This study examined the reciprocal relationship between the age of first sexual intercourse and academic goals and achievement. It was hypothesized that lower educational goals and achievement were likely to be associated with an adolescent who initiated sexual intercourse at a younger age than those with higher educational goals and achievement. It was also hypothesized that initiating sexual activity early would be associated with a decrease in subsequent academic achievement and goals. Possible explanations are that the costs of engaging in sexual intercourse (pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases) may deter adolescents from initiating intercourse. Weak attachment to parents and future goals may increase the influence of negative peer associations as well. It is also possible that adolescents who engage in sexual intercourse experience a change in mind set against community standards, one being high academic achievement and goals. This project analyzed data from the National Survey of Children (NSC), which is a national longitudinal sample of children aged 7 to 11 beginning in 1976, with additional data collection points in 1981 and 1987. A regression analysis examined the correlation of selected educational variables with the age of first sexual intercourse. The sample was then divided into two groups: those who had experienced voluntary sexual intercourse prior to the time of a data collection point and those who had not. I tests were performed examine the difference in educational variables for virgins and nonvirgins in 1981 and 1987. To examine the change in educational goals and achievement that could have resulted due to the onset of sexual activity, an analysis of covariance was performed on educational variables that were measured at two points in time. The results of this research confirm that reciprocal relationships exist between adolescent sexual activity and educational achievement and goals. Lower educational achievement and goals, measured at an earlier point in time, were related to a younger age of first sexual intercourse. Also, engaging in sexual intercourse was related to a decrease in subsequent educational goals and achievement. The relationship between lower academic achievement and goals and the age of first sex varied by race and gender. Black females showed the strongest association with educational variables and black males the least association. White females and white males both showed significant relationships between education and sexual activity. Sexual activity had the most impact on subsequent academic achievement, followed by educational goals.

Narcissists typically present themselves in self-enhancing ways to gain validation (through positive social appraisals) of grandiose, yet uncertain self-views. Using e-mail, Studies 1 and 2 investigated several intra- and interpersonal variables that may influence narcissists� self-presentational behaviour. University students rated themselves on self domains requiring either external validation (e.g., attractiveness) or internal validation (e.g., morality), after being randomly assigned to be either accountable or non-accountable to an evaluative audience for their self-ratings (Study 1), to present their self-ratings to either a single or multiple person evaluative audience (Study 2), and to expect to present their self-ratings to either a high or low status evaluative audience (Studies 1 and 2). Results suggested that when degree of external self-worth contingency (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001) was high, narcissists were insensitive to strategic self-presentational requirements, presenting themselves in a typically self-enhancing manner on external domains when accountable and when presenting to a multiple person audience. Non-narcissists showed more contextual sensitivity when degree of external self-worth contingency was high, and were more modest when these social contextual variables were present. Participants in Study 3 were given bogus positive or negative personality feedback on either their moral virtue or competitive spirit. Narcissists reported greater anger after receiving negative feedback, while also responding to negative feedback with inflated self-presentations. A key finding was that the combination of a high degree of self-worth contingency and negative feedback resulted in increases in self-reported depression and drops in state self-esteem in narcissists. Results suggest that narcissists are chronically vigilant for self-enhancement opportunities, but may be insensitive to social constraints and norms in their efforts to construct their grandiose identities. Narcissists are especially vigilant for self-enhancement opportunities on contingent domains, yet when negative feedback is received in these domains where self-worth is staked, depression and lowered self-esteem may result.

This research examined three components of precision teaching; charting, timed practices, and performance aims. In the first study beginner skaters performed two roller skating skills, forward crosses and back scissors, with the aim of increasing fluency in these skills using precision teaching methods. Skaters were told to perform the skills as fast as they could during 1-min practises, aiming at a set performance aim, or goal. After each timing skaters were told how many repetitions they had performed. One group charted back scissors only and the other forward crosses only. The skaters became faster in both skills and charting did not produce faster rates. The improvement seen may have been a direct result of the performance aims. Therefore the second study, using back crosses, compared a fixed, difficult performance aim (complete 50 per minute) for one group and an easier, flexible performance aim (beat your previous sessions' high score) for a second group. After each timing skaters were told how many back crosses they had performed. Performance rates increased similarly for both groups, thus the different performance aims did not have different effects, contrary to the goal-setting literature. A third study investigated this further. Skaters performed forward crosses and back scissors during a baseline condition, where there were no performance aims or feedback. Increases in performance rates for both skills occurred. In a second condition, a performance aim higher than their number of repetitions in the previous condition was set and feedback was given for one skill only. There was an immediate increase in rate of the targeted skill for 3 of the 4 skaters, suggesting that the goal, when given with feedback, influenced the rate at which the skaters performed the skill. In the fourth study, where the effect of feedback and practice was examined more closely, soccer players dribbled a ball in and out of cones. As expected those who took part in eight to ten sessions that were told to do their best (an easy goal) and not given feedback performed this skill faster than those who completed only two sessions with the same conditions. Unexpectedly, they also performed faster than those set a performance aim of beating their previous highest score (a hard goal) and who were given feedback. Methodological issues that may have been responsible for this latter result were addressed in the fifth study. Skaters completing 10 sessions of forward crosses, with feedback and with a performance aim of completing 60 repetitions in one minute (a hard goal), became faster than skaters completing 10 sessions without feedback who were told to do their best. Skaters told to do their best, who completed only three sessions without feedback, did not get faster. These results support those in the goal-setting literature that, hard goals with feedback have more effect than being told to do your best. Overall these studies show that short, timed practices and hard performance aims, or goals, may be effective components of precision teaching while visual feedback from charting may not. Further, precision teaching methods were effective when applied to sporting skills such as those used by roller skaters and soccer players for building fluency of basic skills.

<p>Uppkomsten av dagens Web 2.0 har skapat möjligheter till större interaktivitet hos användarna. Denna utveckling har även följts av en möjlighet att skapa användargenererat innehåll, ett fenomen som benämns User Generated Content (UGC). En av de viktigaste aspekterna inom UGC är att det måste uppnå en god användbarhet, men likväl måste tjänsterna också erbjuda en rik subjektiv upplevelse. Denna subjektiva upplevelse benämns som User Experience och är ett uttryck för den upplevelse och tillfredställelse en användare känner då den ställs inför ett interaktivt gränssnitt. Syftet med uppsatsen var att identifiera User Experience av UGC-tjänster. Uppsatsen karaktäriseras av en kvalitativ ansats och grundar sig i en explorativ undersökning med loggböcker och intervjuer, där nio respondenters upplevelser ligger till grund för uppsatsens resultat. Uppsatsen bidrar med en modell över User Experience mål för UGC-tjänster. Modellen bidrar till en ökad förståelse för vad som utgör en god User Experience av en UGC-tjänst och kan på så vis vara vägledande för de som designar dessa typer av tjänster.</p>

<p>The purpose of this essay was to examine female and male nursing students expectations and goals referring to the nursing profession from a gender perspective and examining the students reasons to apply for nursing school. A descriptive study with qualitative design was implemented. Data acquisition was made through interviewing ten nurse students, five male and five female. The interview material were analysed in accordance with Kvale’s method of analyzing. The results were discussed in accordance with Yvonne Hirdmans gender theory. The result shows that there is a difference in the group between male and female student’s expectations and career goals. The majority of the male students have explicit career goals and a concrete plan to achieve their goals while the majority of the female students do not have any specific goals or plan for their future profession career. The result of the study shows that the professional expectations differ between the male and the female students. The male student expects the profession to be stimulating and the female student expects the profession to be varying. There is no doubt that the nurse profession still is looked upon as a clearly feminine profession even though there is awareness that this is an out-of-date interpretation and that a change is approaching in the modern society. To achieve a more equal distribution according to gender more research has to be done.</p>

Objective: A retrospective study was conducted to examine the variations in therapeutic {blood pressure (BP) and lipid} goal attainment and medication utilization pattern in patients with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia, specifically comparing obese versus non-obese patients. Methods: GE Centricity EMR database containing data from 2004-2011 was utilized. 9,086 patients diagnosed with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia were evaluated. Goal attainment and treatment pattern for BP and lipid levels was assessed based on JNC 7 and NCEP ATP III guidelines, respectively. Results: Substantial proportion of patients with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia failed to attain BP and lipid goals. Further, in patients with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia, obesity appears to be an independent risk factor for the failure to attain BP and dual BP/LDL-C. Conclusions: With increasing prevalence of obesity and inadequate therapeutic goal attainment in these populations, healthcare professionals should use appropriate treatment strategies for improving the management of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity). / Mylan School of Pharmacy and the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences / Pharmacy Administration / MS / Thesis

Thesis (M.Com. (Management Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The purpose of this essay was to examine female and male nursing students expectations and goals referring to the nursing profession from a gender perspective and examining the students reasons to apply for nursing school. A descriptive study with qualitative design was implemented. Data acquisition was made through interviewing ten nurse students, five male and five female. The interview material were analysed in accordance with Kvale’s method of analyzing. The results were discussed in accordance with Yvonne Hirdmans gender theory. The result shows that there is a difference in the group between male and female student’s expectations and career goals. The majority of the male students have explicit career goals and a concrete plan to achieve their goals while the majority of the female students do not have any specific goals or plan for their future profession career. The result of the study shows that the professional expectations differ between the male and the female students. The male student expects the profession to be stimulating and the female student expects the profession to be varying. There is no doubt that the nurse profession still is looked upon as a clearly feminine profession even though there is awareness that this is an out-of-date interpretation and that a change is approaching in the modern society. To achieve a more equal distribution according to gender more research has to be done.

No description available.

Abstract Past research has shown that motivation is an important predictor of goal-related behaviors. Sheldon and Elliot (1999) proposed the Self-Concordance Model (SCM), to distinguish between personal goals that reflect intrinsic interests and values (self-concordant goals) and personal goals that are pursued because of self-imposed and social pressures (self-discordant goals). Another important motivational construct is self-efficacy, people’s beliefs in their capabilities to exercise control over their level of functioning and their environment (Bandura, 1996). Self-efficacy has been shown to predict goal attainment and well-being as people who are self-efficacious put more effort and commitment towards their goals (Koestner, Horberg, Gaudreau, Powers, Di Dio, Bryan, Jochum & Salter, 2006). Despite the unique contribution of self-concordance and self-efficacy, little is known about their combined effects. I performed a study with 135 university students to investigate whether two self-regulatory processes could in fact be better than one. Results using hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy did moderate the relationship between self-concordance and the outcome variables. Self-concordance was associated with greater well-being and goal progress for those high on self-efficacy (β = .21, p < .05; β = .33, p < .01) while negatively relating to well-being and goal progress for those low on self-efficacy (β = -.22, p = .07; β = -.19, p > .05 ). It appears that two motivational processes combined, self-concordance and self-efficacy, are in fact better than one.