Investigation of Clinically Significant Change by Severity Level in College Counseling Center Clients

The authors investigated the number of sessions necessary for college counseling center clients of different levels of severity of distress at intake to achieve clinically significant change (CS) in therapy. The Outcome Questionnaire‐45 (M. J. Lambert, N. B. Hansen, et al., 1996) was used to categorize 914 clients by severity of distress. Analyses of outcome indicated that clients with less and more severe distress needed 14 and 20 sessions, respectively, for 50% in each group to achieve CS. Implications are discussed.     

Application of Gap Analysis to Education: A Case Study of the Food Safety and Quality Assurance Program at the University of Guelph

ABSTRACT: This study was designed to identify the skills and knowledge deemed important for food safety professionals and the degree to which the Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) program at the Univ. of Guelph helps students to develop these skills. The research included 2 phases: interviews were conducted to identify these skill and knowledge items, and the content of the interviews was then used to develop the survey. Individuals in various food safety roles in Canada and stakeholders in the FSQA program were surveyed. Important skill gaps were also identified through survey results. Personal skills were considered more important than technical skills to food safety professionals. Technical and personal skills deemed important by these professionals could be enhanced within the industry and within the food safety and quality assurance program at the Univ. of Guelph.     

Scientists' Role in Educational Content Development

As part of NASA's overall plan to create increased learning opportunities related to its scientific and technical enterprises, we developed a successful model for research scientists to participate in educational content creation. We used this model to create multimedia resources designed to improve science and mathematics skills in students and improve public awareness of science through the results of the Hubble Space Telescope. The model places scientists in partnership with teachers, graphic artists, writers, and multimedia Web developers. Teams were led by professional content developers and multimedia production chiefs. We used a systematic production cycle including specification, project definition, frequent reviews, and several testing periods that has proven to generate robust but flexible resources. Local outreach scientists and other scientists drawn from the community participated in the content creation at various stages, with well specified roles. The model was used successfully to create curriculum support materials, a traveling museum exhibit, press releases, and a website for the public.     

Do students with and without lexical retrieval weaknesses respond differently to instruction?

Deficits in phonological processing are theorized to be responsible for at least some reading disabilities. A considerable amount of research demonstrates that many students can be taught one of these phonological processes-phonemic awareness. However, not all students have responded favorably to this instruction. Research has suggested that these nonresponders may be unable to retrieve phonological codes quickly from long-term memory. The purpose of this study was to examine whether such a deficiency, which we refer to as lexical retrieval weakness, blunts the effectiveness of combined phonemic awareness and decoding training. To this end, we compared the effectiveness of phonemic awareness and decoding training for students with and without severe lexical retrieval weaknesses. All students in both groups demonstrated poor phonemic awareness. The results suggested that students with relatively strong lexical retrieval skill responded more favorably to beginning reading instruction than did students with weak lexical retrieval skill. In other words, lexical retrieval weakness may influence reading development independently of the effects of phonemic awareness. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

Technological internationalisation in the electro-technical industry: a cross-company comparison of patenting patterns 1986-2000

This paper addresses the issue of R&D internationalisation of two multinationals in the electro-technical industry (GE and ABB), by means of a patent data analysis. The overwhelming majority of both companies’ R&D activities are concentrated in Western Europe and North America. The locational overlap between the two firms’ activities is small. These results are consistent with findings from earlier studies that (1) there is little evidence to suggest that the ‘production’ of technology is globalised in a general sense and (2) that tapping knowledge from an industry's global lead location plays a very limited role in foreign R&D investments.     

The new student loan system in Chile’s higher education

Chile’s higher education system stands out as being one of the most privatized and open to the market in the world. Recently, the Chilean Congress passed Law # 20.027 of 2005, which provides the legal framework for the creation of a student loan system guaranteed both by the State and by higher education institutions (HEIs), financed by the private capital market through the securitization of the loans. The system operated for the first time in 2006, where approximately 21,000 students were able to access financing of their higher education for the remainder of their careers. It is expected that as the system matures, more and better information will be available, which will benefit the students and the HEIs; and it is highly likely that the current number of financed students could grow significantly in the next few years. The purpose of this article is to describe the outstanding characteristics of this system, explain its conceptual basis and analyze the public policy choices available in its design.

Close encounters of the digital kind: A research agenda for the digitalization of public services

This paper contributes to e-government research by presenting a review and discussion on how digitalization of public services has affected the interaction between citizens and government. We argue for a conceptualization and critical reflection on the nature of the underlying interaction between citizens and public officials - the public encounter - that digital public services are developed to support. We apply a qualitative and hermeneutic approach and illustrate that digital public services change public encounters concerning when, where, and how interactions occur, what each actor does, and the skills required of them. By relating these changes to emerging digital technologies (e.g. data mining, machine learning, sensor technology, and service automation), we illustrate that while these new technologies carry the potential to further digitalize service provision and fulfill the democratic goals of digital government, authorities can apply the same technology to restrict, control, and surveil citizens. Based on a critical discussion on what digitalization might entail for society, we identify problem areas arising from this development and propose a research agenda for understanding this phenomenon further. We raise questions and ethical concerns regarding accountability and reskilling of citizens and public officials as public service provision becomes citizen self-service.