This study is about police students’ and professional police officers’ experienced competence in mental preparation training. The aim with the study is to compare how police students’ in the beginning and in the end of the Basic Training Programme for Police Officers perceive their competence in mental preparation training and how a selection of these students perceive their competence after one respectively two and a half year as police officers. The aim is also to compare the formal competence required of students who have passed the Basic Training Programme for Police Officers with the competence students actually think they have, and the formal competence required within the police profession with the competence police officers with differently long time as professionals experience that they have. Moreover the study includes a comparison between the formal and experienced competence in the Basic Training Programme for Police Officers and in the police profession. The empirical data of the study is based on a web questionnaire to the different groups of students and follow-up interviews with a selection of these students. The results show that the students’ perceived competence increases during the Basic Training Programme and that the experienced competence at the end of the programme to a relatively large extent corresponds to the formal competence of the programme. The difference between the formal competence required in the police profession and the police officers’ experienced competence is relatively small. The police officers’ experience though is that their competence in mental preparation training is not requested in the profession to any larger extent.   Key words: Police, competence, mental preparation training.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between the credentials held by science teachers who taught at a school that administered the Science Texas Assessment on Knowledge and Skills (Science TAKS), the state standardized exam in science, at grade 11 and student performance on a state standardized exam in science administered in grade 11. Years of teaching experience, teacher certification type(s), highest degree level held, teacher and school demographic information, and the percentage of students who met the passing standard on the Science TAKS were obtained through a public records request to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC). Analysis was performed through the use of canonical correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis indicate that a larger percentage of students met the passing standard on the Science TAKS state attended schools in which a large portion of the high school science teachers held post baccalaureate degrees, elementary and physical science certifications, and had 11-20 years of teaching experience.

The South African Department of Education (DoE) introduced a new threshold qualification, Advanced Certificate in Education (School Leadership), which was the first concrete step towards implementing a compulsory professional qualification for principalship. The qualification is called ACE ‘School Leadership’ but the outcomes in the learning content designed by the DoE tend to focus on ‘management’. Since this qualification was only implemented from 2008, the synchrony between the theory and practice has not yet been investigated. The focus of this paper was to determine whether the ACE promoted leadership practices (ideographic dimensions) rather than just management skills (nomothetic dimensions). This study employed qualitative case study research methods and procedures to investigate the influence of the ACE School Leadership programme on leadership practices. Six principals who had completed the ACE School Leadership programme and their 24 subordinates from Mpumalanga, one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, were purposively selected. The findings display ample evidence of the nomothetic dimensions of the social systems theory outweighing the ideographic dimensions in the principal preparation programme. Principals showed confidence in management and this gave rise to unconscious leadership practices. Subordinates in their schools scored them highly regarding compliance and stated that they were more participative in their approach. The contribution that this research makes is that future preparation programmes be balanced regarding the social systems theory and contain contextual case studies; networking opportunities and strategic and innovative thinking which would result in principals not just being compliant, but competent and capable of leading school improvement. The study suggests a model for future effective leadership preparation programmes. The model outlines the threshold principal roles and the principal primary roles. The study acknowledges the need for more research on how principal leadership preparation programmes influence leadership practices. The ACE school leadership programme demonstrated in this study its ability to develop principals’ management practices and a need to develop principals’ leadership skills more. Findings in this study demonstrate improvement in learner performance for the principals who attended the ACE programme. The refinement of the ACE programme’s curriculum could lead to school leadership improvement / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

This article draws analogies between the activities of statisticians and of chefs. It suggests how these analogies can be used in teaching, both to help understanding of what statistics is about and to increase motivation to learn the subject.

Objective: To study the accuracy and value of immediate wet preparation (WP) procedure on effusion and washing cytologic specimens. Study Design: Two hundred specimens were identified over 3 months in our cytology laboratory, including 102 pleural effusion, 59 peritoneal effusion, 28 pelvic washing and 11 pericardial fluid specimens. WP slides were prepared, stained with toluidine blue (TB) and evaluated. Findings were reported as negative, suspicious or positive for malignant cells. For negative specimens, the remaining prepared slides were stained together. For suspicious or positive interpretation, slides were stained separately. Accuracy and additional benefits from this immediate triage step were studied. Results: Interpretation of slides resulted in 152 negative, 34 positive and 14 suspicious for malignancy. Analysis for additional values resulted in immediate interpretation relayed to clinicians, additional fluid centrifuged for adequate sediment in samples with scant cellularity, selection of bloody specimens for acid washing procedures, selection of cases to optimize cell block preparation when pivotal histologic evaluation or immunohistochemistry was anticipated and selection of cases for potentially needed ancillary studies. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values were high. Conclusion: WP using the TB is accurate, sensitive and highly specific and has considerable value beyond segregating potential neoplastic cases.

Many U.S. communities experience tornadoes each year, causing a significant number of deaths and injuries. Proper community preparation and response can help reduce human suffering and psychological trauma that occur following a tornado. However, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology most U.S. communities in tornado-prone areas are unprepared for a violent tornado, and there are few national, state, or local tornado-related definitions, standard or code to guide preparations. Social constructionism was the underlying theory of this qualitative study. The purpose of this study was to improve tornado preparations by examining the experiences of community leaders following a rare category 5 tornado occurring in Joplin, Missouri in 2011. The key research question considered the experiences of Joplin community leaders following the tornado. Twelve community leaders, 4 females and 8 males participated in individual face-to-face interviews, and were asked about preparations, emergency responses, trauma services and rebuilding. Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological method was used to analyze data. Findings include specific recommendations to improve community preparation, emergency response, trauma service and rebuilding. Community leaders experienced difficulty in coordinating appropriate resources to meet individual victim needs. They described ways in which the community was unprepared and changes that could be made in the future. This study may contribute to positive social change by providing communities with knowledge about tornado preparation and response to improve networks, reduce fatalities, injuries, trauma effects, and property damage in tornado prone areas.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The investigation was undertaken to determine the effects of the polishing and finishing of dental amalgam in relation to its marginal breakdown. The study was also conducted to make a clinical comparison of the marginal integrity of Dispersalloy restorations as compared to Twentieth Century Fine Cut Alloy restorations in both the polished and unpolished state. Forty patients with a total of 131 Class I amalgam restorations were used as the study group. The two alloy systems and polish or unpolish techniques were selected from a random table. Photographic evaluation of the restorations was used to judge the degree of marginal breakdown. The results of the study at the one-year evaluation show two main findings: (1) the Dispersalloy restorations showed less marginal breakdown than the Twentieth Century Fine Cut Alloy restorations, and (2) there was no significant difference between the polished and unpolished restorations overall.