Determinants of Waterpipe and Cigarette Smoking Progression among a School Based Sample of Adolescents in Irbid, Jordan: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study (2008-2011)

The prevalence of waterpipe smoking exceeds that of cigarettes among adolescents in the Middle East where waterpipe is believed as less harmful, less addictive and can be a safer alternative to cigarettes. This dissertation tested the gateway hypothesis that waterpipe can provide a bridge to initiate cigarette smoking, identified the predictors of cigarette smoking progression, and identified predictors of waterpipe smoking progression among a school-based sample of Jordanian adolescents (mean age ± SD) (12.7 ±0.61) years at baseline. Data for this research have been drawn from Irbid Longitudinal Study of smoking behavior, Jordan (2008-2011). The grouped-time survival analysis showed that waterpipe smoking was associated with a higher risk of cigarette smoking initiation compared to never smokers (P < 0.001) and this association was dose dependent (P < 0.001). Predictors of cigarette smoking progression were peer smoking and attending public schools for boys, siblings’ smoking for girls, and the urge to smoke for both genders. Predictors of waterpipe smoking progression were enrollment in public schools, frequent physical activity, and low refusal self-efficacy for boys, ever smoking cigarettes, friends’ and siblings’ waterpipe smoking for girls. Awareness of harms of waterpipe among boys and seeing warning labels on the tobacco packs by girls were protective against waterpipe smoking progression. In Conclusion, waterpipe can serve as a gateway to cigarette smoking initiation among adolescents. Waterpipe and cigarette smoking progressions among initiators were solely family-related among girls, and mainly peer-related among boys. The unique gender differences for both cigarette and waterpipe smoking among Jordanian adolescents in Irbid call for cultural and gender-specific smoking prevention interventions to prevent the progression of smoking among initiators.

Analysis and comparison of the moral development of students required to graduate with an ethics course

Accounting students become practitioners facing ethical decision-making challenges that can be subject to various interpretations; hence, the profession is concerned with the appropriateness of their decisions. Moral development of these students has implications for a profession under legal challenges, negative publicity, and government scrutiny. Accounting students moral development has been studied by examining their responses to moral questions in Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT), their professional attitudes on Hall's Professionalism Scale Dimensions, and their ethical orientation-based professional commitment and ethical sensitivity. This study extended research in accounting ethics and moral development by examining students in a college where an ethics course is a requirement for graduation. Knowledge of differences in the moral development of accounting students may alert practitioners and educators to potential problems resulting from a lack of ethical understanding as measured by moral development levels. If student moral development levels differ by major, and accounting majors have lower levels than other students, the conclusion may be that this difference is a causative factor for the alleged acts of malfeasance in the profession that may result in malpractice suits. The current study compared 205 accounting, business, and nonbusiness students from a private university. In addition to academic major and completion of an ethics course, the other independent variable was academic level. Gender and age were tested as control variables and Rest's DIT score was the dependent variable. The primary analysis was a 2x3x3 ANOVA with post hoc tests for results with significant p-value of less than 0.05. The results of this study reveal that students who take an ethics course appear to have a higher level of moral development (p=0.013), as measured by the (DIT), than students at the same academic level who have not taken an ethics course. In addition, a statistically significant difference (p=0.034) exists between freshmen who took an ethics class and juniors who did not take an ethics class. For every analysis except one, the lower class year with an ethics class had a higher level of moral development than the higher class year without an ethics class. These results appear to show that ethics education in particular has a greater effect on the level of moral development than education in general. Findings based on the gender specific analyses appear to show that males and females respond differently to the effects of taking an ethics class. The male students do not appear to increase their moral development level after taking an ethics course (p=0.693) but male levels of moral development differ significantly (p=0.003) by major. Female levels of moral development appear to increase after taking an ethics course (p=0.002). However, they do not differ according to major (p=0.0 97). These findings indicate that accounting students should be required to have a class in ethics as part of their college curriculum. Students with an ethics class have a significantly higher level of moral development. The challenges facing the profession at the current time indicate that public confidence in the reports of client corporations has eroded and one way to restore this confidence could be to require ethics training of future accountants.

A evasão no Curso Técnico Subsequente em Secretaria Escolar no campus São Sebastião do Instituto Federal de Brasília : uma questão de género?

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de mestre no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária da Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém

Preferencias, dedicación y problemáticas generadas por los videojuegos: Una perspectiva de género

Entre las actividades de ocio de los/as jóvenes, cabe mencionar las asociadas con los videojuegos. Por ello, la finalidad central de este estudio es analizar las preferencias del colectivo de adolescentes con los videojuegos, así como conocer su dedicación y problemáticas que generan, teniendo en cuenta principalmente la variable de género. El presente trabajo se encuadra en un enfoque metodológico cuantitativo-cualitativo, a partir de la recogida de datos con un cuestionario y la técnica del grupo de discusión. En el estudio han participado un total de 151 adolescentes. 124 a partir de la aplicación de un cuestionario cerrado (62 hombres y 62 mujeres) y 27 a través de la realización de 6 grupos de discusión (17 hombres y 10 mujeres). Como resultados y conclusiones, cabe destacar la existencia diferenciada en el uso de los videojuegos en función de la edad y por razón de género. A su vez, las mujeres muestran una responsabilidad mayor en esta actividad, tanto en el tiempo de dedicación como en la elección. Los chicos destinan una gran cantidad de tiempo a los videojuegos de contenido violento, mientras las chicas prefieren los de estrategia. En general, el juego con videojuegos no genera problemáticas sustanciales y controversias, aunque algunos participantes reflejan manifestaciones de mal humor. Por último, cabe indicar que las prácticas con los videojuegos en la adolescencia se ciñen al mero hecho de divertirse, desperdiciando las posibilidades educativas que esta actividad ofrece.

Women of an uncertain age: quantifying human capital accumulation in rural Ireland in the nineteenth century

Geary and Stark find that Ireland’s post-Famine per capita GDP converged with British levels, and that this convergence was largely due to total factor productivity growth rather than mass emigration. In this article, new long-run measurements of human capital accumulation in Ireland are devised in order to facilitate a better assessment of sources of this productivity growth, including the relative contribution of men and women. This is done by exploiting the frequency at which age data heap at round ages, widely interpreted as an indicator of a population’s basic numeracy skills. Because Földvári, van Leeuwen, and van Leeuwen-Li find that gender-specific trends in this measure derived from census returns are biased by who is reporting and recording the age information, any computed numeracy trends are corrected using data from prison and workhouse registers, sources in which women ostensibly self-reported their age. The findings show that rural Irish women born early in the nineteenth century had substantially lower levels of human capital than uncorrected census data would otherwise suggest. These results are large in magnitude and thus economically significant. The speed at which women converged is consistent with Geary and Stark’s interpretation of Irish economic history; Ireland probably graduated to Europe’s club of advanced economies thanks in part to rapid advances in female human capital.

Theatrical Latency: Walking Katrina Palmer’s The Loss Adjusters

In this article I introduce the term ‘theatrical latency’ as a pleasurable effect experienced when listening to sound in relation to visual perception. Latency refers to both the phenomena of audio delay (in feedback from analogue to digital conversion and the momentary lapses experienced when playing live with recorded music) and a theatrical sensation that comes from the reanimation of visual environments through aural framing. In this configuration, the notion of latency takes on a double meaning as both a recorded phenomenon and the retrieval of something dormant within physical objects, sites or materials. These ideas will be introduced through my experience of walking Katrina Palmer’s site-specific audio work The Loss Adjusters (2015) on the island of Portland (UK). The audio tracks create an extended meditation on Portland, interweaving specific locations and histories with fictional characters and ghosts of the island.

Männlichkeitskonzeptionen in geschlechterdifferenzierender Schulkultur

Unter dem Titel Männlichkeitskonzeptionen in geschlechterdifferenzierender Schulkultur untersuchen die Autoren den aufschlussreichen Fall eines Gymnasiums, das parallel mono- und koedukative Klassen eingeführt hat. Damit wird hier Geschlechterdifferenz explizit zu einem Ausgangspunkt der Gestaltung institutioneller Strukturen. Dies bildet sich auf der Ebene der Programmatik als das Anliegen ab, innerhalb monoedukativer Gruppen eine größere Differenzierung von Männlichkeiten und Weiblichkeiten zu ermöglichen. Auf den Ebenen der Unterrichtsplanung und der Unterrichtspraxis zeigen sich jedoch in Interviews und teilnehmenden Beobachtungen eine binäre Geschlechterunterscheidung und eine „latente Privilegierung von Männlichkeit“. Die Autor_innen begreifen dies als einen Ausdruck der tiefen Verankerung von Differenz und insbesondere Geschlechterdifferenz in der Institution Schule. (DIPF/Orig.)

Heilsbringer oder Erlösungssucher? Befunde und Thesen zur Problematik von Männern in frühpädagogischen Institutionen

Die Autorinnen schließen in ihrem Beitrag Befunde und Thesen zur Problematik von Männern in frühpädagogischen Institutionen an die Diskurse um die Steigerung des Anteils männlicher Erzieher an, mit denen häufig die Vermutung einer Qualitätssteigerung verbunden ist. Sie fragen anhand von Interviews nach „Auffassungen und Ausgestaltungen der männlichen Geschlechtszugehörigkeit durch Erzieher in ihrer frühpädagogischen Arbeit“. Dabei schildern die Autorinnen große Akzeptanz im Feld und positive Zuschreibungen seitens der Institutionen. Die Erzieher explizieren dabei ihre Funktion als männliche Vorbilder in Form von Varianten wie ‚neue‘ Männer und ‚bessere‘ Väter, nicht zuletzt in Abgrenzung gegenüber den tatsächlichen Vätern der Kindergartenkinder. Augenfällig seien, so die Autorinnen, dass negative eigene Kindheitserfahrungen durch eine Romantisierung und stark emotionalisierende Aufladung der Beziehung zu den Kindern kompensiert werden und dies die notwendige generationale Differenz verwischt. Insgesamt stehen diese vergeschlechtlichten Positionierungen der Erzieher einer vertieften biographischen Selbstreflexion als Kernelement von institutionell zu fordernder Professionalisierung eher im Wege. (DIIPF/Orig.)

Anlage-Umwelt-Diskurs. Historie, Systematik und erziehungswissenschaftliche Relevanz

Sind Menschen das Produkt ihrer Gene oder ihres Umfeldes? Ist Intelligenz erblich? Kommen Mädchen und Jungen bereits mit vorgeprägten Gehirnstrukturen zur Welt? Kaum eine wissenschaftlich geführte Debatte ist so oft aufgegriffen, heftig diskutiert und als gelöst oder auch prinzipiell unlösbar deklariert worden wie die Frage, ob die Fähigkeiten eines Menschen stärker (oder gar ausschließlich) durch die Anlagen (Gene) oder durch Umwelteinflüsse (Milieu, Erziehung) bestimmt werden. Ziel der Untersuchung ist [...] eine Rekonstruktion des internationalen und interdisziplinären Diskurses über Anlage und Umwelt von seinen Anfängen in der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Als aktuelle Positionen werden die Verhaltensgenetik (Zwillingsforschung), Soziobiologie/Evolutionspsychologie sowie kritische Ansätze eines konstruktivistischen Interaktionismus vorgestellt. Zudem werden anhand von Beispielen aus den Bereichen "Intelligenz" (Jensen-Debatte und Burt-Skandal der 1970er Jahre) und "Geschlecht" (Mead-Freeman-Kontroverse in den 80er Jahren und der Fall David Reimer zur Jahrtausendwende) vier heiße Phasen des Diskurses nachgezeichnet und hinsichtlich der Intentionen und Strategien der beteiligten Akteure hinterfragt. Abschließend wird die Bedeutung aktueller Positionen für die Erziehungswissenschaft diskutiert und nach Konsequenzen für die pädagogische Forschung, Theoriebildung und künftige Rezeptionsperspektiven biologischen Wissens gefragt. (DIPF/Orig.)

A evasão no Curso Técnico Subsequente em Secretaria Escolar no campus São Sebastião do Instituto Federal de Brasília : uma questão de género?

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de mestre no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária da Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém

Programa pró-equidade de gênero e raça da Prefeitura Municipal de Curitiba: estratégia para superar a divisão sexual de trabalho em uma instituição pública?

The objective of this study was to analyze if the pro equity program of gender and race in the PMC, changed the perception of the servants on the conception of sexual division of labor. The sexual division of labor is the concept that allows identifying and understanding the hierarchical relations (principal of hierarchization) based on the attribution of social and economic value most male occupations in relation female, besides that, considerers the female work‟s secondary and her salary supplement to the family income. And the principle of separation identifying the places occupies by man and woman in the institution (productive, reproductive, and domestic work) agreeing with the historical and social construction that associates woman to occupational sectors like “mastertship”, nursering and social assistance, considered an extension of the family functions like taking care and family affections. And the man is associate to engineer, technology information and occupations related to exact science all professions associate to reason, creating a bias of gender in labor relations. To identify possible inequalities of gender in the work ambiance, I have compared the initial basic duration of some careers, the ascension process to higher positions and the salary that both servants and servers in the PMC. Was also investigated the perception of implements and beneficiaries of the program, over the sexual labor division. The methodology used for conduct the investigation was the qualitative research interpretive character using the structured and semi structured interviewed as instruments of data collect. The interview was divided in two groups, to follow: a) implements of pro-equity program of gender and race and b) professors and engineers beneficiaries. The analyzes of documents provided by the Secretaria de Politícas para as Mulheres da Presidência da República and by the PMC complemented the investigative path of this research. Bring as result a perception of beneficiaries servants and implementing on a policy which provides for cultural changes in the institution and in the management of people. It should be noted that the program foresees that in its objectives identify the discriminatory relations of race, sexual orientation, generation and disable person who were not examined in this study. Factor that enables the continuation of the investigation process and is a suggestion for a future research.

Inter-professional education unveiling significant association between asthma knowledge and inhaler technique

Objectives: To explore whether an association exists between health care professionals’ (HCPs) asthma knowledge and inhaler technique demonstration skills. Methods: HCPs’ asthma knowledge and inhaler technique demonstration skills were assessed at baseline at an inter-professional educational workshop focusing on asthma medication use. Asthma knowledge was assessed via a published questionnaire. Correct inhaler technique for the three inhalers, the Accuhaler, Turbuhaler and pressurized Metered Dose Inhaler (pMDI) was assessed using published checklists. Results: Two hundred HCPs agreed to participate: 10 specialists (medical doctors specialized in respiratory diseases) (5%), 46 general practitioners (23%), 79 pharmacists (39%), 15 pharmacists’ assistants (8%), 40 nurses (20%) and 10 respiratory therapists (5%). Backwards stepwise multiple regression conducted to determine predictors of HCPs’ inhaler technique, showed that out of many independent variables (asthma knowledge score, profession, age, gender, place of work, years in practice and previous personal use of the study inhaler/s), asthma knowledge score was the only variable showing significant association with inhaler technique (R²=0.162, p<0.001). Conclusion: This study revealed significant associations between asthma knowledge and inhaler technique scores for all HCPs. Providing inter-professional workshops for all HCPs involved integrating education on asthma knowledge and practice of inhaler technique skills are looked-for.

Valores profissionais família e grupo de pares

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Educacional.

Leonie Herwartz-Emden / Verena Schurt / Wiebke Waburg: Mädchen und Jungen in Schule und Unterricht. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag 2012 (137 S.) [Rezension]

Rezension von: Leonie Herwartz-Emden / Verena Schurt / Wiebke Waburg: Mädchen und Jungen in Schule und Unterricht. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag 2012 (137 S.; ISBN 978-3-17-020903-9)

Feasibility of An Online Survey Examining the Physical Activity Patterns Among South Asian Adults Residing In the United States

Background: Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes among South Asians (SAs) - Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Indian, Maldivian, Nepali, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan. Methods: An online survey was used to determine the feasibility of examining physical activity (PA) levels of SAs living in the US. The Social Ecological Model was the theoretical basis for identifying individual-level, social environmental, and physical environmental factors that impact PA. Results: Ethnicity, intention, self-efficacy, and perceived health benefits of PA were significantly associated with being physically active. Facilitators to PA included achieving improved health; while barriers were lack of time to exercise, unfamiliarity with PA, and nonexistent gender-specific PA facilities. Conclusions: This study showed that online surveys can be a promising tool for data collection among SAs. Health promotion programs should include education on the benefits of PA, and provide culturally sensitive facilities that support PA, especially for SA women.