念在全球传播的同时,被植入不同的历史进程中,它的发展轨迹在各个地方是不同的.本文认为:印度和中国的现代性是两国与[西方]帝国现代性互动后的产物.灵性在印度的相对成功与其在中国的相对失败不能简单地归结为中国共产主义的兴起.从更深层次上讲,有一个普遍观点,即中国的传统必须被西方的科学所取代,这在建国前早已被描绘成中国现代性的特征.而在印度,各类传统被当作反抗帝国主义斗争的资源,其所反抗的是从文化和政治上使印度从属于西方强权的物质现代化.     

Integrative Cycle Scheduling Approach for a Capacitated Flexible Assembly System*

This study revisits the traditional single stage, multi-item, capacitated lot-sizing problem (CLSP) with a new integrative focus on problem structuring. Unlike past research, we develop integrative cycle scheduling approaches which simultaneously address lot-sizing, capacity, and sequencing issues. Our purposes are to (1) explore the effect of sequencing on inventory levels, (2) examine the problem of infeasibility in the economic lot scheduling problem (ELSP), and (3) provide a simple methodology of generating low-cost cycle schedules in an environment with discrete shipping, dynamic demands, limited capacity, zero setup cost, and sequence-independent setup times. Our procedures are compared to benchmark cycle scheduling approaches in terms of both inventory cost and computation time under different demand scenarios, using the operating data from a flexible assembly system (FAS) at the Ford Motor Company's Sandusky, Ohio plant.     

Manufacturing Proactiveness and Performance*

Since Skinner's [40] landmark article depicting the manufacturing function as the “missing link” in corporate strategic processes, a portion of the blame for inferior performance in many firms has been attributed to the subordinate strategic position of manufacturing. It has been argued that part of the solution to misalignments between the capabilities possessed by manufacturing and the requirements dictated by customers is for manufacturing to take a more proactive stance. However, little research has been reported which examines manufacturing proactiveness empirically. In this paper, we address this gap by developing an operational definition of manufacturing proactiveness and testing empirically whether a link exists between proactiveness and performance based on data collected from a sample of manufacturers. Based on the manufacturing strategy literature, we identify two major dimensions of manufacturing proactiveness: (1) the degree of manufacturing's involvement in the strategic processes of the business unit; and (2) the degree of commitment to a long-term program of investments in manufacturing structure and infrastructure aimed at building capabilities in anticipation of their need. We develop reliable scales for measuring each of the dimensions of proactiveness and use the data to provide evidence of a clear link between manufacturing proactiveness and business performance. We show that investments in structural programs coupled with either high levels of manufacturing involvement in strategic processes or planned investments in infrastructural programs correlate with higher than average performance.