The relationship between coping strategies and level of depression among spousal caregivers of elders with dementia

Caregivers are often under a great deal of stress while caring for their spouses with dementia. It is when the stress builds up and becomes overwhelming that the caregiver is at risk for developing depression. The primary objective of this study was to determine which cognitive and behavioral coping strategies are associated with lower levels of depression; once these strategies are identified, interventions can be established to educate these caregivers. Thirty-two spousal caregivers participated in this study. They each filled out a questionnaire, which contained three sections. The first section asked them for demographic information about themselves and their spouses; the second section consisted of a coping strategies scale; and, the third section contained a depression scale. Results of this study indicate that problem-focused coping strategies were associated with a lesser degree of depressive symptomatology, whereas most of the emotion-focused strategies were associated with a greater degree of depressive symptomatology among the present sample of spousal caregivers. In addition, no relationship was found between the length of time providing care to their spouses and their level of depression.

An Integrated Flow and Transport Model to Study the Impact of Mercury Remediation Strategies for East Fork Poplar Creek Watershed, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

An integrated flow and transport model using MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 software was developed to predict the flow and transport of mercury, Hg(II), under varying environmental conditions. The model analyzed the impact of remediation scenarios within the East Fork Poplar Creek watershed of the Oak Ridge Reservation with respect to downstream concentration of mercury. The numerical simulations included the entire hydrological cycle: flow in rivers, overland flow, groundwater flow in the saturated and unsaturated zones, and evapotranspiration and precipitation time series. Stochastic parameters and hydrologic conditions over a five year period of historical hydrological data were used to analyze the hydrological cycle and to determine the prevailing mercury transport mechanism within the watershed. Simulations of remediation scenarios revealed that reduction of the highly contaminated point sources, rather than general remediation of the contaminant plume, has a more direct impact on downstream mercury concentrations.

Resource, Strategies, Location Determinants, And Host Country Location Choice By Emerging Market Firms

The extant literature had studied the determinants of the firms’ location decisions with help of host country characteristics and distances between home and host countries. Firm resources and its internationalization strategies had found limited attention in this literature. To address this gap, the research question in this dissertation was whether and how firms’ resources and internationalization strategies impacted the international location decisions of emerging market firms. To explore the research question, data were hand-collected from Indian software firms on their location decisions taken between April 2000 and March 2009. To analyze the multi-level longitudinal dataset, hierarchical linear modeling was used. The results showed that the internationalization strategies, namely market-seeking or labor-seeking had direct impact on firms’ location decision. This direct relationship was moderated by firm resource which, in case of Indian software firms, was the appraisal at CMMI level-5. Indian software firms located in developed countries with a market-seeking strategy and in emerging markets with a labor-seeking strategy. However, software firms with resource such as CMMI level-5 appraisal, when in a labor-seeking mode, were more likely to locate in a developed country over emerging market than firms without the appraisal. Software firms with CMMI level-5 appraisal, when in market-seeking mode, were more likely to locate in a developed country over an emerging market than firms without the appraisal. It was concluded that the internationalization strategies and resources of companies predicted their location choices, over and above the variables studied in the theoretical field of location determinants.

A survey of music educator's understanding and use of advanced audio technology in their instructional methods and strategies

This study examines the correlation between how certified music educators understand audio technology and how they incorporate it in their instructional methods. Participants were classroom music teachers selected from fifty middle schools in Miami- Dade Public Schools. The study adopted a non-experimental research design in which a survey was the primary tool of investigation. The findings reveal that a majority of middle school music teachers in Miami-Dade are not familiar with advanced audiorecording software or any other digital device dedicated to the recording and processing of audio signals. Moreover, they report a lack of opportunities to develop this knowledge. Younger music teachers, however, are more open to developing up-to-date instructional methodologies. Most of the participants agreed that music instruction should be a platform for preparing students for a future in the entertainment industry. A basic knowledge of music business should be delivered to students enrolled in middle-school music courses.

Physical therapy recruitment and retention strategies of hospitals in the US

Hospitals are seeing a reduction of physical therapy (PT) staff due to increased opportunities and competition. Planning effective recruitment and retention strategies for PTs in hospital settings may play an important role in reducing the problem. The primary purpose of this descriptive research was to compile information on recruitment and retention strategies used for physical therapists working in hospital settings. Four hundred surveys were mailed nationwide to hospital-based physical therapy managers. Strategies most commonly used were: attractive benefit package, interdisciplinary teams, competitive salaries, and student employment. The least used strategies used were: sign-on bonus, incentive pay programs, recruitment and retention committee and temporary staffing. It was concluded that hospital administrators need to analyze current strategies used and future recruitment and retention staffing trends, in order to institute successful strategies appropriate to their departments to effectively recruit and retain their staff.

Entering an academic discourse community: A case study of the coping strategies of eleven english as a second language students

This case study follows eleven non-English speaking students as they adapt to community college, content courses. The three classes examined are required freshman classes--Humanities, Social Environment, and Individual in Transition. In order to cope with the demands of these classes, students must penetrate the academic discourse community and have effective relationships with their instructors and their peers. The results of the study are based on interviews with eleven non-native speaking (NNS) students and their instructors and on an analysis of student writing assignments, course syllabi, and exams. Three general areas are examined: (a) students' first-language (L1) education, (b) the requirements of their content classes, and (c) the affective factors which influence their adaptation process. The case of these students reveals that: 1. Students draw on their L1 education, especially in terms of content, as they cope with the demands of these content classes. 2. In some areas L1 educational experiences interfere with students' ability to adapt. 3. The content classes require students to have well developed reading, writing, oral, and aural skills. 4. Students must use higher level cognitive skills to be successful in content classes. 5. Affective factors play a role in students' success in content classes. The discussion section includes possible implications of this data for college level English as a Second Language courses.

Bola na rede: uma análise das estratégias comunicacionais de empresas esportivas no ambiente digital conectado

O uso das mídias sociais digitais como meio de divulgação de produtos, serviços e conteúdos organizacionais tem crescido nas últimas décadas e ganhou especial atenção nos planejamentos de comunicação organizacional e nos estudos acadêmicos sobre o tema. Nesse sentido, o segmento de empresas esportivas atua com destaque, despertando o interesse e a empatia do consumidor. Por meio de análise bibliográfica e estudo empírico, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar as ações de comunicação mercadológica do segmento esportivo no ambiente digital conectado, através de um estudo de caso múltiplo das empresas Nike e Adidas. Para a obtenção dos dados, foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade com profissionais do mercado e aplicado um protocolo de investigação de redes sociais digitais nos perfis das duas empresas. Após a coleta dos dados, estes foram analisados à luz das teorias estudadas nos capítulos iniciais (que abordaram temas como comunicação organizacional, comunicação digital, esporte e comunicação esportiva), e foi possível concluir, entre outros pontos, que, no universo do segmento esportivo, a comunicação digital conectada não prioriza o diálogo com seus públicos de interesse, sendo essencialmente baseada na divulgação unilateral de conteúdos, nem tampouco explora a potencialidade de cada uma das plataformas digitais disponíveis, replicando conteúdos em diferentes ambientes. Ficou evidente, também, o uso dos elementos constituintes do universo esportivo como argumentos estratégicos de comunicação das empresas, decorrente de sua capacidade de estreitar os laços relacionais com os públicos de interesse, por meio de seus apelos simbólicos de fácil identificação social.

D6.1 – Ecosystem Software Platform with Underlying Software Repository, Digital Library and Media Archive

The objective of D6.1 is to make the Ecosystem software platform with underlying Software Repository, Digital Library and Media Archive available to the degree, that the RAGE project can start collecting content in the form of software assets, and documents of various media types. This paper describes the current state of the Ecosystem as of month 12 of the project, and documents the structure of the Ecosystem, individual components, integration strategies, and overall approach. The deliverable itself is the deployment of the described components, which is now available to collect and curate content. Whilst this version is not yet feature complete, full realization is expected within the next few months. Following this development, WP6 will continue to add features driven by the business models to be defined by WP7 later on in the project.

Conversación digital: copresencia y disponibilidad : Estudio pragmático del preámbulo de reuniones multipartitas por videoconferencia

The present thesis explores how interaction is initiated in multi-party meetings in Adobe Connect, 7.0, with a particular focus on how co-presence and mutual availability are established through the preambles of 18 meetings held in Spanish without a moderator. Taking Conversation Analysis (CA) as a methodological point of departure, this thesis comprises four different studies, each of them analyzing a particular phenomenon within the interaction of the preambles in a multimodal environment that allows simultaneous interaction through video, voice and text-chat. The first study (Artículo I) shows how participants solve jointly the issue of availability in a technological environment where being online is not necessarily understood as being available for communicating. The second study (Artículo II) focuses on the beginning of the audiovisual interaction; in particular on how participants check the right functioning of the audiovisual mode. The third study (Artículo III) explores silences within the interaction of the preamble. It shows that the length of gaps and lapses become a significant aspect the preambles and how they are connected to the issue of availability.  Finally, the four study introduces the notion of modal alignment, an interactional phenomenon that systematically appears in the beginnings of the encounters, which seems to be used and understood  as a strategy for the establishment of mutual availability and negotiation of the participation framework. As a whole, this research shows how participants, in order to establish mutual co-presence and availability, adapt to a particular technology in terms of participation management, deploying strategies and conveying successive actions which, as it is the case of the activation of their respective webcams, seem to be understood as predictable within the intricate process of establishing mutual availability before the meeting starts.

Monitoring sandy shores morphologies by DGPS: a practical tool to generate digital elevation models

The highly dynamic nature of some sandy shores with continuous morphological changes require the development of efficient and accurate methodological strategies for coastal hazard assessment and morphodynamic characterisation. During the past decades, the general methodological approach for the establishment of coastal monitoring programmes was based on photogrammetry or classical geodetic techniques. With the advent of new geodetic techniques, space-based and airborne-based, new methodologies were introduced in coastal monitoring programmes. This paper describes the development of a monitoring prototype that is based on the use of global positioning system (GPS). The prototype has a GPS multiantenna mounted on a fast surveying platform, a land vehicle appropriate for driving in the sand (four-wheel quad). This system was conceived to perform a network of shore profiles in sandy shores stretches (subaerial beach) that extend for several kilometres from which high-precision digital elevation models can be generated. An analysis of the accuracy and precision of some differential GPS kinematic methodologies is presented. The development of an adequate survey methodology is the first step in morphodynamic shore characterisation or in coastal hazard assessment. The sample method and the computational interpolation procedures are important steps for producing reliable three-dimensional surface maps that are real as possible. The quality of several interpolation methods used to generate grids was tested in areas where there were data gaps. The results obtained allow us to conclude that with the developed survey methodology, it is possible to Survey sandy shores stretches, under spatial scales of kilometers, with a vertical accuracy of greater than 0.10 m in the final digital elevation models.

Proposta de estratégia metodológica para a promoção da Cultura Digital de professores do 1º e 2º Ciclo do Ensino Secundário

A Cultura Digital é uma realidade do século XXI, onde as relações humanas são fortemente mediadas pelas tecnologias e pelo digital. O Digital tem mudado o comportamento das pessoas e influenciado o seu meio cultural. O conceito de Cultura digital inclui saber onde encontrar informação, ferramentas e sistemas, necessários para cumprir uma determinada tarefa de forma não só eficaz, mas também mais eficiente. As competências para explorar as tecnologias que o permitam, são cada vez mais exigidas na interação em sociedade. Tendo em consideração estudos existentes associados com as competências TIC, nomeadamente os propostos pela UNESCO e pelo Executivo Angolano no seu Plano Nacional de Desenvolvimento para 2013-2017, em que está enquadrada a iniciativa da Rede de Mediatecas de Angola, foi tomada a Cultural Digital e a sua promoção no ambito das Mediatecas. Numa primeira avaliação desde da abertura da Mediateca em Fevereiro de 2014, verificamos uma fraca adesão dos professores na utilização dos serviços da Mediateca do Huambo – Angola. Coloca-se neste contexto a questão do porquê que é que os professores não exploram as TIC para as atividades docentes ou da sua aprendizagem? Desta forma, é considerada a questão de investigação: Quais as estratégias a desenvolver para incrementar a exploração das TIC pelos professores e como a Mediateca do Huambo pode servir de espaço para a promoção da Cultura Digital. Foi realizado um estudo de caso, no contexto da Mediateca do Huambo, em que foi efetuada uma recolha de dados pela (a) aplicação de questionários aos professores do 1º e 2º Ciclo do Ensino Secundário do Município do Huambo para mapear as competências TIC dos professores segundo os padrões da UNESCO e o apuramento da formação e uso das TIC em contexto educativo, (b) pela aplicação de um conjunto de tarefas com o objetivo de verificar quais as competências digitais dos professores e por último (c), a implementação do projeto-piloto denominado “ Mediateca +Escola” com o objetivo de levar à Mediateca professores e alunos para desenvolver um projeto TIC onde os professores teriam uma oportunidade de demostrar as competências que afirmavam possuir. Como resultado final obtido neste estudo de caso podemos concluir que 71,27% indicanos que os professores têm a perceção que necessitam de mais formação e desenvolvimento de competências TIC, 27,50% confirma que os professores creem que têm confiança nas TIC. Em face das respostas com valores negativos que apontam para a necessidade de delinear estratégia para capacitar este grupo em competências TIC de forma a incluí-los na sociedade em rede providos de uma Cultura Digital foi proposto o modelo que permite validar os dados obtidos pelo questionário permitindo também delinear estratégias com vista à promoção da Cultura Digital.

‘Probing with the prototype’: using a prototype e-participation platform as a digital cultural probe to investigate youth engagement with the environment

This study describes how we used a prototype e-participation plat-form as a digital cultural probe to investigate youth motivation and engagement strategies. This is a novel way of considering digital cultural probes which can contribute to the better creation of e-participation platforms. This probe has been conducted as part of the research project STEP which aims at creating an e-participation platform to engage young European Citizens in environmental decision making. Our probe technique has given an insight into the environ-mental issues concerning young people across Europe as well as possible strat-egies for encouraging participation. How the e-participation platform can be utilised to support youth engagement through opportunities for social interac-tion and leadership is discussed. This study leads to a better understanding of how young people can co-operate with each other to provide collective intelli-gence and how this knowledge could contribute to effective e-participation of young people.

“Never Give up:” The Strengths and Strategies Used Among Undocumented College Students From Central America to Access and Persist in U.S. Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to identify the strengths and strategies that undocumented college students from Central America used to access and persist in United States higher education. A multiple-case study design was used to conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews and document collection from ten persons residing in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. Yosso’s (2005, 2006) community cultural wealth conceptual framework, an analytical and methodological tool, was used to uncover assets used to navigate the higher education system. The findings revealed that participants activated all forms of capital, with cultural capital being the least activated yet necessary, to access and persist in college. Participants also activated most forms of capital together or consecutively in order to attain financial resources, information and social networks that facilitated college access. Participants successfully persisted because they continued to activate forms of capital, displayed a high sense of agency, and managed to sustain college educational goals despite challenges and other external factors. The relationships among forms of capital and federal, state, and institutional policy contexts, which positively influenced both college access and persistence were not illustrated in Yosso’s (2005, 2006) community cultural wealth framework. Therefore, this study presents a modified community cultural wealth framework, which includes these intersections and contexts. In the spirit of Latina/o critical race theory (LatCrit) and critical race theory (CRT), the participants share with other undocumented students suggestions on how to succeed in college. This study can contribute to the growing research of undocumented college students, and develop higher education policy and practice that intentionally consider undocumented college students’ strengths to successfully navigate the institution.

Digital nonlinear equalization for optical transmission systems

This thesis focuses on digital equalization of nonlinear fiber impairments for coherent optical transmission systems. Building from well-known physical models of signal propagation in single-mode optical fibers, novel nonlinear equalization techniques are proposed, numerically assessed and experimentally demonstrated. The structure of the proposed algorithms is strongly driven by the optimization of the performance versus complexity tradeoff, envisioning the near-future practical application in commercial real-time transceivers. The work is initially focused on the mitigation of intra-channel nonlinear impairments relying on the concept of digital backpropagation (DBP) associated with Volterra-based filtering. After a comprehensive analysis of the third-order Volterra kernel, a set of critical simplifications are identified, culminating in the development of reduced complexity nonlinear equalization algorithms formulated both in time and frequency domains. The implementation complexity of the proposed techniques is analytically described in terms of computational effort and processing latency, by determining the number of real multiplications per processed sample and the number of serial multiplications, respectively. The equalization performance is numerically and experimentally assessed through bit error rate (BER) measurements. Finally, the problem of inter-channel nonlinear compensation is addressed within the context of 400 Gb/s (400G) superchannels for long-haul and ultra-long-haul transmission. Different superchannel configurations and nonlinear equalization strategies are experimentally assessed, demonstrating that inter-subcarrier nonlinear equalization can provide an enhanced signal reach while requiring only marginal added complexity.

Red Bull, un ejemplo paradigmático de las nuevas estrategias de comunicación de las marcas en el entorno digital

Introducción: En la presente investigación nos vamos a centrar en los contenidos on line que ofrece la marca Red Bull ya sea a través de su web www.redbull.tv o de su App Red Bull TV. Red Bull como marca necesita destacar de entre todo el ruido publicitario, necesita hacerse notar y llegar hasta sus consumidores, pero hoy en día las audiencias están fragmentadas, las audiencias no están sometidas al dictado programático de las televisiones. Cada vez más, y sobre todo en el público joven, que es aquel con el que más se identifica esta marca, es un público activo que genera sus propias parrillas de programación, que busca aquello que realmente quiere ver. Entonces, ¿cómo una marca logra que se le escuche? a través del Rock&Love: sorprender y dar amor. Hipótesis: Nuestra hipótesis de partida es que Red Bull, en la búsqueda de conexión con su público, les ofrece contenidos de su interés que les reafirma en su acercamiento a la marca, y así lograr el Rock&Love. Objetivos: De acuerdo con la hipótesis, son tres los objetivos que van a guiar la presente investigación: el primero, conocer las claves de Red Bull en el entorno digital. El segundo, realizar un análisis de los contenidos utilizados por la marca para aproximarse a sus usuarios teniendo en cuenta los nuevos hábitos de consumo. El tercero, analizar la diferencia de contenidos según el medio en que se difunde. Metodología: Para corroborar o no nuestra hipótesis participaremos del método cualitativo y del método cuantitativo. Las técnicas a utilizar son la observación documental y el análisis de contenido. Conclusiones: Este análisis de contenido Ad Hoc ha permitido la obtención de datos cuantitativos y nos ha facilitado la aproximación a nuestros objetivos de forma cualitativa y de esta forma, se ha logrado dar respuesta a la hipótesis de partida y confirmar que la marca recurre al Rock&Love en los contenidos que muestran a través de las diferentes plataformas de Red Bull TV.