Comparison of Knowledge and Attitudes Using Computer-based and Face-to-Face Personal Hygiene Training Methods in Food Processing Facilities

ABSTRACT:  Computer-based training is increasingly favored by food companies for training workers due to convenience, self-pacing ability, and ease of use. The objectives of this study were to determine if personal hygiene training, offered through a computer-based method, is as effective as a face-to-face method in knowledge acquisition and improved attitude toward food safety. Employees from four food processing facilities ( n = 94) were randomly assigned to a control group, a face-to-face training group, or a computer-based training group. Evaluation instruments consisted of a pretest and a posttest to measure knowledge gain, a step scale to measure attitude after training and retrospectively before training, and a brief set of interview questions. Results for both treatments and the control group indicated increases in knowledge. Analysis of the posttest scores, when controlling for the pretest scores, indicated the difference was significant ( P ≤ 0.05); however, post hoc analysis did not indicate which treatment was superior. There was a significant increase in attitude scores for both groups using paired t -tests, although the difference between groups was not significant when controlling for attitude scores before training. Issues that may limit application of the technology used in this study include low literacy and language barriers among employees, and time constraints within companies. These and other variables should be taken into account in future research studies addressing comparisons of training methods. This study is the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of computer-based training aimed at food handlers who work in food processing establishments.     

A data-based scheme for evaluating faculty performance

Both sound management practice and the law require that administrative decisions affecting faculty members reflect systematic, uniformly applied, fair, and valid evaluations of performance. To meet these requirements a performance evaluation scheme must involve two decision elements, both of which are addressed and illustrated in this paper:what will be evaluated, andhow the evaluation will be made.A data-based faculty performance evaluation program specifically oriented toward such administrative actions as tenure, promotion, and salary adjustment is described. This program rests upon task analysis to clarify the nature of the desired evaluative content and peer review as the primary evaluative mechanism.The scheme is illustrated using the experience of a department of psychology training to the doctorate. However, the approach to faculty performance evaluation herein described and illustrated is generalizable, with modification, to other departments and institutions. Several considerations pertinent to such modification are discussed.     

Ethnicity and Community Context as Moderators of the Relations between Family Decision Making and Adolescent Adjustment

This study investigated whether the impact of 3 types of family decision making on the adjustment of 14–16-year-old youth was moderated by ethnicity, community context, or both. For joint and unilateral youth decision making, community context interacted with ethnicity in 3 patterns of influence: for Hispanic-American youth, variations in decision making had a stronger impact in ethnically mixed than in predominantly white communities; for African-American youth, the negative impact of unilateral youth decision making was stronger in predominantly white communities; and for Asian- and European-American youth, community context did not make a difference. For unilateral parental decision making, the popular hypothesis that apparent ethnic differences in the influence of parental strictness on adolescent adjustment are primarily due to differences in community context was not supported. Rather, the positive impact of unilateral parental decision making was similar among African-American youth living in predominantly white, and more affluent, communities or in more disadvantaged, ethnically mixed neighborhoods. The negative impact of authoritarian parenting was similar among European-American youth living in less advantaged communities as well as more affluent ones. There was no relation between unilateral parental control and adolescent adjustment of Asian- or Hispanic-American youth in either type of community.     

Two-Sample Non-parametric Detectors Using Dependent Samples

The performance of two-sample non-parametric detectors using dependent samples is considered. It is shown that in the situation in which square-law envelope detection is employed, the signals to be detected fluctuate in accordance with a chi-square distribution and the background interference is additive Gaussian noise; the two-sample Generalized Sign (GS), Mann-Whitney (MW), Modified Savage (MS) and Modified Rank Square (MRS) detectors have superior asymptotic processing times to those that are obtained when independent samples are used. Also, it is shown that in addition to the advantage of improved performance, detection using dependent samples can have implementation advantages as compared with detection based on the use of independent samples.