The effectiveness of interpretive methods in informal educational facilities : an experimental study with reference to marine parks

Interpretation has been used in many tourism sectors as a technique in achieving building hannony between resources and human needs. The objectives of this study are to identify the types of the interpretive methods used, and to evaluate their effectiveness, in marine parks. This study reviews the design principles of an effective interpretation for marine wildlife tourism, and adopts Drams' five design principles (1997) into a conceptual framework. Enjoyment increase, knowledge gain, attitude and intention change, and behaviour modification were used as key indicators in the assessment of the interpretive effectiveness of the Vancouver Aquarium (VA) and Marineland Canada (MC). Since on-site research is unavailable, a virtual tour is created to represent the interpretive experiences in the two study sites. Self-administered questionnaires are used to measure responses. Through comparing responses to the questionnaires (pre-, post-virtual tours and follow-up), this study found that interpretation increased enjoyment and added to respondents' knowledge. Although the changes in attitudes and intentions are not significant, the findings indicate that attitude and intention changes did occur as a result of interpretation, but only to a limited extent. Overall results suggest that more techniques should be added to enhance the effectiveness of the interpretation in marine parks or self-guiding tours, and with careful design, virtual tours are the innovative interpretation techniques for marine parks or informal educational facilities.

L’exercice du raisonnement clinique d’infirmières du programme SIPPE lorsqu’elles priorisent leurs interventions auprès de familles qui vivent en contexte de vulnérabilité.

Cette recherche qualitative avait pour but d’explorer le raisonnement clinique d’infirmières de première ligne en CSSS/CLSC lorsqu’elles priorisent leurs interventions auprès de familles vivant en contexte de vulnérabilité dans le cadre du programme des Services intégrés en périnatalité et pour la petite enfance (SIPPE). Il s’agit d’une étude de cas qui comporte un échantillon intentionnel de sept épisodes de soins impliquant deux infirmières auprès de sept familles en période postnatale lorsqu’elles priorisent leurs interventions. La collecte de données a procédé par méthode think aloud, suivie d’entretiens semi-dirigés auprès des infirmières. Une analyse qualitative des données a été effectuée selon des méthodes interprétatives et par comptage de catégories. Ces dernières ont été formulées et mises en relation en s’inspirant de la modélisation du processus de raisonnement clinique de Tanner (2006) ainsi que des stratégies de raisonnement clinique proposés par Fonteyn (1998). Au terme de cette étude, le processus de raisonnement clinique ne semble pas être différent selon le type de priorité d’intervention auprès de familles en contexte de vulnérabilité, particulièrement lorsque nous distinguons la priorité selon un degré d’urgence (prioritaire ou secondaire). Aussi, nous constatons qu’il existe peu de diversité dans les processus de raisonnement clinique mobilisés à travers les sept épisodes de soins; et qu’un processus narratif de raisonnement est fréquent. Si une famille exprime un besoin urgent, l’infirmière y répond prioritairement. Par ailleurs, lorsque des conditions suggèrent un potentiel accru de vulnérabilité des familles, un mode de raisonnement clinique plus systématique, qui comporte une collecte et une mise en relation d’informations afin de formuler une proposition pour soutenir le passage à l’action, semble être mobilisé pour prioriser l’intervention. Il en est ainsi s’il s’agit d’un premier bébé, que la famille n’utilise pas d’autres ressources formelles de soutien. Autrement, s’il s’agit d’un deuxième bébé et que les familles utilisent d’autres ressources, les infirmières tendent plutôt à appliquer une routine d’intervention SIPPE. Aussi, cette recherche témoigne de l’engagement soutenu des infirmières auprès de familles vivant d’importants défis. Il importe toutefois de soutenir le développement d’un répertoire plus varié de processus de raisonnement clinique afin de renforcer leur capacité de prioriser leur intervention qui se déroule dans un contexte de multiples contraintes organisationnelles et interpersonnelles.

Le formalisme du contrat électronique dans l’ASEAN : définition et interprétation des notions d’écrit et de signature

Plus de dix ans après la mise en place du projet d’harmonisation du droit du commerce électronique, l’ASEAN, « The Association of Southeast Asian Nations » rassemblant dix États membres en Asie du Sud-est, n’arrive toujours pas à doter chacun de ses États membres d’une législation harmonisée en la matière. Dans cette optique, nous tenterons, pour contribuer à cette harmonisation, de démontrer la situation problématique relative au droit du commerce électronique dans six des dix États membres de l’ASEAN où, en plus de leur non-uniformité législative, les textes nationaux régissant le formalisme du contrat électronique demeurent difficiles à comprendre, à interpréter et donc à appliquer ; ce qui cause parfois des erreurs interprétatives voire l’oubli total de ces textes. Cette expérience n’est pas unique dans l’ASEAN, car l’on trouve également de similaires situations dans d’autres juridictions, telles que le Canada et les États-Unis. Pour pallier cette rupture entre la loi et la jurisprudence, nous proposons une quête d’une méthode d’interprétation comme une piste de solution qui nous semble la plus pertinente au regard de l’état des textes déjà en vigueur et de l’objectif de l’harmonisation du droit du commerce électronique dans l’ASEAN. Parmi les méthodes interprétatives très variées, nous arrivons à identifier la méthode contextuelle, aussi large soit-elle, comme la méthode la plus pertinente eu égard aux caractéristiques particulières du formalisme du contrat électronique, à savoir l’écrit et la signature électroniques. Nous proposons donc une grille d’analyse de cette méthode composée de contextes juridique, technique et social, qui aideront les juristes, surtout les juges, à mieux saisir le sens des textes et à leur donner « une meilleure interprétation » en faveur de l’objectif de l’harmonisation du droit dans l’ASEAN.

Measurement and meaning of head movements in everyday face-to-face communicative interaction

Methodological approaches in which data on nonverbal behavior are collected usually involve interpretive methods in which raters must identify a set of defined categories of behavior. However, present knowledge about the qualitative aspects of head movement behavior calls for recording detailed transcriptions of behavior. These records are a prerequisite for investigating the function and meaning of head movement patterns. A method for directly collecting data on head movement behavior is introduced. Using small ultrasonic transducers, which are attached to various parts of an index person's body (head and shoulders), a microcomputer defines receiver-transducers distances. Three-dimensional positions are calculated by triangulation. These data are used for further calculations concerning the angular orientation of the head and the direction, size, and speed of head movements (in rotational, lateral, and sagittal dimensions).

Capturing the complexity of women's experiences: A mixed-method approach to studying incontinence in older women

Capturing the voices of women when the issue is of a sensitive nature has been a major concern of feminist researchers. It has often been argued that interpretive methods are the most appropriate way to collect such information, but there are other appropriate ways to approach the design of research. This article explores the use of a mixed-method approach to collect data on incontinence in older women and argues for the use of a variety of creative approaches to collect and analyze data.

Shipscape Influence on the Leisure Cruise Experience

Purpose - To examine the leisure cruise service environment—the shipscape—and its effects on cruisers’ emotions, meaning-making, and onboard behavior. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses qualitative data from 260 cruise customers that was mined from archived online discussion boards. Data were analyzed based on grounded theory and interpretive methods to derive an understanding of shipscape meanings and influences from the cruiser’s perspective. Research limitations/implications - Given the exploratory research objective and interpretive methodology, generalizability beyond the cruise context is limited. However, research findings suggest not only that ambient shipscape conditions influence cruisers’ pleasure, but also that ship layout, décor, size, facilities, and social factors influence the meanings cruisers attach to cruise brands and to the overall cruise experience. Originality/value - This paper explores atmospheric effects on consumer behavior in a context as yet examined by tourism and hospitality scholars. The findings extend Bitner’s (1992) servicescape framework and reveal novel atmospheric and social effects that influence cruise travelers’ experience.

In vitro Comparison of Disk Diffusion and Agar Dilution Antibiotic Susceptibility Test Methods for Neisseria gonorrhoeae

At present, most Neisseria gonorrhoeae testing is done with ß-lactamase and agar dilution tests with common therapeutic agents. Generally, in bacteriological diagnosis laboratories in Argentina, study of antibiotic susceptibility of N.gonorrhoeae is based on ß-lactamase determination and agar dilution method with common therapeutic agents. The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) has recently described a disk diffusion test that produces results comparable to the reference agar dilution method for antibiotic susceptibility of N.gonorrhoeae, using a dispersion diagram for analyzing the correlation between both techniques. We obtained 57 gonococcal isolates from patients attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases in Tucumán, Argentina. Antibiotic susceptibility tests using agar dilution and disk diffusion techniques were compared. The established NCCLS interpretive criteria for both susceptibility methods appeared to be applicable to domestic gonococcal strains. The correlation between the MIC's and the zones of inhibition was studied for penicillin, ampicillin, cefoxitin, spectinomycin, cefotaxime, cephaloridine, cephalexin, tetracycline, norfloxacin and kanamycin. Dispersion diagrams showed a high correlation between both methods.

Sacredness of the constitutional text and interpretive heresy: the brazilian supreme court decision on same-sex unions

The paper provides a close lecture of the arguments and methods of legal construction, employed in the extensive individual opinions written by the Justices of the Brazilian Supreme Court in the case which authorized the same sex civil union. After tracing an outline of the legal problem and his possible solutions, we analyze the individual opinions, showing their methodological syncretism, the use of legal methods and arguments in a contradictory way as well the deficiencies in the reasoning. The Justices use legal arguments, but do not meet the requirements of rationality in the decision-making. We have a rhetorical attempt that aims to satisfy the public opinion than to offer a comprehensive and coherent solution according the normative elements of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988.

Environmental impacts of BART: interpretive summary of the final report.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.

The impact of BART on economics and finance - interpretive summary of the final report.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.

Land use and urban development impact of BART: interpretive summary of the final report.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.

The Policy Dystopia Model:an interpretive analysis of tobacco industry political activity

BACKGROUND: Tobacco industry interference has been identified as the greatest obstacle to the implementation of evidence-based measures to reduce tobacco use. Understanding and addressing industry interference in public health policy-making is therefore crucial. Existing conceptualisations of corporate political activity (CPA) are embedded in a business perspective and do not attend to CPA's social and public health costs; most have not drawn on the unique resource represented by internal tobacco industry documents. Building on this literature, including systematic reviews, we develop a critically informed conceptual model of tobacco industry political activity. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We thematically analysed published papers included in two systematic reviews examining tobacco industry influence on taxation and marketing of tobacco; we included 45 of 46 papers in the former category and 20 of 48 papers in the latter (n = 65). We used a grounded theory approach to build taxonomies of "discursive" (argument-based) and "instrumental" (action-based) industry strategies and from these devised the Policy Dystopia Model, which shows that the industry, working through different constituencies, constructs a metanarrative to argue that proposed policies will lead to a dysfunctional future of policy failure and widely dispersed adverse social and economic consequences. Simultaneously, it uses diverse, interlocking insider and outsider instrumental strategies to disseminate this narrative and enhance its persuasiveness in order to secure its preferred policy outcomes. Limitations are that many papers were historical (some dating back to the 1970s) and focused on high-income regions. CONCLUSIONS: The model provides an evidence-based, accessible way of understanding diverse corporate political strategies. It should enable public health actors and officials to preempt these strategies and develop realistic assessments of the industry's claims.

Approaching and Executing Premiere, Interpretive, and Historical Works

The spectrum of vocal music spans time, genres, styles, and is infinitely vast. New works are ever evolving and expanding, new artistic ideas are revealed from older works, and interest renewed from the tried and true. As a vocal musician in present day, I aspired to find a common thread amidst the boundless spectrum of works to be performed—whether I was hearkening back to a time of old, dissecting pieces by composers who have opened the door to personal artistry, or learning to sing a new work never performed or heard before. The Mercuriality of Song unearths more differences than commonalities in preparation, despite the fact that my voice remains the constant— differences which were expected, often surprising, but nevertheless new and rewarding in their challenges. Three performances (a world-premiere, a lieder recital, and an early music recital) comprise the basis for my investigation into comparing methods and processes of different periods via program notes, laying the foundation for initial preparation from an historical context. An amalgam of genres and stylistic differences along with performance planning culminate this exploration of vocal discovery and implementation.