Effects of cooperative and individual integrated learning system on attitudes and achievement in mathematics

This study compares the effects of cooperative delivery (CD) and individual delivery (ID) of integrated learning system (ILS) instruction in mathematics on achievement, attitudes and behaviors in adult (16-21 yrs.) high school students (grades 9-13). The study was conducted in an urban adult high school in Miami-Dade County Public Schools using a pre-test/post-test design. Achievement was measured using the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) by CTB MC-Graw-Hill and Compass Learning. An attitudinal survey measured attitudes towards mathematics, the computer-related lessons, and attitudes toward group activities. Behavior was assessed using computer lab observations. ^ Two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted on achievement (TABE and Compass) by group and time (pre and post). A one-way ANOVA was conducted on the overall attitude by group on the five components (i.e., content mathematics, delivery/computers, cooperative, partners, and self efficacy) and a one-way ANOVA was conducted on the on-task behavior by group. ^ The results of the study revealed that CD and ID students working on mathematics activities delivered by the ILS performed similarly on achievement tests of the TABE. The CD-ILS students had significantly better overall mathematics attitudes than the ID-ILS students and the ID-ILS group was on-task significantly more than the CD-ILS group. This study concludes that regularity and period of time over which the ILS is used may prove to be important variables although there were insufficient data to fully investigate the impact of models of use. Additionally, a minimum amount of time-on-system is necessary before gains can become apparent in innumeracy and increasing exposure to the system may have beneficial effects on learning. ^

Development of an instrument to measure high school students' global awareness and attitudes: Looking through the lens of social sciences

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure high school students’ perspectives on global awareness and attitudes toward social issues. The research questions that guided this study were: (a) Can acceptable validity and reliability estimates be established for an instrument developed to measure high schools students' global awareness? (b) Can acceptable validity and reliability estimates be established for an instrument developed to measure high schools students' attitudes towards global social issues? (c) What is the relationship between high school students’ GPA, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, parents’ education, getting the news, reading and listening habits, the number of classes taken in the social sciences, whether they speak a second language, and have experienced living in or visiting other countries, and their perception of global awareness and attitudes toward global social issues. ^ An ex post facto research design was used and the data were collected using a 4-part Likert-type survey. It was administered to 14 schools in the Miami-Dade County, Florida area to 704 students. A factor analysis with an orthogonal varimax rotation was vii used to select the factors that best represented the three constructs – global education, global citizenship, and global workforce. This was done to establish construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. Descriptive statistics and a hierarchical multiple regression were used for the demographics to establish their relationship, if any, to the findings. ^ Key findings of the study were that reliable and valid estimates can be developed for the instrument. The multiple regression analysis for model 1 and 2 accounted for a variance of 3% and 5% for self-perceptions of global awareness (factor 1). The regression model also accounted for a 5% and 13% variance in the two models for attitudes toward global social issues (factor 2). The demographics that were statistically significant were: ethnicity, gender, SES, parents’ education, listening to music, getting the news, speaking a second language, GPA, classes taken in the social sciences, and visiting other countries. An important finding for the study was those attending public schools (as opposed to private schools) had more positive attitudes towards global social issues (factor 2) The statistics indicated that these students had taken history, economics, and social studies – a curriculum infused with global perspectives.^

Framing infectious diseases and U.S. public opinion

The United States has been increasingly concerned with the transnational threat posed by infectious diseases. Effective policy implementation to contain the spread of these diseases requires active engagement and support of the American public. To influence American public opinion and enlist support for related domestic and foreign policies, both domestic agencies and international organizations have framed infectious diseases as security threats, human rights disasters, economic risks, and as medical dangers. This study investigates whether American attitudes and opinions about infectious diseases are influenced by how the issue is framed. It also asks which issue frame has been most influential in shaping public opinion about global infectious diseases when people are exposed to multiple frames. The impact of media frames on public perception of infectious diseases is examined through content analysis of newspaper reports. Stories on SARS, avian flu, and HIV/AIDS were sampled from coverage in The New York Times and The Washington Post between 1999 and 2007. Surveys of public opinion on infectious diseases in the same time period were also drawn from databases like Health Poll Search and iPoll. Statistical analysis tests the relationship between media framing of diseases and changes in public opinion. Results indicate that no one frame was persuasive across all diseases. The economic frame had a significant effect on public opinion about SARS, as did the biomedical frame in the case of avian flu. Both the security and human rights frames affected opinion and increased public support for policies intended to prevent or treat HIV/AIDS. The findings also address the debate on the role and importance of domestic public opinion as a factor in domestic and foreign policy decisions of governments in an increasingly interconnected world. The public is able to make reasonable evaluations of the frames and the domestic and foreign policy issues emphasized in the frames.

Predictors of adolescent sexual intentions and behavior: Attitudes, parenting, and neighborhood risk

The current study was a cross-sectional examination of data collected during an HIV risk reduction intervention in south Florida. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between neighborhood stress, parenting, attitudes, and adolescent sexual intentions and behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used as a model to guide variable selection and propose an interaction pathway between predictors and outcomes. Potential predictor variables measured for adolescents ages 13–18 (n=196) included communication about sex, parent-family connectedness, parental presence, parent-adolescent activity participation, attitudes about sex and condom use, neighborhood disorder, and exposure to violence. Outcomes were behavioral intentions and sexual behavior for the previous eight months. Neighborhood data was supplemented with ZIP Code level data from regional sources and included median household income, percentage of minority and Hispanic residents, and number of foreclosures. Statistical tests included t-tests, Pearson's correlations, and hierarchical linear regressions. Results showed that males and older adolescents reported less positive behavioral intentions than females and adolescents younger than 16. Intentions were associated with condom attitudes, sexual attitudes, and parental presence; unprotected sexual behavior was associated with parental presence. The best fit model for intentions included gender, sexual attitudes, condom attitudes, parental presence, and neighborhood disorder. The unsafe sexual behavior model included whether the participant lived with both natural parents in the previous year, and the percent of Hispanic residents in the neighborhood. Study findings indicate that more research on adolescent sexual behavior is warranted, specifically examining the differentials between variables that affect intentions and those that affect behavior. A focus on gender and age differences during intervention development may allow for better targeting and more efficacious interventions. Adding peer and media influences to the framework of attitudes, parenting, and neighborhood may offer more insight into patterns of adolescent sexual behavior risk.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices affecting health behaviors in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command population of Rangers

Malaria is a threat to United States military personnel operating in endemic areas, from which there have been hundreds of cases reported over the past decade. Each of these cases might have been avoided with proper adherence to malaria chemoprophylaxis medications. Military operations may detract from the strict 100% adherence required of these preventive medications. However, the reasons for non-adherence in military populations are not well understood. This behavior was investigated using a cross sectional study design on a convenience sample of U.S. Army Ranger volunteers (n=150) located at three military instillations. Theoretical support was based on components of the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action/Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Social Cognitive Theory. ^ Data on knowledge, attitudes, and practices, as well as multiple environmental domains was collected using an original yet unvalidated questionnaire. The data was analyzed using bivariate Pearson correlations, binary logistic regression, and moderated logistic regressions employing a 0.05 criterion of statistical significance. Power analyses predicted 96-98% power for this analysis. ^ Multiple significant medium strength Pearson correlation coefficients were identified relative to the two dependent variables Take medications as directed and Intend to take the medications as directed the next time. Binary logistic regression analyses identified multiple variables that may predict behavioral intentions to adhere to these preventive medications, as a proxy for behavioral change. Moderated logistic regression analyses identified Command Support for adherence to these medications as a potential significant moderator that interacts with independent variables within three domains of the survey questionnaire. ^ The findings indicate that there may be potential significant beneficial effects, which may improve this behavior in this population of Rangers through 1) promoting affirmative interpersonal communications that emphasize adherence to these medications, 2) including malaria chemoprophylaxis medications in the mission planning process, and 3) military command support, in the form of including the importance of proper adherence to these medications in the unit safety briefings.^

``This is your brain on drugs'': The public policy of anti -drug programming. An exploratory analysis of media and other sources of drug information for adolescents

In the 1980s, government agencies sought to utilize research on drug use prevention to design media campaigns. Enlisting the assistance of the national media, several campaigns were designed and initiated to bring anti-drug use messages to adolescents in the form of public service advertising. This research explores the sources of information selected by adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and how the selection of media and other sources of information relate to drug use behavior and attitudes and perceptions related to risk/harm and disapproval of friends' drug-using activities.^ Data collected from 1989 to 1992 in the Miami Coalition School Survey provided a random selection of secondary school studies. The responses of these students were analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques.^ Although many of the students selected media as the source for most of their information on the effects of drugs on the people who use them, the selection of media was found to be positively related to alcohol use and negatively related to marijuana use. The selection of friends, brothers, or sisters was a statistically significant source for adolescents who smoke cigarettes, use alcohol or marijuana.^ The results indicate that the anti-drug use messages received by students may be canceled out by media messages perceived to advocate substance use and that a more persuasive source of information for adolescents may be friends and siblings. As federal reports suggest that the economic costs of drug abuse will reach an estimated $150 billion by 1997 if current trends continue, prevention policy that addresses the glamorization of substance use remains a national priority. Additionally, programs that advocate prevention within the peer cluster must be supported, as peers are an influential source for both inspiring and possibly preventing drug use behavior. ^

The effects of cross -age peer tutoring on writing and reading comprehension skills and attitudes and self -perceptions as writers of third and fourth grade students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cross-age peer writing response groups on the writing and reading achievement of third and fourth grade students. Students' attitudes about writing and their perceptions of themselves as writers were also measured at the end of the study. ^ One hundred and twenty-two third and fourth grade students enrolled in a public school in a middle-class, multi-cultural neighborhood participated in the study. Four existing classes of students were randomly assigned to either the experimental condition (EC) or the control condition (CC). Both groups were pretested and posttested for writing and reading achievement. The intervention, cross-age peer writing groups, met for eleven weeks. ^ Three hypotheses were examined in this study: (a) writing improvement score, (b) reading comprehension improvement score, and (c) students' attitudes toward writing and their perception of themselves as writers based on the five scales measured on the Writer Self-Perception Scale. ^ ANOVAs were done on the pretests and posttests for writing and the Stanford Achievement Test reading comprehension subtest scores for the year of the study and the previous year. ANOVAs were also done for the five areas of the Writer Self-Perception Scale. Cross-tabulations were also used to compare improvement level verses treatment group, and grade level. ^ Analysis of the data revealed that there was no evidence that the tutoring (EC) groups made more progress than the non-tutoring (CC) groups in writing and reading. There was evidence of growth in writing, especially by the fourth graders. Most importantly, the fourth grade tutors, the experimental group, had the most positive feelings about writing and themselves as writers. ^

Public Service Motivation in Public and Nonprofit Service Providers: The Cases of Belarus and Poland

The work motivation construct is central to the theory and practice of many social science disciplines. Yet, due to the novelty of validated measures appropriate for a deep cross-national comparison, studies that contrast different administrative regimes remain scarce. This study represents an initial empirical effort to validate the Public Service Motivation (PSM) instrument proposed by Kim and colleagues (2013) in a previously unstudied context. The two former communist countries analyzed in this dissertation—Belarus and Poland— followed diametrically opposite development strategies: a fully decentralized administrative regime in Poland and a highly centralized regime in Belarus. The employees (n = 677) of public and nonprofit organizations in the border regions of Podlaskie Wojewodstwo (Poland) and Hrodna Voblasc (Belarus) are the subjects of study. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three dimensions of public service motivation in the two regions: compassion, self-sacrifice, and attraction to public service. The statistical models tested in this dissertation suggest that nonprofit sector employees exhibit higher levels of PSM than their public sector counterparts. Nonprofit sector employees also reveal a similar set of values and work attitudes across the countries. Thus, the study concludes that in terms of PSM, employees of nonprofit organizations constitute a homogenous group that exists atop the administrative regimes. However, the findings propose significant differences between public sector agencies across the two countries. Contrary to expectations, data suggest that organization centralization in Poland is equal to—or for some items even higher than—that of Belarus. We can conclude that the absence of administrative decentralization of service provision in a country does not necessarily undermine decentralized practices within organizations. Further analysis reveals strong correlations between organization centralization and PSM for the Polish sample. Meanwhile, in Belarus, correlations between organization centralization items and PSM are weak and mostly insignificant. The analysis indicates other factors beyond organization centralization that significantly impact PSM in both sectors. PSM of the employees in the studied region is highly correlated with their participation in religious practices, political parties, or labor unions as well as location of their organization in a capital and type of social service provided.

The effects of an augmented art curriculum on the attitudes of high school art students toward diversity in art

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an augmented art curriculum on high school art students to determine if those receiving it had more positive attitudes toward diversity in art and used diversity in their art more than students receiving traditional instruction. This study was conducted in a South Florida public high school, with beginning art students. Using a posttest-only control group design and ANOVA (a = .05), it was found that students (n = 54) receiving an augmented art curriculum did not have significantly higher scores on the Attitudes About Art questionnaire than students (n = 57) receiving traditional instruction F (1, 91) =.00, p > .05. However, using the Checklist of Cultural References in Student Art to evaluate student work it was found that there was a significant teacher effect F (1, 30) = 14.14, p

Three Essays on the Effects of Donor Supplied Contraceptives on Fertility, Usage, and Attitudes

After the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, there have been major strides in advancing the family planning agenda for low and middle-income countries worldwide. Much of the existing infrastructure and funding for family planning access is in the form of supplying free contraceptives to countries. While the average yearly value of donations since 2000 was over 170 million dollars for contraceptives procured for developing countries, an ongoing debate in the empirical literature is whether increases in contraceptive access and supply drive declines in fertility (UNFPA 2014).

This dissertation explores the fertility and behavioral effects of an increase in contraceptive supply donated to Zambia. Zambia, a high-fertility developing country, receives over 80 percent of its contraceptives from multilateral donors and aid agencies. Most contraceptives are donated and provided to women for free at government clinics (DELIVER 2015). I chose Zambia as a case study to measure the relationship between contraceptive supply and fertility because of two donor-driven events that led to an increase in both the quantity and frequency of contraceptives starting in 2008 (UNFPA 2014). Donations increased because donors and the Zambian government started a systematic method of forecasting contraceptive need on December 2007, and the Mexico City Policy was lifted in January 2009.

In Chapter 1, I investigate whether a large change in quantity and frequency of donated contraceptives affected fertility, using available data on contraceptive donations to Zambia, and birth records from the 2007 and 2013 Demographic and Health Surveys. I use a difference-in-difference framework to estimate the fertility effects of a supply chain improvement program that started in 2011, and was designed to ensure more regularity of contraceptive supply. The increase in total contraceptive supply after the Mexico City Policy was rescinded is associated with a 12 percent reduction in fertility relative to the before period, after controlling for demographic characteristics and time controls. There is evidence that a supply chain improvement program led to significant fertility declines for regions that received the program after the Mexico City Policy was rescinded.

In Chapter 2, I explore the effects of the large increase in donated contraceptives on modern contraceptive uptake. According to the 2007 and 2013 Demographic and Health Surveys, there was a dramatic increase in current use of injectables, implants, and IUDs. Simultaneously, declines occurred in usage of condoms, lactational amenorrhea method (LAM), and traditional methods. In this chapter, I estimate the effect of the increase in donations on uptake, composition of contraceptive usage, and usage of methods based on distance to contraceptive access points. The results show the post-2007 period is associated with an increase in usage of injectables and the pill among women living further away from access points.

In Chapter 3, I explore attitudes towards the contraceptive supply system, and identify areas for improvement, based on qualitative interviews with 14 experts and 61 Zambian users and non-users of contraceptives. The interviews uncover systemic barriers that prevent women from consistently accessing methods, and individual barriers that exacerbate the deficiencies in supply chain procedures. I find that 39 out of 61 women interviewed, both users and non-users, had personal experiences with stock out. The qualitative results suggest that the increase in contraceptives brought to the country after 2007 may have not contributed to as large of a decline in fertility because of bottlenecks in the supply chain, and problems in maintaining stock levels at clinics. I end the chapter with a series of four recommendations for improvements in the supply chain going forward, in light of recent commitments by the Zambian government during the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning.

Irish and Jordanian general student nurses’ attitudes towards people with mental illness (PWMI) and their relationship to cultural and religious beliefs

Background Attitudes held and cultural and religious beliefs of general nursing students towards individuals with mental health problems are key factors that contribute to the quality of care provided. Negative attitudes towards mental illness and to individuals with mental health problems are held by the general public as well as health professionals. Negative attitudes towards people with mental illness have been reported to be associated with low quality of care, poor access to health care services and feelings of exclusion. Furthermore, culture has been reported to play a significant role in shaping people’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours, but has been poorly investigated. Research has also found that religious beliefs and practices are associated with better recovery for individuals with mental illness and enhanced coping strategies and provide more meaning and purpose to thinking and actions. The literature indicated that both Ireland and Jordan lack baseline data of general nurses’ and general nursing students’ attitudes towards mental illness and associated cultural and religious beliefs. Aims: To measure general nursing students’ attitudes towards individuals with mental illness and their relationships to socio-demographic variables and cultural and religious beliefs. Method: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted (n=470). 185 students in Jordan and 285 students in Ireland participated, with a response rate of 86% and 73%, respectively. Data were collected using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill instrument and a Cultural and Religious Beliefs Scale to People with Mental Illness constructed by the author. Results: Irish students reported more positive attitudes yet did not have strong cultural and religious beliefs compared to students from Jordan. Country of origin, considering a career in mental health nursing, knowing somebody with mental illness and cultural and religious beliefs were the most significant variables associated with students’ attitudes towards people with mental illness. In addition, students living in urban areas reported more positive attitudes to people with mental illness compared to those living in rural areas.

The association between parental attitudes and alcohol consumption and adolescent alcohol consumption in Southern Ireland: a cross-sectional study

Background: Alcohol plays a complex role in society. A recent study showed that over half of Irish adults drink hazardously. Adolescents report increased levels of alcohol consumption. Previous research has inferred the influence of the parent on their adolescent. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the association between adolescent alcohol consumption and their parent’s consumption pattern and attitude toward alcohol use in Southern Ireland. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in November 2014. This involved distributing a survey to adolescents (n = 982) in their final two years of second level education and at least one of their parents from a local electorate area in Southern Ireland. This survey included: alcohol use, self- reported height and weight, smoking status, mental health and well-being along with attitudinal questions. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression were utilised. Results: A 37 % response rate was achieved. Over one-third (34.2 %) of adolescents and 47 % of parents surveyed reported hazardous drinking. Over 90 % of parents disagreed with allowing their adolescent to get drunk and rejected the idea that getting drunk is part of having fun as an adolescent. The majority (79.5 %) of parents surveyed believed that their alcohol consumption pattern set a good example for their adolescent. Multivariate logistic regression highlights the association between adolescent hazardous alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking by the father. Furthermore either parent permitting their adolescent to drink alcohol on special occasions was associated with hazardous alcohol consumption in the adolescent. Conclusion: The findings of this research notes a liberal attitude to alcohol and increased levels of consumption by the parent are linked to hazardous adolescent drinking behaviour. Future action plans aimed at combatting adolescent hazardous alcohol consumption should also be aimed at tackling parents’ attitudes towards and consumption of alcohol.

Transplanting diglossia: attitudes towards Standard and Cypriot Greek among London’s Greek Cypriot community

The linguistic situation in Greek-speaking Cyprus has been traditionally described as a textbook case of diglossia à la Ferguson (1959) with Standard Modern Greek (SModGr) being labelled as the High variety and Cypriot Greek (CypGr), the regional ModGr variety of Cyprus, being labelled the Low variety (Arvaniti, 2011; Moschonas, 1996). More recently, however, it has been proposed that the linguistic repertoire available to speakers features an array of forms of CypGr, which is best described as a continuum ranging from basilectal to acrolectal varieties (Katsoyannou et al., 2006; Tsiplakou et al., 2006). The basilectal end encompasses low prestige varieties predominantly spoken in rural areas. The acrolectal end is occupied by the version of SModGr used in the public domain in Cyprus (Arvaniti, 2006/2010). SModGr is known to carry high prestige in Cyprus. Speakers of CypGr describe speakers of the standard as more attractive, more intelligent, more interesting and more educated than speakers of the Cypriot dialect (Papapavlou, 1998). In this paper, I explore the relation between SModGr and CypGr in a diasporic setting, namely, the Greek Cypriot community of London. The United Kingdom is home to a sizeable Greek Cypriot community, whose population is presently estimated to fall between 200,000 and 300,000 individuals (Christodoulou-Pipis, 1991; National Federation of Cypriots in the UK). Similarly to the Cyprus homeland, the members of the Greek Cypriot parikia (‘community’) share a rich linguistic repertoire, which, in addition to varieties of Greek, crucially includes English. As is often the case with diasporas, the parikia does not form a homogeneous speech community in that not all of its members have an equally good command of Greek or even English. Rather, different types of monolingual and bilingual speakers are found including a large number of heritage speakers in the sense of Benmamoun et al. (2013), Montrul (2008, 2015) and Polinsky & Kagan (2007). Twenty British-born heritage speakers of CypGr were interviewed on their attitudes towards the different varieties of Greek. Results indicate that the prestige relation between SModGr and CypGr that holds in Cyprus has been transplanted to the parikia. SModGr is widely perceived as the prestigious variety and is described in positive terms (‘correct’, ‘proper’). The use of CypGr, on the other hand, enjoys covert prestige: it is perceived as an index of solidarity and in-group membership but at the same time is also viewed by heritage speakers as reminiscent of the hardship and lack of education of the generation that brought CypGr to the UK. In certain cases, the use of CypGr by heritage speakers is actively discouraged by the first generation not only in the public domain but also in private domains such as the home. Active discouragement targets both lexical and grammatical variants that are traditionally associated with basilectal varieties of CypGr, and heritage language features, especially the adoption of morphologically adapted loanwords from English. References Arvaniti, Amalia. 2006/2010. Linguistic practices in Cyprus and the emergence of Cypriot Standard Greek. Mediterranean Language Review 17, 15–45. Benmamoun, Elabbas, Silvina Montrul & Maria Polinsky. 2013. Heritage languages and their speakers: opportunities and challenges for linguists. Theoretical Linguistics 39(3/4), 129–181. Christodoulou-Pipis, Irina. 1991. Greek Outside Greece: Language Use by Greek-Cypriots in Britain. Nicosia: Diaspora Books. Ferguson, Charles A. 1959. Diglossia. Word 15(2), 325–340. Katsoyannou, Marianna, Andreas Papapavlou, Pavlos Pavlou & Stavroula Tsiplakou. 2006. Didialektikes koinotites kai glossiko syneches: i periptosi tis kypriakis [Bidialectal communities and linguistic continuum: the case of Cypriot Greek]. In Mark Janse, Brian D. Joseph & Angela Ralli (eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory, Mytilene, Greece, 30 September – 3 October 2004, 156–171. Patras: University of Patras. Montrul, Silvina A. 2008. Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism: Re-examining the Age Factor. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Montrul, Silvina. 2015. The Acquisition of Heritage Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Moschonas, Spiros. 1996. I glossiki dimorfia stin Kypro [Diglossia in Cyprus]. In “Ischyres” – “Astheneis” Glosses stin Evropaiki Enosi: Opseis tou glossikou igemonismou [“Strong” – “Weak” Languages in the European Union: Aspects of Linguistic Imperialism], 121–128. Thessaloniki: Kentro Ellinikis Glossas. Polinsky, Maria & Olga Kagan. 2007. Heritage languages: in the ‘wild’ and in the classroom. Languages and Linguistics Compass 1(5), 368–395. Tsiplakou, Stavroula, Andreas Papapavlou, Pavlos Pavlou & Marianna Katsoyannou. 2006. Levelling, koineization and their implications for bidialectism. In Frans L. Hinskens (Eds.), Language Variation – European Perspectives: Selected Papers from the Third International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 3), Amsterdam, June 2005, 265–279. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Mobilizing capacity of environmental information: the importance of quality journalism to achieve proenvironmental attitudes

Citizens say they are very concerned about the environment, and they know the role they play in their deterioration; but there is a gap between this proclaimed interest and the mobilization against environmental problems. Several news published between 2010 and 2011 about the Spanish energy policy and Doñana have economic and social aspects, that sometimes are confused with environmental aspects. It is worthy of study, therefore, to analyze how the press reflects that citizen interest; and how a critical issue as the quality of the information can influence the attitude of citizens in issues related to the environment. If the journalistic practice does not meet quality its function, it will condition the social participation.

Community Perspectives On Public Order Policing in Northern Ireland

In 2011 the Chief Constable of the PSNI commissioned a review of public order policing in Northern Ireland, following closely behind a review of public order policing in Britain undertaken by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) (2011). As part of the review, the PSNI decided to adopt a ‘twin-track’ approach, with an internal review of organisational practice, experiences and roles/responsibilities; and an independent external review of community experiences of public order policing across the country. The external strand to the review was publically tendered during the first half of 2012 and was awarded to a joint bid by the University of Ulster and the Institute for Conflict Research. The overall aim of the research was to inform the PSNI’s review of public order policing in the widest possible sense so that community experiences and attitudes may be considered by the PSNI as part of decisions taken about future changes in police strategy and tactics on public order issues, with full cognisance of their community impact. In regard to the specific objectives, the research was tasked with the following:

• Provide qualitative information on community experiences and attitudes to public order policing;
• Identify critical issues, dilemmas and debates resulting from public order policing as delivered by the PSNI – both in terms of communities directly and indirectly affected;
• Highlight issues for the PSNI consideration in terms of carrying out its task of maintaining public order while upholding the human rights of all; and
• Explore the above issues in respect of both the PSNI’s style and tactics, along with community attitudes and approaches.