The relationship between higher education curricular variables and human flight performance in a preliminary flying training program

The ability of the United States Air Force (USAF) to sustain a high level of operational ability and readiness is dependent on the proficiency and expertise of its pilots. Recruitment, education, training, and retention of its pilot force are crucial factors in the USAF's attainment of its operational mission: defense of this nation and its allies. Failure of a student pilot during a training program does not only represent a loss of costly training expenditures to the American public, but often consists of loss of human life, aircraft, and property. This research focused on the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps' (AFROTC) selection method for student pilots for the light aircraft training (LATR) program. The LATR program is an intense 16 day flight training program that precedes the Air Force's undergraduate pilot training (UPT) program. The study subjects were 265 AFROTC cadets in the LATR program. A variety of independent variables from each subject's higher education curricular background as well as results of preselection tests, participation in varsity athletics, prior flying experience and gender were evaluated against subsequent performance in LATR. Performance was measured by a quantitative performance score developed by this researcher based on 28 graded training factors as well as overall pass or fail of the LATR program. Study results showed participation in university varsity athletics was very significantly and positively related to performance in the LATR program, followed by prior flying experience and to a very slight degree portions of the Air Force Officers Qualifying Test. Not significantly related to success in the LATR program were independent variables such as grade point average, scholastic aptitude test scores, academic major, gender and the AFROTC selection and ranking system.

A comparison of job responsibility and activities between registered dietitians with a bachelor's degree and those with a master's degree

Minimal educational requirements for Registered Dietitians (RDs) include a bachelor's degree and practice program. Recently, a master's degree was recommended. Studies have not established whether education affects employment. A secondary analysis of 2005 Dietetics Practice Audit data determined whether job responsibility, individuals supervised, and activities differed between 1,626 bachelor's RDs (B-RDs) and 767 master's (M-RDs) RDs, registered .5 years. Chi-square and ANOVA analyzed differences between B-RDs and M-RDs, at entry-level (0-3 years experience) and beyond-entry-level (3+-5 years experience). Beyond-entry-level B-RDs (31.8%) and entry-level M-RDs (31.9%) reported “supervisor/executive” responsibility more than entry-level B-RDs (26.5%; p=0.01). A higher percentage of M-RDs supervised (29.2%) than B-RDs (24.7%; p=0.02); however, B-RDs supervised more individuals (7.38 ± 4.89) than M-RDs (6.25 ± 4.87; t=2.32; p=0.021). A master's degree has limited benefits; experience may affect responsibility, individuals supervised, and activities more than education.

Mapping Transnational Crime in El Salvador: New Trends and Lessons from Colombia

Since El Salvador’s civil war formally ended in 1992 the small Central American nation has undergone profound social changes and significant reforms. However, few changes have been as important or as devastating as the nation’s emergence as a central hub in the transnational criminal “pipeline” or series of recombinant, overlapping chains of routes and actors that illicit organizations use to traffic in drugs, money weapons, human being, endangered animals and other products. The erasing of the once-clear ideological lines that drove the civil war and the ability of erstwhile enemies to join forces in criminal enterprises in the post-war period is an enduring and dangerous characteristic of El Salvador’s transnational criminal evolution. Trained, elite cadres from both sides, with few legitimate job opportunities, found their skills were marketable in the growing criminal structures. The groups moved from kidnapping and extortion to providing protection services to transnational criminal organizations to becoming integral parts of the organizations themselves. The demand for specialized military and transportation services in El Salvador have exploded as the Mexican DTOs consolidate their hold on the cocaine market and their relationships with the transportista networks, which is still in flux. The value of their services has risen dramatically also because of the fact that multiple Mexican DTOs, at war with each other in Mexico and seeking to physically control the geographic space of the lucrative pipeline routes in from Guatemala to Panama, are eager to increase their military capabilities and intelligence gathering capacities. The emergence of multiple non-state armed groups, often with significant ties to the formal political structure (state) through webs of judicial, legislative and administrative corruption, has some striking parallels to Colombia in the 1980s, where multiple types of violence ultimately challenged the sovereignty of state and left a lasting legacy of embedded corruption within the nation’s political structure. Organized crime in El Salvador is now transnational in nature and more integrated into stronger, more versatile global networks such as the Mexican DTOs. It is a hybrid of both local crime – with gangs vying for control off specific geographic space so they can extract payment for the safe passage of illicit products – and transnational groups that need to use that space to successfully move their products. These symbiotic relationships are both complex and generally transient in nature but growing more consolidated and dangerous.

Visitor Center Staff Training: A U.S Assessment

As the first step toward developing benchmarks for travel counselor training, the authors identify the methods and characteristics of existing travel counselor-training programs in the U.S. Responses from 30 out of 50 state tourism agencies indicate that 12 different methods of training are emplyed; however, usage and satisfaction with these various training methods vary.

Effects of Management-Development Practices on Hospitality Management Graduates' Job Satisfaction and Intention to Stay

Companies have long recognized the importance of training and developing their managers to prepare them for their short- and long-term careers. Formal management-development programs and other less formal means of management development abound in the hospitality industry. Therefore, one may ask whether the entry-level managers for whom these programs are designed perceive them to be effective. The present study explores management-development practices, procedures, and techniques, and their effects on job satisfaction and organizational commitment

The impact of the Florida state -mandated Basic Skills Exit Tests at Miami -Dade Community College

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the Florida State-mandated Basic Skills Exit Tests (BSET) on the effectiveness of remedial instruction programs to adequately serve the academically underprepared student population. The primary research question concerned whether the introduction of the BSET has resulted in remedial completers who are better prepared for college-level coursework. ^ This study consisted of an ex post facto research design to examine the impact of the BSET on student readiness for subsequent college-level coursework at Miami-Dade Community College. Two way analysis of variance was used to compare the performance of remedial and college-ready students before and after the introduction of the BSET requirement. Chi-square analysis was used to explore changes in the proportion of students completing and passing remedial courses. Finally, correlation analysis was used to explore the utility of the BSET in predicting subsequent college-level course performance. Differences based on subject area and race/ethnicity were explored. ^ The introduction of the BSET did not improve the performance of remedial completers in subsequent college-level courses in any of the subject areas. The BSET did have a negative impact on the success rate of students in remedial reading and mathematics courses. There was a significant decrease in minority students' likelihood of passing remedial reading and mathematics courses after the BSET was introduced. The reliability of the BSET is unacceptably low for all subject areas, based on estimates derived from administrations at M-DCC. Nevertheless, there was a significant positive relationship between BSET score and grade point average in subsequent college-level courses. This relationship varied by subject area and ethnicity, with the BSET reading score having no relationship with subsequent course performance for Black non-Hispanic students. ^ The BSET had no discernable positive effect on remedial student performance in subsequent college-level courses. In other words, the BSET has not enhanced the effectiveness of the remedial programs to prepare students for later coursework at M-DCC. The BSET had a negative impact on the progress and success of students in remedial reading and mathematics. ^

The impact of the Florida state-mandated basic skills exit test at Miami-Dade Community College

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the Florida State-mandated Basic Skills Exit Tests (BSET) on the effectiveness of remedial instruction programs to adequately serve the academically underprepared student population. The primary research question concerned whether the introduction of the BSET has resulted in remedial completers who are better prepared for college-level coursework. This study consisted of an ex post facto research design to examine the impact of the BSET on student readiness for subsequent college-level coursework at Miami- Dade Community College. Two way analysis of variance was used to compare the performance of remedial and college-ready students before and after the introduction of the BSET requirement. Chi-square analysis was used to explore changes in the proportion of students completing and passing remedial courses. Finally, correlation analysis was used to explore the utility of the BSET in predicting subsequent college-level course performance. Differences based on subject area and race/ethnicity were explored.